Beerus

"Is there nobody on Earth more worthy to destroy…?"

- Beerus

Beerus or  Birusu, is a villain turned anti hero in the Dragon Ball series, and the main antagonist in the movie Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods.

Appearance
Beerus is a thin purple cat-like humanoid, with large pointed ears, similar to Cornish Rex and sphynx cats. He dons black, blue, and gold Egyptian-looking attire with the same white and orange diamond decorations as his attendant Whis.

Battle of Gods
Beerus was on Earth once before in the past. He claims to have driven the dinosaurs to extinction due to their attitude; however, while this was clearly a reference to dinosaurs being extinct in real life, they still thrive in the Dragonball universe.

Beerus awakened and learned from Whis that Planet Vegeta had been destroyed by Frieza, and expressed a desire to kill him the next time they crossed paths. Whis informed him that Frieza was killed by Goku (inaccurate, as it was really Future Trunks who killed him). Noticing Goku's Super Saiyan form in a vision of his fight with Frieza, Beerus remembered a dream about a Super Saiyan God. Wanting to fight a worthy opponent, Beerus tracked down Goku on King Kai's planet. Neither Goku nor King Kai knew anything about a Super Saiyan God, so Beerus decided to go to Earth, promising not to destroy it unless someone there offended him. Goku challenged Beerus to a fight, and Beerus easily defeated him with two blows, despite the fact that Goku was in Super Saiyan 3 form.

King Kai contacted Vegeta and explained the situation to him, figuring he was the most likely to get Beerus angry. It was Vegeta's job to stop anyone from offending Beerus, who arrived at Bulma's birthday party with Whis and ate much of the food there, which they found to be delicious. When Mai shot at Trunks, one of the bullets hit Beerus in the head. Beerus was about to destroy the earth when Vegeta did a song and dance about bingo, entertaining Beerus enough to spare the earth.

However, not long after, when Beerus asked Majin Buu to give him some pudding, Buu refused, leading to a fight between then in which Beerus easily defeated Buu and decided to destroy the earth. The other Z Fighters were unable to defeat him, though when Beerus attacked Bulma, Vegeta became enraged and was able to inflict a bit of damage on him. Beerus still won, and told Oolong he would spare the earth if he beat him at rock-paper-scissors, which Beerus won. Then Goku arrived and, after confirming that Beerus would spare the earth if a Super Saiyan God defeated him, summoned Shenron and wished to know how to create a Super Saiyan God.

With Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Vegeta, and Videl (who was pregnant with Pan) transferring energy into Goku, Goku became a Super Saiyan God and fought Beerus. Beerus won this fight, but decided to spare the earth out of respect for Goku and love for its food. Though he claimed to have used up all his power, he really only used 70% of his full power, and revealed to Goku that Whis was his teacher and other universes have more powerful fighters than then. Beerus and Whis returned to their home world, where Beerus ate an entire glob of wasabi, which was too spicy for him and caused him to destroy many nearby planets, until Whis knocked him out with a single karate chop. After eating some sushi, Beerus went to sleep for three years.

Resurrection F
Beerus plays a smaller role in this film. On his home planet, Goku and Vegeta trained with Whis, when they received word that Frieza had been revived and was attacking Earth. Goku teleported to Earth with Vegeta, while Beerus and Whis took longer to get there, after which they ate a strawberry-flavored dessert that Bulma gave them. When Frieza noticed Beerus, he thought Beerus was going to kill him, but Beerus told him he was not here to intervene. When Frieza blew up the earth, only Beerus, Whis, and those near them survived, including Goku. Whis turned time back allowing Goku to kill Frieza before he could blow up the earth.

Power
His power far surpasses that of all the main Dragon Ball Z villains: Frieza, Cell and Kid Buu. Going further, V-Jump notes that Beerus is without a doubt the strongest being in the history of Z. However, this is disproven in the film when Beerus reveals that his martial arts master, Whis, is stronger than him. He usually uses his power to destroy planets, and he is strong enough to destroy even an entire galaxy.

This is because as the God of Destruction, he has to destroy other planets so new planets may arise and give new life. The overwhelming power of Beerus exceeds even that of Goku, who has surpassed several Super Saiyan levels; Beerus completely dominates Super Saiyan 3 Goku in battle, of course beating Goku in Super Saiyan 3 by just two hits by flicking him and rendering him unconscious with merely a chop to the neck. He also takes down Mystic Gohan with a single kick to the abdomen, causes Gotenks to defuse, and dominates full-powered Super Saiyan 2 Vegeta as well.

Beerus' power is finally challenged by the appearance of Goku's Super Saiyan God power. The two seemed to be equally strong at some point, but Beerus eventually wins. However, it is said by Whis that during the fight with Goku after he became a Super Saiyan God, that Beerus used up 70% of his full power in the fight, and that he had not been that worked up in a long time. The God of Destruction's power is in another dimension altogether, however, he is not as powerful as his martial arts master Whis.

Personality
Beerus is powerful yet playful too (like most cats). He is also a gourmet, and his temple is stocked with fish and other food. While he is a fearsome god, his cat-like gestures and his variety of facial expressions separate him from the more malevolent antagonists in the series. However, Beerus is easily angered over trivial matters, such as being beaten in a game of Hide-and-Seek or being denied pudding.

He is also fairly confident in his superior power, not without cause, as he proved to be far and away the strongest opponents ever confronted by the Z Fighters. Even though Beerus may be dangerous, he has a measure of humanity. When Mai had taken Trunks hostage and held a pistol to his head, everybody viewed it as a joke and laughed. Beerus, on the other hand, viewed it as cruel instead of humorous. He said he would punish everyone for laughing, until Vegeta stepped in to calm him down.

Trivia

 * Beerus' Japanese name Birisu is a pun on the Japanese word for virus, and was named by Yusuke Watanabe, the script writer for Battle of Gods. His attendant Whis's Japanese name Uisiu is also a pun on virus; however, Whis had been named by Akira Toriyama, who thought that Beerus had been named after beer, so he named Whis after whiskey.
 * Akira Toriyama's inspiration for Beerus was an old Cornish Red cat that lived with him. When the cat fell ill, the vet decreed that it did not have much longer to live, only for the cat to make a miraculous recovery, causing the vet to joke that it was some kind of demon.