Frieza

Frieza is the first (second, if Vegeta counts as a saga villain) of the three (four, or five, if one counts Vegeta and Garlic Jr.) main antagonists of the anime, Dragonball Z. He is arguably one of the most evil and cruel villains of Dragonball Z.

Appearance
Frieza is a lizardlike alien whom some refer to as a changeling. He has four forms. In his first form, he is very small, with two black horns (similar to those of Captain Ginyu, the leader of his elite army, the Ginyu Force) and a long tail with a purple spike at the end of it. He also wears Saiyan armor, except his is purple rather than white, black, or blue like his henchmen. His voice in this form sounds feminine, as he is voiced by Pauline Newstone in Ocean dub and Linda Young in FUNimation dub, starting from Episode 54 (and in the redub).

He shatters his armor before he transforms into his second form, which is much bigger and taller than his first form. In this form, his horns are like a bull and his voice sounds more masculine, nearly as deep as Piccolo's. He also stretches his tail in an "auto-wine" attack. In his third form, his head is longer, and he has four white horns, and a face like a duck, and several spikes on his back, and his shoulders are in a similar shape to Saiyan armor. His voice sounds like those of his first and second forms together, and his appearance is similar to that of a xenomorph from the Alien series. When he transforms into his fourth form, his third form shatters. His fourth form looks much less intimidating than the previous three. He is taller than his first form, but is completely white with the usual purple spots on him, and he has no horns. Also his tail does not have a spike on it. He can also power up to 100% of his maximum, and beef up. In the anime, this form sounds different from his first form, and a bit deeper, but in the games, movies, and Dragonball GT, his voice is identical to that of his first form.

Biography
Frieza has a large number of henchmen at his disposal, the strongest of which are Zarbon, Dodoria, and Cui. He also has an elite army called the Ginyu Force.

Frieza got the Saiyans to work for him and sell planets to him, killing all their inhabitants to conquer them. When the Saiyans began getting stronger, Frieza feared that a Super Saiyan would rise up and destroy him, so he killed their king, King Vegeta, and destroyed their home planet, Planet Vegeta. The only four Saiyans who were not caught in the explosion were Vegeta, Nappa, Raditz, and Goku (whose Saiyan name is Kakarot), the protagonist of the series.

Hunt for the Dragonballs
When Raditz came to Earth and was defeated by Piccolo, he sent a message to Nappa and Vegeta about the Dragonballs. Frieza heard the message, so he and his henchmen, including Zarbon and Dodoria, went over to Namek to get the Dragonballs so he could wish for immortality. Frieza killed the Nameks of five villages to get the Dragonballs, however, at the fifth, the elder, Moori, destroyed all his scouters, preventing him from tracking down the dragonballs. Dodoria became separated from them while chasing Krillin and Gohan, who intervened to save a Namek boy, Dende, from Dodoria. Dodoria never returned, as he was later attacked and killed by Vegeta.

Once he deduced that Dodoria was dead (and deeming him expendable anyways), Frieza headed back to his ship with his five Dragonballs, leaving Zarbon and Appule to find the two remaining Dragonballs. Zarbon ran into Vegeta and transformed to defeat him, but Vegeta had previously attacked a Namek village and hidden its dragonball. The village was discovered by one of Frieza's henchmen, Orlen, who was killed by Frieza for not finding out the location of the Dragonball (he killed the only survivor). Frieza instructed Zarbon to bring Vegeta to him and heal him to make him tell them where the Dragonballs were.

However, Vegeta killed Appule, broke out of Frieza's ship, and stole all his Dragonballs. An enraged Frieza gave Zarbon one hour to find Vegeta. Though he transformed, Zarbon was no match for Vegeta, who becomes stronger after each time he recovers froms serious injuries. After Vegeta killed Zarbon and took the Dragonball that Krillin got from Guru, the Eldest Namek, Frieza summoned the Ginyu Force (killing one of his own men, Namole, for no reason at all). The Ginyu Force - Recoome, Burter, Jeice, Guldo, and Captain Ginyu - arrived on Namek and Jeice brought Frieza a scouter.

Vegeta joined forces with Krillin and Gohan, however Captain Ginyu took all seven dragonballs from them and brought them to Frieza. Frieza tried to summon the eternal dragon, but as he did not know the Namekian password to summon him, he was unsuccessful, so he headed toward Guru's house to get the password from him, leaving Ginyu and his henchmen behind to guard the Dragonballs. He flew right by Dende, whom Guru asked to tell Krillin and Gohan the password, but chose to ignore him. He arrived at Guru's house where Nail, a Namek who looks like Piccolo, told Frieza that if Guru dies, the dragonballs disappear, and challenged Frieza to a battle. However, Frieza beat him up, until he revealed that his plan was to distract Frieza so Dende could give them the password. Frieza immediately headed back to his spaceship, and was shocked to discover on his scouter that all the Ginyu Force had been killed (except for Ginyu, who had accidentally switched bodies with a frog).

The Battle with Frieza
Frieza arrived at the scene shortly after Gohan, Krillin, and Dende summoned Porunga and wished Piccolo back to life and teleported him to Namek, and after Porunga disappeared because Guru died at that moment. Frieza fought Vegeta and appeared evenly matched with him (if not at a slight advantage, seeing as how Vegeta was out of breath and Frieza wasn't), so Vegeta suggested that he transform. Frieza transformed into his second form (which has a fighting power of one million) and impaled Krillin with his horn. This made Gohan angry, and he beat up Frieza. However, Frieza survived and attacked Gohan, until Krillin was healed by Dende and cut off Frieza's tail, then distracted him so Dende could heal Gohan. As Gohan, Krillin, and Vegeta went for a head-on attack, Piccolo came.

Piccolo fused with Nail to increase his power, and beat up Frieza, forcing him to transform into his third form. He beat up Piccolo, but Gohan nearly killed him with a Masenko, using up all his power in the process. Frieza transformed into his fourth form, however he witnessed Dende healing Piccolo, so after finishing his transformation, he killed Dende with a finger beam to prevent him from healing anyone again. Vegeta, who had previously been injured by Krillin and healed by Dende (as his plan to become stronger, and maybe turn into a Super Saiyan) fought Frieza, but was unable to even scratch him. Frieza gave Vegeta a beating, until Goku arrived, having fully recovered from his injuries from the fight with Ginyu.

Frieza killed Vegeta with a Death Beam through the chest, for no reason other than to shut him up about Goku being a Super Saiyan and destroying Frieza. Goku fought Frieza in an epic battle that took 19 episodes. At one point, Frieza said he's fight Goku without using his hands, but was forced to break the deal, as Goku gained the advantage after biting Frieza's tail (to prevent him from choking him). Frieza attacked by throwing rocks and chunks of land at Goku, and trapping him in an energy ball that would explode if it touched anything except Frieza. However, his one weakness was that he could not sense energy signals, and could not hit Goku unless he could see him.

Goku and Frieza were evenly matched, until Frieza powered up to 50% of his maximum and beat up Goku. Goku tried the 20-times Kaioken, and briefly regained the advantage, but Frieza survived, virtually untouched, and continued pounding Goku. With no other option, Goku gathered energy from Namek and the planets around it to form a Spirit Bomb. Once Frieza realized the danger he was in he tried to kill Goku to stop him, but Piccolo attacked Frieza as a distraction. Frieza was about to destroy Namek, when Goku's Spirit Bomb was complete, and he fired it at Frieza.

Frieza survived, however, though with a bit of damage (not the least of which a portion of his tail was missing). He shot a Death Beam at Goku, but Piccolo took the hit and was seriously wounded. Frieza killed Krillin afterwards, angering Goku so much that he transformed into a Super Saiyan. In this form, Goku gained the advantage over Frieza, so Frieza shot a Death Ball at the core of Planet Namek, which would inevitably cause it to explode. Frieza estimated five minutes, but five hours was more accurate (it took 10 episodes to blow up). Later, Frieza powered up to 100% of his maximum. Against the wishes of King Kai, Goku let Frieza reach his maximum so he would be sure that Frieza was beaten at his best and would never come back to haunt them.

This proved to be a big mistake, as Frieza regained his advantage over Goku. Eventually, the two went on a crash course, with Goku shooting a Kamehameha and Frieza charging at him with red energy (called Nova Strike in the games). Though Goku appeared to be winning at first, Frieza jumped out of the Kamehameha and pounded Goku into the ground, knocking him into the lava. Gohan returned to fight Frieza. Meanwhile, Mr. Popo collected the Earth's Dragonballs and King Kai told Kami to tell him to wish back everyone killed by Frieza and his henchmen (which only includes those who died less than a year ago) back to life. Krillin did not come back, as he had already been wished back once, but Vegeta, Dende, Guru, and all the Nameks did (Guru because he died of a broken heart due to Frieza killing his sons, the Nameks).

Gohan used his hidden powers to gain the advantage over Frieza. As Frieza powered up again, Goku reemerged from the lava, having survived Frieza's attack. While fighting Frieza, Goku telepathically overheard King Kai's plan to use Porunga's last wish to teleport everyone on Namek to Earth except Frieza, and elected to stay behind to finish Frieza off. Guru told Dende to make the wish, however Frieza saw Porunga and got there first and wished for immortality. However, he did not know that one must speak the Namekian language to make a wish to Porunga, so when Dende made his wish, Porunga granted it and not Frieza's wish. Everyone on Namek was teleported to Earth except Goku and Frieza, who continued their battle.

Frieza's strength decreased with every blow and Goku beat him up. At one point, he decided to spare the evil tyrant's life, knowing that Frieza could not win. However, Frieza attacked Goku with energy disks, unwilling to accept defeat, so Goku resumed the fight with him. During the fight, Frieza overlooked an energy disk that was coming up behind him (in an attempt to chase after Goku) and chopped him in half, cutting his arm off as well. Goku decided to leave Frieza to die on Namek, but Frieza begged him for his life, so Goku reluctantly gave him some of his own energy so he could escape. Still unwilling to accept defeat, Frieza shot an energy blast at Goku as he attempted to leave, so Goku shot his own energy blast at Frieza, seemingly killing him.

Return
However, Frieza survived the attack (though King Kai believed him to be dead), and was caught in Planet Namek's explosion (which Goku escaped), but survived it as well (though a huge chunk was missing from his head). His father, the wicked giant King Cold, found him drifting through space, barely alive, and had him made into a cyborg, even stronger than before. The minute he reawakened he told his father to take him to Earth so he could blow it up as revenge on Goku.

Death
Frieza and King Cold arrived on Earth. Gohan, Krillin (who was wished back with the Namek Dragonballs), Piccolo, Vegeta, Yamcha, Tien, and Chaiotzu went out to face him, even though they knew that he would defeat them easily. However, before Frieza could take his vengeance, Trunks appeared from the future. He killed all of Frieza's henchmen, but Frieza was not in the least bit intimidated - until Trunks transformed into a Super Saiyan! After two failed attempts at destroying him, Frieza shot a giant Supernova energy ball at the earth to blow it up. But Trunks caught it with one hand, so Frieza blew up the Supernova. Trunks was thought to be dead, but he escaped the explosion without so much as a scratch, and shot an energy ball at Frieza and King Cold. They dodged it, and then Trunks chopped Frieza vertically in half with his sword. He then sliced him to pieces and finished him off with an energy wave, reducing him to nothing more than dust. Trunks later killed King Cold just as easily.

Afterlife
Frieza was sent to HFIL (Hell) after his death. Once Cell was destroyed and sent to HFIL, Frieza, King Cold, and the Ginyu Force (still minus Captain Ginyu) teamed up with him to cause trouble. Goku and Pikkon went to stop them. Goku defeated the Ginyu Force, and Pikkon defeated Cell, King Cold, and Frieza, knocking Frieza out cold with a punch to the face. All seven villains were locked up in a prison cell. They were later released, and apparently did not cause any more trouble. Frieza witnessed the battle between Goku and Kid Buu through a giant crystal ball, sticking his tongue out at Goku and calling him "Lousy no-good Saiyan monkey!" His final appearance was in a scene only shown in the uncut; When Goku destroys Kid Buu, Frieza says "Why am I not surprised?"

Other appearances
In the movie Fusion Reborn, Janempa's appearance caused many villains, including Frieza, to escape from Hell. Several of his henchmen, as well as movie villains (including Bojack and Paragus) were working for him, and he sent them to attack Gohan, but Gohan punched Frieza in the stomach and blew him up, completely destroying him. It is important to note, however, that the movies (with the exception of Dead Zone and the two specials, Bardock and Trunks) are non-canon with the anime storyline.

In Dragonball GT, when Dr. Gero and the artificial Android 17 opened up a portal from Hell and all the villains escaped, Frieza and Cell remained behind to fight Goku when Dr. Gero and Dr. Myuu lured him into Hell. Goku beat up Frieza and Cell, but (in an inconsistency with Dragonball Z) was unable to kill them because they were already dead. Frieza and Cell sent Goku to a cave below Hell where he was tortured and frozen, but since he was not dead the ice melted. After knocking Frieza and Cell away, Goku used the ice machine to freeze Frieza and Cell. He accidentally knocked Frieza into Cell, causing them both to fall down and shatter. They later came back together, but were chained up, put in a cage, and hauled away by ogres. Some fans consider GT to be non-canon due to its various plot holes.

In the movie Cooler's Revenge, Frieza has a brother named Cooler, who has five forms instead of three, and is even more cruel and powerful than Frieza. Cooler is killed by Goku when he blasts him into the sun, but returns in Return of Cooler, fused with the Big Gete Star, only to be killed by Goku again. Though these movies are both considered non-canon (Cooler's Revenge mainly due to that the characters acted as if Goku killed Frieza, but it was really Trunks who killed Frieza, as well as King Cold, and also due to Gohan's tail (which was permanently removed by Vegeta before the trip to Namek) and Goku's difficulty in transforming into a Super Saiyan) Cooler has a cameo appearance in GT.

Frieza is a playable character in the Budokai and Budokai Tenkaichi series of video-games for the PlayStation2. In these games, the voices for all his forms sound exactly the same (though his second and third forms sound slightly deeper than his first and fourth, barely noticable). Also, the games give insight as to what Frieza's third form looks like with his tail completely intact (as it was cut off by Krillin before he transformed into his third form). Frieza's cyborg form, Mecha Frieza, is counted as a separate character rather than a transformation.