Cell

"Ah, you've come out of hiding, now the games will get really interesting"

- Cell

History
Cell is one of the main antagonists in Dragon Ball Z and the Dragon Ball Z Kai series.

Imperfection
Cell first appeared as a monster like green insect creature that desired to absorb Androids 17 and 18 to attain his perfect form. He was created by Dr. Gero, who gave him the cells of many of the DBZ heroes, and villains: Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Yamcha, Krillin, Tien, Chiaotzu, Vegeta, Nappa, Frieza, and King Cold

Cell came from the future to absorb the Androids 17 and 18 so he could become "perfect", which he couldn't do in his time because Trunks had killed them both. He killed Trunks and took his time machine, regressing into his larval state so he could fit into it, arriving four years before Trunks would have appeared. He absorbed the inhabitants of Gingertown before fighting Piccolo, and taking a beating from him. He escaped using Solar Flare after Piccolo tricked him into revealing everything to him, and regained his lost strength by absorbing the inhabitants of Nicky Town.

Cell ran off whenever he encountered more than one Z Fighter at once. Soon he sensed Piccolo's energy signal while Piccolo was fighting Android 17, and arrived at the battlefield. Piccolo and 17 attacked Cell, but he beat them up and nearly killed Piccolo with an energy blast through the chest and a broken neck. He then beat up 17 before opening his tail up into a giant sucker to absorb 17, but Android 16 stopped him and beat him up. Cell survived a deadly attack from 16, however, and absorbed 17.

Obtaining Semi Perfection


After absorbing Android 17, Cell became much more powerful, and human-like in appearance. Vegeta fought him in his "ascended saiyan" form, and was almost able to defeat him. Before he could, Cell used Vegeta's pride against him, and was able to convince him to help him absorb Android 18 so Vegeta could have a "real challenge".

Gaining Perfection


Once he had absorbed 18, Cell's powers became far greater than that of the heroes. He easily defeated Vegeta and Trunks after obtaining this form. When fighting Piccolo, Cell got the idea to bring back the World Martial Arts tournament, in the form of the Cell Games. Cell entered a TV station where he told the world about the games, then gave the heroes 10 days to prepare for the games, and told them that if he emerged undefeated, he would destroy the world.

Cell Games
In the Cell games, Cell fought Goku after easily defeating Hercule and his students Caroni and Piroshki (though all three survived), and at one point destroyed the ring so the entire desert could be the arena. Goku destroyed Cell's top half with a Kamehameha, but Cell regenerated, though he was weakened nonetheless. After a bit more fighting, Goku gave up and assigned Gohan to fight Cell next. Gohan refused to fight back, telling Cell about his hidden power. Determined to see this power for himself, Cell fought Gohan, but eventually Android 16 jumped on him and tried to self-destruct. However his bomb was removed when Dr. Brief was fixing him, this this tactic didn't work, and Cell destroyed his body.

Cell created clones of himself, which he called Cell Jr, to fight the other heroes and force Gohan to unleash his hidden power. After Cell crushed 16's head, however, Gohan unleashed his full power and turned Super Saiyan 2, killing all seven Cell Jr.'s. He then fought Cell and beat him up. Cell revealed that he was not even using half of his true power, and powered up to what is most likely 50% of his full power, dramatically increasing his strength and speed, but Gohan was unaffected by any attacks and punched Cell twice, inflicting serious damage.

After Cell realized he couldn't beat Gohan, he attempted to blow up the earth with a Kamehameha, but Gohan overpowered him with his own Kamehameha, destroying most of his limbs. Cell regenerated and powered up to his full power; however, he was too big and slow to even hit Gohan, who kicked him in the stomach, forcing him to regurgitate Android 18 and revert to his second form.

Knowing he was about to lose, he started to set off the bomb that had been placed in his body, and Goku nobly decides to be the one to take care of him, He used Instant Transmission to transport him to King Kai's planet, in order to avoid the destruction of Earth. Goku, King Kai, Bubbles, Gregory, and 17 were killed in the blast, but this did not destroy Cell however, because, as Cell revealed, as long as a single cell of him still existed he could come back, and he returned in his perfect form. Now he was stronger than ever, due to the Saiyan cells in his body, since a near death experience greatly powered up Saiyans, becoming what is referred to as Super Perfect Cell. Upon reappearing, Cell killed Trunks with a beam of energy and Vegeta attacked him in a rage. Though Vegeta's assault wasn't able to injure Cell and Gohan took a hit from Cell to save Vegeta, injuring his arm and decreasing his energy in the process. However, he was able to manage a one-handed Kamehameha, entering a beam struggle with Cell. With guidance from his deceased father, and help from Vegeta, who hit Cell with a Big Bang at the last second, Gohan was able to overpower Cell and completely destroy him once and for all.

Other Appearances
Cell has also appeared in multiple episodes after his death, mainly those involving the underworld.

In Trunks's future timeline, Trunks encountered Cell, but seeing as how he could beat up Cell in his second form in the present, Cell was no match for Trunks while in his imperfect form, and Trunks threw Cell up in the air and destroyed him with an energy wave.

Cell teamed up with Recoome, Burter, Jeice, Guldo, Frieza, and King Cold in Hell and terrorized the ogres there, but Goku and Pikkon came to stop them. After Goku defeated the Ginyu Force, Cell attacked him, but Pikkon knocked him away and into the Bloody Pond. He then threw Cell and the Ginyu Force onto a spiked mountain, and the five of them were locked up in a cell with Frieza and King Cold.

Cell's final appearances in Dragon Ball Z were during the Kid Buu Saga, alongside several other dead villains watching Goku's fight with Kid Buu.

In Dragon Ball GT, Cell, along with Frieza, fought Goku during the Super 17 Saga, while the other villains escaped Hell. Though Goku matched their power easily, Cell and Frieza managed to keep fighting, thanks to the fact that they were already dead and Goku couldn't destroy them. Eventually they attempted to use a new technique they had invented, the Almighty Light Cage (Hell Bazooka in the Japanese version), which trapped Goku in an energy prison and forced him to go through the Four Circles of Hell. After the saiyan was frozen in the Tundras of Hell, Cell and Frieza prepared to destroy him with a final energy blast. However Goku managed to break free of the ice, since he was alive and far too warm for the ice spirits to freeze. He then turned Cell and Frieza's strategy against them by freezing them instead and shattering them (though he did the latter by accident).

Personality
Cell's personality has differed between his various forms. At first, the only thing driving him was his desire to attain his perfect form, curious to see its limits and was very cautious, sneaky, and calculating, not going after the Androids, since he knew he couldn't beat them. After attaining his Semiperfect form, Cell became much more brash, impatient, and relied less on strategy, using brute force. Upon becoming Perfect, his personality became a combination of the people whose cells he possessed. Cell had Piccolo's coolness, knowledge, and cunning, Vegeta's confidence and pride, Goku's laid-back attitude and love of fighting, and Frieza's conceitedness. He is unique in that he has no desire for conquest, immortality, or power and instead seeks only entertainment and to test the limits of his perfection. Cell is actually quite knowledgeable and (in the manga) compliments his opponents abilities. Later, he wanted only to unleash annihilation upon the universe and on anything he considered imperfect or, to put it bluntly, anything besides himself. In all forms, he retains Frieza's sadism: while created evil, he is still fully conscious of the morality (or lack thereof) of his actions and commits them because he wants to. His stated reason for wanting to destroy humanity is simply to see the looks of terror on their faces before they die.

Abilities
Cell possesses superhuman natural abilities and the ability to manipulate energy in the form of blasts and flight. He has only one unique ability of his own, absorption, though how he does this differs depending on what he is absorbing. For the normal people he absorbed in his Imperfect form, Cell impales them with his tail and absorbs their whole body, leaving only their clothes behind. For Androids 17 and 18 and Goku in GT, he absorbs them by widening the opening of his stinger and simply swallowing them whole. Cell has the signature techniques of all of the people whose cells composed him, including the Kamehameha Wave, Special Beam Cannon, and Death Beam. He also inheireted Piccolo's regenerative powers, but far more powerful, to the point where he could regenerate from only one cell and Frieza and King Cold's ability to survive in space.

Reception
Cell is frequently named one of the best Dragon Ball villains, along with Frieza and Broly. He gave birth to the Shoop Da Whoop internet meme, which is based on a face he makes while in his second form.