Broly

Broly
Dragon Ball character
Broly in his base form (left) and Super Saiyan Full Power Form (right) in Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018)
First Episode Appearance	Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan (1993) (original) Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018) (reworked)
Created by	Takao Koyama (original) Akira Toriyama (reworked)
In-universe information
Species	Saiyan
Relatives	Paragus (father)

Broly (ブロリー, Burorī) is a fictional character in the Dragon Ball series. Two versions of the character exist: the original Broly, a major villain who appeared in a trilogy of 90's Dragon Ball Z anime films, Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan (1993), Broly – Second Coming (1994), and Bio-Broly (1994); and a reworked canonical iteration of the character that debuted in the film Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018), and once again served as the primary antagonist and major anti-hero in the Dragon Ball series.

Creation and design

The character was originally created by Takao Koyama and designed by Akira Toriyama. Following the name trend of the Saiyan race, which is vegetable puns, Broly's name is a pun based on the word broccoli, while his father's name, Paragus, is a pun on the word asparagus.

Like all full-blooded Saiyans, he possesses black eyes, jet-black hair that never grows in length, and until one point a Saiyan tail. His hairstyle is somewhat messy and reaches his mid-back. The original version wears a mind-controlling headpiece on his head, ornate gold jewelry, and a red sash around his waist.

In the reworked version, he is shown with battle scars on his face and body, is noticeably darker-skinned, bulkier, muscular, and taller than Goku, Vegeta, and other protagonists. Broly's new attire consists of traditional Saiyan armor and later Frieza Force armor; he also wears a green fur pelt around his waist and a metal shock collar. This version of Broly should be considered tremendously stronger than the original incarnation due to Goku and Vegeta having to use their combined forces to defeat Broly.

Like other Saiyans in the series, his heritage has given him vast superhuman strength, senses, durability, agility, speed, and reflexes. In the Daizenshuu 6: Movies & TV (1995) guidebook, it is stated that Super Saiyan Broly's power surpasses that of Super Saiyan Goku and that in his "Legendary Super Saiyan" form Broly is an opponent with infinite power. According to Takao Koyama in a 2006 interview, Broly can be perceived as the strongest and most powerful antagonist in the Dragon Ball Z series, but in a 2013 interview regarding the movie Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods where Goku faces the God of Destruction, Beerus, he stated that even Broly could not beat him as Beerus is too quick and strong.

Appearances

Dragon Ball Z

The original iteration of Broly was born on the same day as Kakarot (later known as Goku) with a power level of 10,000, greater than most elite adult Saiyans, and is mentally unstable as an adult due to Kakarot's crying in the incubator next to him, as well as traumatic events during his early childhood, since King Vegeta saw Broly's power as a potential threat to his rule and ordered him to be executed. His extreme power enabled him to survive the attempted murder and Frieza's subsequent destruction of Planet Vegeta. He eventually became the "Legendary Super Saiyan" (伝説の超 (スーパー)サイヤ人, Densetsu no Sūpā Saiya-jin) told of in legends because Frieza destroyed the planet in fear, with his destructive tendencies only being quelled by a special controlling device created by scientists for his father, Paragus (パラガス, Paragasu).

In the eighth film, Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan (1993), Paragus lures Vegeta, Goku, and their companions to another planet, New Vegeta, intending to take his revenge on King Vegeta through his son. Broly recalls Goku from the same day when he is stabbed by Saiyan troops and left to die, thereby going into rage, destroying the control device and becoming the unstoppable Legendary Super Saiyan. He effortlessly overpowers Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, and Trunks as well as Piccolo before killing his own father. He is eventually defeated by Goku, who is provided with enough energy to punch Broly, delivering a critical injury that appears to destroy him, but Broly survives enough to make his way into his escape pod before a comet strikes and destroys New Vegeta.

In the 10th film, Broly – Second Coming (1994), Broly lands on Earth. Still wounded and barely alive following his battle with Goku, he reverts to his normal form, loses consciousness, and goes into a frozen state. Seven years later, after Cell's defeat, he is awoken once again by the wails of Goku's second youngest son, Goten. After mistaking Goten for Goku due to their similar appearance, Broly once again becomes the Legendary Super Saiyan and fights Gohan, Goten, Videl, and Trunks, pummeling them all. He is finally destroyed by Gohan, Goten, and the presumed spirit of Goku when their combined Kamehameha attack strikes him and blasts Broly through the sun, obliterating him once and for all.

In the 11th film, Bio-Broly (1994), Broly's blood samples make their way into the hands of an industrialist, who creates a clone of the original Broly. The clone eventually wakes up and becomes mixed with bio-liquid, becoming mutated into a creature known as "Bio-Broly" (バイオブロリー, Baio Burorī). He fights Goten, Trunks, Android 18, and Krillin but is eventually defeated after his body is exposed to water and becomes petrified before he is blasted into smithereens by a powerful combined Kamehameha wave, which ends his threat for good.

Dragon Ball Super

The new version of Broly debuted as an anti-hero and the main antagonist in the film, Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018), in which he encounters Frieza, Vegeta, Goku, and Whis for the first time. Although the original character had widespread popularity, he wasn't previously part of the Dragon Ball series official continuity. In Broly's rebooted storyline, he is portrayed as an abnormally powerful Saiyan who is exiled to the wasteland planet Vampa by King Vegeta out of jealousy of his power. Unlike the original version, Broly is a more sympathetic character. Aside from being reserved, he displays personality traits deemed rare in Saiyans such as compassion, valuing friendship, and not wanting to fight for the sake of it. In spite of his innate kindness Broly has trouble controlling his power whenever he's angered, exerted, or provoked to a certain point. When he loses control, Broly becomes a destructive and savage berserker with little to no sanity much like the original version of the character, unable to distinguish friend from foe. He is also emotionally scarred by his father Paragus disciplining him via shock collar but despite his abusive upbringing, Broly remains completely devoted to his father. Broly spends the next several decades living in exile with Paragus being raised as a weapon of revenge against King Vegeta until they are rescued by the Frieza Force soldiers, Cheelai and Lemo, who quickly befriend Broly. Recruited by Frieza and going to Earth, Paragus unleashes Broly upon Vegeta to get revenge. Broly quickly adapts and holds his own against Vegeta and Goku but gradually loses control of his mind and rage. Then Frieza kills Paragus to provoke Broly into becoming a powerful Legendary Super Saiyan. In this form, he is able to defeat Goku and Vegeta in their Super Saiyan Blue forms, forcing them to retreat and fuse into Gogeta, leaving Frieza at Broly's mercy. Ultimately, Gogeta easily defeats Broly but Cheelai and Lemo manage to use the Dragon Balls to transport Broly back to Vampa before Gogeta can finish him off. Cheelai and Lemo settle down with the reverted Broly but are visited by Goku, who brings the group supplies and offers to teach Broly how to control his power, befriending him and sparking a friendly rivalry between them.

In other media

Broly debuted in the video game Dragon Ball Z Super Butoden 2 (1993). Since then, Broly has frequently been included in several Dragon Ball Z-related video games, along with fellow movie and characters such as Bardock, Cooler, and Omega Shenron. In Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2 (2005), Broly is the subject of three side stories: one that deals with what would have happened if Broly and Paragus succeeded in destroying the Z-Fighters; another, Broly being placed under the control of Dr. Gero; the third, Broly arriving during the Majin Buu Saga and bonding with Mr. Satan. In Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (2008), he has his own story mode entry alongside Bardock, which is a loose adaptation of his debut film. Both his original and Super incarnations appear as playable characters via downloadable content in the video game Dragon Ball FighterZ (2018).

Although Broly never appears in the original manga, he appears as a frequent antagonist in the spin-off manga Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission (2012), written by Toyotarō in Weekly Shōnen Jump and published by Shueisha, where he acts as the henchman to Genome in the latter's plan to retrieve the Black Star Dragon Balls.

Voice actors

Broly voice actors

Language	Actor	Notes	Ref.
(Adult) Broly
Japanese	Bin Shimada
English	Vic Mignogna	Funimation dubs of all media until 2019
	Johnny Yong Bosch	Funimation dubs 2019-present
	Douglas Rand	AB Groupe dub of Broly The Legendary Super Saiyan
French	Thierry Redler
German	Gerrit Schmidt-Foss
Hebrew	Shay Zornitzer
Italian	Mario Bombardieri
Spanish	Ricardo Brust
Young Broly
Japanese	Hiroko Emori	Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan
	Yukiko Morishita	Super
English	Cynthia Cranz	Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan
	Brina Palencia	Super

Reception and legacy

Broly's cosplay on Dragon Ball Super panel at San Diego Comic-Con International, 2018.

Broly is considered to be one of the most popular villains in the Dragon Ball series, with a cult status. IGN's Shawn Saris states that one of the characteristics that makes Broly memorable is his frightening size as well as brutal behavior during fights. Saris ranked Broly as tenth on the 2015 list Top 13 Dragon Ball Z Characters. On a 2016 list of the best Dragon Ball Z fights, the fight between Broly and Goku and others in the first movie was ranked as seventh; and the fight against Goten, Gohan and Goku in the second movie, as sixth. In 2015 Broly was ranked as ninth on the list Top 10 Dragon Ball Villains by Otakukart.com, which also criticized his poor excuse for his rage (Goku's crying), as well as lack of personality and vocabulary in the original three films. He was perceived as "one-dimensional" and "dumb", and according to Will Harrison, "meant purely as a counterbalance to typical evil-doer motives and drives", but remained popular in a similar fashion to Boba Fett from Star Wars. However, the reworked version received much more praise.

The character inspired the female "Legendary Super Saiyan", Kale, from the Universe Survival Saga (2017–2018) depicted in Dragon Ball Super. Universe 6 (from which is Kale) and Universe 7 (from which are Broly, Goku among others) are "twin" universes because characters and events are mirrored in a different fashion. Kale seemingly represents Universe 6's Broly, as she has a very similar transformation design as well as the powers of a "Legendary Super Saiyan", also known as "Berserker" form. Although she resembles Broly in a few ways, she has received mixed to negative reviews from fans and critics alike. With many fans disregarding her as the original Legendary Super Saiyan and creating an inferior version that disrespect's Broly's legacy as the one and only Legendary Super Saiyan.

See also

• List of Dragon Ball characters