Broly

is a fictional character in the Dragon Ball series. Two versions of the character exist: the original Broly who is a major villain that appeared in a trilogy of 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 serve as the primary antagonist and major anti-hero in the Dragon Ball series.

Creation and design
The character was originally created by Takao Koyama, while designed by Akira Toriyama. Following the name trend of the Saiyan race, which are 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 had a tail. His hair style is a bit messy and reaching his mid-back, and in both versions is wearing on the head or neck a mind-controlling headpiece. In the reworked version is shown with scars on his face and body and a tanner skin complexion. Broly is noticeably bulkier and taller than Goku and other protagonists. In the reworked version he is shown wearing the traditional Saiyan armor, although later revealed to be related to Frieza's Army, while in both versions he is also wearing a blanket around his waist.

Dragon Ball Z
The original iteration of Broly is born on the same day as Goku with a power level of 10,000, greater than most elite adult Saiyans, and is mentally unsettled as an adult due to Goku'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 executed; his extreme power enabled him to survive the attempted murder and Frieza's subsequent destruction of Planet Vegeta. He eventually became the told of in legends, because of which Frieza destroyed the planet in fear, with his destructive tendencies only being quelled by a special controlling device created by scientists for his father,.

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 as he was stabbed by Saiyan troops and left to die, thereby going into a rage, destroying the control device and becoming the unstoppable Legendary Super Saiyan. He effortlessly pummels Super Saiyan Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, and Trunks as well as Piccolo before killing his 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 long enough to make his way into his escape pod before a comet strikes and destroys New Vegeta.

In the tenth film, Broly – Second Coming (1994), Broly lands on Earth. Still wounded and barely alive following his battle with Goku, Broly 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 cries of Goku's second son, Goten. After mistaking Goten for Goku due to his deteriorated mental state, Broly once again becomes the Legendary Super Saiyan and fights Gohan, Goten, and Trunks, pummeling them all. He is finally defeated by Gohan, Goten, and the presumed spirit of Goku when their combined Kamehameha attack strikes him and blasts him through the sun, obliterating him.

In the eleventh 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, mutating him into a creature known as. He fights Goten, Trunks, Android 18, and Krillin, and is eventually defeated after his body is exposed to sea water and becomes petrified as a result, and is blasted to pieces by a combined Kamehameha wave, ending his threat once and for all.

In 2017, he was again the main antagonist of the 4D film attraction Dragon Ball Z: Super Budokai Tenkaichi (2017) at Universal Studios Japan, where he assumes a form similar to that of Super Saiyan God called "Broly God".

Dragon Ball Super
A new version of Broly appeared as the main antagonist in the film, Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018), in which he encountered Goku and Vegeta, and meets Frieza, Beerus and Whis for the first time. Although the original character had a widespread popularity, until now he was not part of the Dragon Ball series official continuity.

In other media
Broly's video game debut was Dragon Ball Z Super Butoden 2 (1993). Since then, Broly has frequently been included in several Dragon Ball Z-related video games, along with the fellow movie and Dragon Ball GT 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 deals with what would have happened if Broly and Paragus succeeded in destroying the Z-Fighters; another deals with Broly being placed under the control of Dr. Gero; and the third deals with 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. He also is in the first set of DLC characters in the new video game Dragon Ball FighterZ (2018).

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

Abilities
Like with other Saiyans in the series, his heritage has given him vast superhuman strength, durability, speed, and reflexes. He also has the ability to fly, as well create and enhance attacks with the use of ki, creating energy attacks one of which is called Eraser Cannon. Compared to Goku and Vegeta, his aura is of the color green. He possesses the ability to transform into a Super Saiyan form, when hair color changes from black to golden, and additionally with the loss of certain levels of consciousness, to a "Legendary Super Saiyan" form. In the original version in both forms he was much stronger than Goku and his friends, while in the reworked version's film trailers is shown to fight with ease against Goku and Vegeta in their strongest transformation, Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan form.

In the Daizenshuu 6: Movies & TV (1995) guidebook, it was 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 an infinite power. According to Takao Koyama in a 2006 interview, Broly could be perceived as the strongest character and antagonist in the Dragon Ball Z series, but in a 2013 interview regarding the movie Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods where Goku faced God of Destruction, Beerus, stated that even Broly could not beat him.

Reception and legacy


Broly is considered to be among the most popular villains in the Dragon Ball series, with a cult status. IGN's Shawn Saris states that one of the characteristics that made Broly memorable is his frightening size as well brutal behavior during the fights. Saris ranked Broly as 10th on the 2015 list Top 13 Dragon Ball Z Characters, while on the 2016 list of the best Dragon Ball Z fights, the fight between Broly and Goku & Others in the first movie was ranked as 7th, while against Goten, Gohan and Goku in the second movie as 6th. In 2015, by Otakukart.com was ranked as 9th on the list Top 10 Dragon Ball Villains, criticizing poor excuse for his rage (Goku's crying), as well lack of personality and vocabulary in the original three films. It 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 kept popularity in a similar fashion to Boba Fett from Star Wars. However, the reworked version received much more praise.

The character inspired the female Super Saiyan, Kale, from the Universe Survival Saga (2017–2018) depicted in Dragon Ball Super. With the Universe 6 (from which is Kale) and Universe 7 (from which are Broly, Goku among others) being like twins in which characters and events are mirrored in a different fashion, she seemingly represents the 7's Broly as has a very similar transformation design as well powers of a "Legendary Super Saiyan", also known as "Berserker" form.