Vegeta

"I am Vegeta! Prince of all Saiyans!"

- Vegeta aka Prince Vegeta.

Vegeta is the first of the four arch-villains of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Z Kai (along with Frieza, Cell, and Buu). He appears as the deuteragonist and anti-hero from the Dragon Ball franchise and Dragon Ball Z Kai series. He is one of the last surviving members of a race known as the Saiyans, who were destroyed when Frieza blew up their planet. He joins Goku in his fight against Frieza, and is killed. Vegeta was brought back to life by the Dragon Balls, and from then on, is a reluctant member of Goku's team. He switches sides often throughout the series, whether it be mind control or him being power mad, in the end he always fights Goku. Though eventually, even he cannot keep up with Goku. Vegeta made his first appearance in Dragon Ball Z as the main antagonist of the Saiyan Saga.

Early Life
Vegeta was born in age 732, the son of King Vegeta, the ruler of the Saiyan race, but when he was still a child, his homeworld was destroyed by Frieza, wiping out almost all of his people. Vegeta, along with Nappa and Raditz, remained Frieza's soldiers, but the prince disliked having to do so, since he knew for sure that Frieza was the one who killed his people.

The Saiyan Saga
Vegeta first appeared in the Saiyan saga of Dragon Ball Z. Vegeta is the prince of all Saiyans, and after having their planet destroyed Raditz goes to earth to find his younger brother Goku. After they fight him Piccolo tells Raditz about the dragon balls, and how if you collect them all you receive a wish. This statement was transmitted to Vegeta and Nappa who start on their way to Earth. Vegeta wants to wish for immortality with the Dragon Balls. However, it takes them a year to reach the planet Earth, giving Goku and company time to train. When they arrive, Goku is still dead from the battle with Raditz, so Piccolo, Krillin, Tien, Chiaotzu, and Yamcha have to hold the two Saiyans off. At first Vegeta creates Saibamen, green plant fighters that had the same power level as Raditz. One of them kills Yamcha, while the others are defeated. Nappa then starts fighting, and despite all their training, Nappa is stronger than all of them, and manages to cut off one of Tien's hands.

Chaiotzu blows himself up on Nappa's back hoping to kill him, but it doesn't work. Vegeta sits back watching all of this, and Nappa targets Gohan. Vegeta offers the Z fighters three hours for Goku to show up, and three hours later, after Goku not showing up, they continue their attack. Nappa sent a blast, and Gohan, paralyzed by fear, is saved when Piccolo jumps in front of the blast. Goku shortly arrives, and makes quick work of Nappa. Then Goku confronts Vegeta in a showdown.

Vegeta then starts a one on one with Goku in a wasteland, so Goku could avoid any unnecessary casualties. Vegeta then tried to finish Goku off with his Galick Gun, but Goku sent a Kamehameha wave to hold off the Galick Gun. After Vegeta is outclassed by Goku, he turns into a Great Ape (via power ball). Goku attempted to use the Spirit Bomb technique on Vegeta that King Kai had taught him, but was caught off guard by Vegeta's blast attack when he recovered his sight from the Solar Flare. Goku used up the last of his energy and shot Vegeta in his right eye, blinding it. Then Vegeta started to crush the weakened and injured Goku until Gohan and Krillin came to the rescue. Then suddenly, Yajirobe appeared out of nowhere and cuts off Vegeta's tail, saving Goku and turning Vegeta back to normal. The evil Saiyan then got angry and attacked Gohan. Goku then gave Krillin the Spirit Bomb energy and fired it at Vegeta, but after that, Vegeta went into a rage and badly injured Gohan. Then Gohan looks at the power ball and turns into a Great Ape. Vegeta blasts Gohan's tail and Gohan starts to turn back to normal, then he falls on Vegeta, defeating him. With Vegeta seriously injured, he is forced to retreat but Krillin is close by and he is about to kill Vegeta when Goku stops him. Vegeta then vows he will kill them all and leaves in his space pod.

Namek Saga
After managing to heal himself, Vegeta was told by Cui that Frieza was already on Planet Namek and was hunting for the Dragon Balls. The Saiyan headed for Namek, determined not to let Frieza wish for immortality before he could. Upon arriving, Vegeta had a confrontation with Cui after he was told by Frieza to terminate the saiyan. Thought his rival was confident that he could beat Vegeta, the Saiyan told him that his encounter with the warriors of Earth had increased his power substantially and proceeded to blow Cui to bits. When Dodoria set out in pursuit of Gohan and Krillin and lost them, Vegeta appeared and managed to overpower him. The alien told the Saiyan the true circumstances behind his planet's destruction in exchange for his life, but Vegeta was not in a forgiving mood and blasted Dodoria to nothing. After this, he found a Namekian village and killed the inhabitants before taking a Dragon Ball then dropped in a lake to hide it. That way, Frieza couldn't make his wish and Vegeta could steal the other balls from him later.

The Saiyan Prince then encountered Zarbon and the two battled, with Vegeta managing to easily fight him at first. But then his opponent transformed and pummeled the Saiyan without much effort, before smashing him into the ground, creating a crater that quickly filled with water. Zarbon left Vegeta for dead and returned to Frieza to report his success, but his master was not pleased. A scout had reported to the alien overlord that a Namekian village had been destroyed and the Dragon Ball there was gone. Frieza had reasoned that Vegeta had hidden the ball and if Zarbon had killed him, they had lost the only person who knew where to find it. Zarbon managed to find the battered Saiyan Prince and brought him back to the ship where he was placed in a rejuvenation chamber. But Vegeta managed to awaken at just the right time and created a distraction for Zarbon and Frieza, allowing him to take the Dragon Balls and launch them into the Namek countryside, then escape.

An enraged Frieza sent Zarbon to bring Vegeta back and he found the Saiyan with Krillin and Bulma, whom he had just come across. This time, Zarbon transformed immediately and attacked Vegeta, but this time the saiyan prince was able to easily take on his foe thanks to the power increase he had gained from Zarbon's pummeling him. Vegeta finally finished his foe by smashing his fist through Zarbon's chest and fired a blast into his chest point blank, sending him to a watery grave at the bottom of the Namekian sea. Vegeta demanded that Krillin hand over the Dragon Ball that he had and knowing he couldn't possibly match the Saiyan Prince in combat, he begrudgingly handed it over. Now with six of the Dragon Balls in his possession, Vegeta went to get the last one, which he had hidden in the lake. On the way, he came across Gohan, who he punched in the stomach for all that he and his father had put them through. But upon getting back to the lake, Vegeta found the Dragon Ball gone and realized that Gohan had taken it and made a fool of him. The saiyan prince rocketed back to where Bulma and Krillin had put their hideout and blew it to bits, but found that they had already gone.

Captain Ginyu Saga
After Vegeta's escape with the Dragon Balls, Frieza sent word to the Ginyu Force, who immediately set out for Namek. The saiyan prince sensed them as they were approaching and knew he couldn't defeat them alone. Vegeta formed an alliance with Krillin and Gohan and decided that their only chance was to give the saiyan immortality. They raced to where he was keeping the other six Dragon Balls, but Krillin hesitated out of the fear of an immortal Vegeta, despite the prince's promise that he wouldn't hurt them (a promise he had no intention of keeping). Despite Vegeta and Krillin's attempts to get rid of two of the Dragon Balls, the Ginyu Force managed to get all of them. Captain Ginyu went to bring them back to Frieza while he left the rest of the Ginyus to deal with the trio.

Guldo fought Krillin and Gohan, but the two seemed to have him on the ropes and he was barely able to keep using his time freezing ability to avoid their attacks. But then, Guldo used his trump card, he could mentally paralyze his opponents, using this to immobilize Krillin and Gohan. He attempted to pierce them with a sharpened tree trunk, but Vegeta intervened, severing Guldo's head with an energy beam then blasting it. Recoome stepped up to fight them next and Vegeta unleashed everything he had on the Ginyu, hitting him with powerful blows and numerous energy blasts. However, Recoome survived each of these attacks with little to no effect and took down Vegeta without much effort. Krillin tried to help him, believing that without the saiyan's help, they were doomed. Recoome took him on just as easily, but just as everything seemed hopeless, Goku arrived. He gave his friends and Vegeta (despite Krillin's protests) Senzu Beans, bringing back their strength.

Goku proceeded to easily take on the remaining Ginyu Force members, leaving Vegeta in awe. The Saiyan prince even began to think that Goku, the low level warrior, had become a Super Saiyan. After Jeice fled, Vegeta finished Burter and Recoome when Goku refused to do so. Goku was upset that the saiyan prince would do something like that, but Vegeta told them that leaving one's enemies alive would only put them at risk. At first, hope seemed lost since Frieza had probably already wished for immortality, but Krillin remarked that the sky turned black whenever they used Earth's Dragon Balls and this hadn't happened. Goku told them that the Namekian Dragon Balls could only be activated with a password. However, Captain Ginyu and Jeice came back to take them on as Gohan and Krillin were leaving. Goku asked for Vegeta's help in fighting the remaining Ginyu Force members and while he agreed initially, he flew off laughing, leaving Goku to fight alone. Vegeta went to Frieza's spaceship, which was empty since Frieza had left to get the password and Captain Ginyu had killed all of the soldiers.

He managed to get a new set of armor and Krillin and Gohan arrived, followed soon by Captain Ginyu in Goku's body and Jeice. While Krillin and Gohan completely trusted Goku at first, Vegeta knew something was up and eventually the two figured out what had happened as well after Goku showed up in Captain Ginyu's body. The Saiyan prince took on Jeice, while Goku, Krillin, and Gohan took on Captain Ginyu. Vegeta quickly killed Jeice and went to help the others. Ginyu, knowing he was outpowered, attempted to change bodies with Vegeta, but Goku intercepted the blast, switching the two back to their original bodies. Ginyu attempted to change again but ended up in the body of a Namekian frog, which Vegeta scoffed at, but didn't kill, saying that he didn't want to get frog guts on his boots. He decided not to kill Goku, Krillin, and Gohan, since he needed help to defeat Frieza and placed Goku in a rejuvenation chamber on Frieza's ship to heal him.

Frieza Saga
After finding out that all his minions were now finished, Frieza angrily headed back to his ship to recollect his Dragon Balls. In the meantime, Vegeta waited with Goku as he healed, eventually falling asleep, since he was tired from all the battles he'd been put through. As this happened, Krillin and Trunks used the Dragon Balls to wish back Piccolo and bring him to Namek. But Vegeta interrupted before they could make a third wish, having woken up and spotted Porunga, the Namekian dragon. He tried to make Dende have the dragon give him immortality, but before this wish could be completed, Guru died, rendering the Dragon Balls useless. Vegeta was enraged, but stopped when Krillin saw that Frieza was right above them, who demonstrated his high power level by attacking, but the Saiyan prince was just able to match him. Vegeta then commanded Frieza to transform, saying Zarbon mentioned that he could, since it wasn't a secret. Frieza did so and in his new form, Vegeta, Krillin, and Gohan were no match for him. After Gohan attacked Frieza out of rage for him hurting Krillin, the warlord easily beat him and asked Vegeta if he would help a defenseless child.

The Saiyan prince just backed away, afraid, when Piccolo arrived, who Vegeta though was just a wast of a wish and questioned how a Namekian who'd been killed by Nappa could fight Frieza. However, Piccolo had fused with Nail, dramatically increasing his power and was able to match Frieza, prompting him to transform again. In his third form, he again proved able to easily outfight them all and Gohan used his Bakuretsu Ranma to attack Frieza. However, he deflected it and Vegeta realized that at this point, Frieza could be too strong for even him and Goku together. He thought of a way to reach the level of Super Saiyan by getting Krillin to badly hurt him, bringing him within a inch of his life, then have Dende heal him. But the plan didn't work and Frieza decided to transform into his final form, angered that Gohan managed to challenge his third form. After transforming, Frieza killed Dende then beat up Vegeta, bringing him almost to the point of death, but he was saved by Goku.

However, Frieza fired a Death Beam right through Vegeta's chest, striking the blow needed to finish him. As he died, the Saiyan prince told Goku, the last pure-blooded Saiyan left, about his past and their race, then begged him to avenge their people. After burying Vegeta, Goku swore to do as he asked and began to battle Frieza. However, the Saiyan prince was brought back after a wish on the Earth Dragon Balls to bring back anyone killed by Frieza or his men, apparently having changed his ways since he no longer wanted to conquer or gain immortality, now obsessed with becoming stronger.

Attack of the Saiyans
Vegeta as well as Nappa where the main antagonists with Vegeta being the final boss.

Quotes
"Saiyans have their power levels examined right after they are born. The scum that have lower ratings, such as yourself, are sent off to planets that do not have terribly formidable opponents. In other words... You were a left-behind!"

- Vegeta, based on the manga before fighting Goku.

"Nobody destroys Kakarot while I’m around. Destiny has reserved that luxury for me!"

- Vegeta

"My foolish pride? TO A SAIYAN PRIDE IS ALL!!!"

- Majin Vegeta

Trivia

 * His name is a pun on the word "vegetable" itself.
 * When Vegeta says the iconic one liner of "it's over 9,000", it was actually a translation error that was corrected in Dragon Ball Kai where he instead says "it's over 8,000".
 * Vegeta is very much like Sun Wukong from Journey to the West, in that he gladly fights alone against superior numbers, filled with pride and the belief that he is stronger than the gods, more powerful than the “Will of Heaven” and even the Buddha. Sun Wukong is the character Son Goku is named after, but Vegeta inherited his cocky and manipulative attitude.
 * Though Vegeta's Scouter would be pink in the anime it was green in the manga illustrations.