Commander Red

"I am the Red Ribbon Army! What's good for me is good for everyone and I want to be taller! All my life, I've drawn the short straw; I've had to contend with being a mere pebble in a land of giants. It is the curse of my existence. You couldn't possibly understand what it's like; the nightmare of being a genius, yet trapped inside this ugly little body!"

- Commander Red trying to justify his petty goal to Assistant Black

Commander Red is the Scottish head of the Red Ribbon Army, and thus the main antagonist of the Red Ribbon Saga of Dragon Ball. He is one of the original Dragon Ball series' five main antagonists (along with Pilaf, Tsurusen'in, Piccolo Daimao, and Ma Junior).

He was voiced by Josh Martin in the English dub.

Appearance
Red is a short man who wears an eye patch on his right eye (red in the manga and black in the anime), a black suit, large hair (white in the manga and ginger in the anime).

Personality
Commander Red is shown to be a very terrible leader of the Red Ribbon Army, yet also a very ruthless one as well. He often abuses his minions, and enjoys insulting Assistant Black. Red is also very cold, willingly kills off his minions for his selfish goals. It's eventually revealed that he only wants to become taller instead of ruling the world, which further highlights his pettiness.

Past
Coming from a wealthy family, Red had a complex of inferiority because of him being a midget. He was always picked on when a kid, and the girls disliked him, and because of this he always hated hanging around people taller than him.

He then decided to find the Dragon Balls and wish to Shenlong to become taller. Using his vast resources, he built a military-styled crime organization called the Red Ribbon Army, complete with skilled soldiers, advanced armament and technology.

Searching for the Dragon Balls
Everyone believed he wanted the Dragon Balls to conquer the world, especially his right-hand man, Adjudant Black. He commanded his soldiers from his headquarters, while they were searching for the balls. However, things did not go as he planned, as Son Goku started to beat all of his officers to retrieve the Dragon Balls, since he was looking for the four-star ball. When things got out of control, he hired Tao Pai Pai to kill the boy, but even he was defeated. In order to retrieve the remaining balls, Goku attacked the Red Ribbon HQ in a frontal assault.

Death
Desperately, with the Red Ribbon falling completely, Red accidentally reveals to Black his true intentions, that he wanted to become taller and that world domination was just a matter of time. Black gets furious with Red and pleads that the army had done so much that it was not worth it. But Red refused to listen, and goes as far as to mock his assistant for being a mere lackey, so Black proceeded to shoot his former boss in the head, killing him and assuming control of the fallen organization.

Dragon Ball Online
In the video game Dragon Ball Online, which is often said to be more canon than GT due to Akira Toriyama's major involvement, Commander Red is revealed to be alive, having been resurrected as Android 9.

Trivia

 * In the first few episodes of the Red Ribbon Army Saga, Red's face was not shown, and his hand is seen petting his cat. This is obviously a reference to the James Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
 * In the Great Saiyaman Saga of Dragon Ball Z, a director is seen looks exactly like Commander Red, only without an eyepatch. While it is obviously reused design for filler purposes, it is unknown if those two characters has any in-universe connection.
 * A running gag throughout Dragon Ball is how whenever he is not watching the radar he is playing some sort of game to show how "good of a leader he is."
 * Commander Red could be considered the Heavy of the Red Ribbon saga, since if it wasn't for him, Assistant Black might have not been very evil in the first place.
 * It is highly possible that all high-ranking members of the army like Blue, Cooper, Silver, Violet even Dr Gero would turn on him in case they found out about his stupid ambition.
 * It is pretty stupid for Commander Red to wish to become taller while he could just have leg extension surgery.
 * Out of all of the villains of Dragon Ball (major and minor), Commander Red is the only one as of yet who isn't confronted by Goku (though he is aware of Goku's existence, and Goku might have a vague idea about who he is).