Cell

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

- Cell

"Well, don't get the wrong idea. I don't care one bit about this planet or its filthy people. But without it, there'd be no one to kill."

- Cell to Goku after diverting a Kamehameha blast

"Hahahahaha! This place has been good to me, but all my feasting here is done. And I'd hate to leave without first cleaning my plate.  Soon it'll be nothing but a cloud of dust!"

- Cell to Gohan before the Kamehameha struggle.

"I AM PERFECT!"

- Cell's last words as he is obliterated by Gohan

Cell is the third of the four arch-villains of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Z Kai (along with Vegeta, Freeza and Majin Boo). He is an evil, insect-like, humanoid android seeking to gain more power in order to complete his ultimate form. Being the most powerful of all Dr. Gero's creations, Cell was created with the sole purpose of being the "Perfect Warrior." His fighting skills, powers and his personality traits derive from the cells of the greatest warriors in the universe; including Son Goku, Son Gohan, Piccolo, Yamcha, Kuririn, Tenshinhan, Chaozu, Vegeta, Nappa, Freeza, and King Cold.

Imperfection
Cell first appeared as a monster like green insect creature that desired to absorb Artificial Humans 17 and 18 to attain his perfect form.

Cell came from the future to absorb the Artificial Humans 17 and 18 so he could become "perfect." This was something that he could not 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 (fused with Kami), and taking a beating from him. He escaped using Taiyoken, 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 Artificial Human 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 and fought him in an even match. Cell survived #16's Hell's Flash, however, and absorbed #17.

Obtaining Semi-Perfection


After absorbing Android 17, Cell became much more powerful, and human-like in appearance. He also became much more arrogant and easily believed that there was no being who could defeat him. 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 Artificial Human 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 Tenkaichi Budokai 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 Son Goku first, after easily defeating Mr. Satan 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 wave, but Cell regenerated, though he was weakened nonetheless. After a bit more fighting, Goku gave up and assigned Son 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, Artificial Human 16 jumped on him and tried to self-destruct. However, his bomb was removed when Dr. Brief was fixing him, so this this tactic did not work and Cell destroyed his body.

Cell created clones of himself, which he called Cell Juniors 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 Juniors. 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 that he could not beat Gohan, he attempted to blow up the earth with a Kamehameha wave, 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 #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 Kaio's planet, in order to avoid the destruction of Earth. Goku, Kaio, Bubbles, Gregory, and 17 were killed in the blast, but this did not destroy Cell. This was 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 because it was saved within the memory. 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 Death Beam and Vegeta attacked him in a rage. Though Vegeta's assault was unable to injure Cell and Gohan took a hit from Cell to save him, 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 distracted Cell with a Big Bang Attack at the last second, Gohan was able to overpower Cell and completely destroy him once and for all.

Hell
Cell teamed up with Recoome, Burter, Jeice, Guldo, Freeza, and King Cold in Hell and terrorized the ogres there, but Goku and Paikuhan came to stop them. After Goku defeated the Ginyu Special Force, Cell attacked him, but Paikuhan 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 Freeza and King Cold.

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

Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 shows that Cell and Freeza often train together in Hell.

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

Dragon Ball GT
In Dragon Ball GT, Cell, along with Freeza, fought Son Goku during the Super 17 Saga, while the other villains escaped Hell. Though Goku matched their power easily, Cell and Freeza managed to keep fighting, thanks to the fact that they were already dead and Goku could not destroy them. Eventually they attempted to use a new technique they had invented, the Hell Bazooka, 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 Freeza 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 Freeza's strategy against them by freezing them instead and shattering them (though he did the latter by accident).

Cell then appears in the Dragonball Z - Idainaru Son Goku Densetsu game fight.

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 could not beat them. After attaining his Semi-Perfect form, Cell became much more brash, impatient, and relied less on strategy, using brute force. However, he still shows some cunning when he plays with Vegeta's love for having a good fight and uses it to make Vegeta back down so that he can absorb #18. He also views himself as attractive in this form. 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 Freeza's conceitedness, polite mannerisms, and sadism. 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 Freeza'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.

After his death, he gets along well with Freeza in hell.

Powers and 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 Artificial Humans 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, Makankosappo, and Death Beam. He also inherited Piccolo's regenerative powers, but far more powerful, to the point where he could regenerate from only one cell and Freeza and King Cold's ability to survive in space.

Baby
Cell takes on this form while he is growing in Dr. Gero's lab, he is completely immobile and does not have any developed features.

Larval
Cell after being born, he is already very intelligent and is quite powerful compared to other life forms. He is quadrupedal in this state.

Imperfect
Cell's 1st form. Cell takes on this form after emerging from his larval state, in this form Cell possess high power, though not as strong as a Super Saiyan, Super Namek, or any of the Androids. He now has a tail which he can use to absorb other beings.

This is Cell's equivalent of Base Saiyan, Base Namekian, and Restricted Arcosian 1.

Semi-Perfect
Cell's 2nd form. Cell takes on this form after absorbing either Artificial Human 17 or 18, his power skyrockets in this form to be able to outmatch the Saiyans, Namekians, and fellow Androids. Vegeta's cells take more prominence in this state.

This is Cell's equivalent to Restricted Arcosian 2.

Perfect
Cell's true form. Cell takes on this form after absorbing both Artificial Humans 17 and 18. In this form Cell's power further skyrockets to surpass even an Ascended Super Saiyan.

This is Cell's equivalent to Full-Power Super Saiyan, Super Namek, and Base Arcosian.

Ascended Super Saiyan equivalent
A form that Cell takes which gives him the traits of an Ascended Super Saiyan, increasing his power and muscle mass, but making the strain on his body slightly greater.

This is Cell's equivalent to Ascended Super Saiyan, and 50% Power Arcosian.

Ultra Super Saiyan equivalent
A form that Cell briefly takes after his battle with Future Trunks. In this form Cell's power gains a large increase but his speed takes a huge drop.

This is Cell's equivalent to Ultra Super Saiyan.

Cellin
This is Cell's weakest form, he takes this form after absorbing Artificial Human 17, and the absorbing Kuririn by mistake. Cell does not actually use this form and it only appears in a dream he had while waiting for the Cell games.

This is Cell's equivalent to Base Human.

Power-Weighted
A form that Cell takes when he is being outclassed by Super Saiyan 2 Gohan. In this form, Cell's height doubles, his muscles grow huge and his voice deepens. His power becomes greater than a Super Saiyan 2 but his speed is slower than any of Cell's other forms.

This is Cell's equivalent to Ultra Super Saiyan, Great Namek, and 100% Full Power Arcosian.

Super Perfect
Cell's most powerful form in the manga. Cell takes on this form after receiving a huge Zenkai from blowing himself up.

This is Cell's equivalent to Super Saiyan 2.

Majin Cell
A form displayed in several video games where he is resurrected by Babidi. Perfect Majin Cell has the power of a Super Saiyan 2, so it is likely that if he went Super Perfect Majin Cell his power would double.

Hyper Perfect
Cell's most powerful form in the anime. Cell takes this form after absorbing Goku while in Hell, giving Cell all of Goku's power. He loses the form when Goku escapes from his body.

This is Cell's equivalent to Super Saiyan 4.

Ghost Warrior
A form that Cell takes after being resurrected by Hatchiyack, his power is amplified due to his hatred of Saiyans.

Villainous Mode
"Did you think telling me that little story would somehow make me afraid of you? Well, it hasn't. It's only made me more eager to piss you off."

- Cell (in Villainous Mode)'s response to Gohan wanting to stop the battle Like many villains in the game, Cell also gains a Villainous Mode.

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

Trivia

 * When Cell absorbs Android 18, this marks the point in which Dragonball Z's subtheme of tails diminishes. This is seemingly symbolized by Cell's tail retracting when he transforms into his perfect form.
 * Cell is the only villain who has succeeded at killing Goku, though this was in part a self-sacrifice by Goku.
 * Of the three main villains (Frieza, Cell, and Buu), he is the only one to not kill Krillin. (ironically his alternate self of the present is killed by Krillin) Counting Vegeta, he is one of the two to not kill Krillin.
 * It is interesting to note that Cell has killed Trunks twice and been killed by Trunks twice. The main Cell strangled Trunks of his (Cell's) future with his tail and killed Trunks of his (Trunks's) future with a Death Beam, though in this instance he was revived. Cell's present counterpart was destroyed by Trunks while in larval form, and his counterpart from Trunks's future was destroyed by Trunks in his Imperfect form, though the main Cell was killed by Gohan.

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