Broly (Dragon Ball Z)

Articles about Broly
Broly (Dragon Ball Z), Broly (Dragon Ball Super), Bio-Broly

Broly (Dragon Ball Z)
“ If you'd just let me kill you all before, you wouldn't be dealing with this pain now. You're all complete and utter wastes of Saiyan blood! „ ― Broly
Vital statistics
Names	Broly
Gender	Male
Race	Saiyan/Saiyajin
Occupation	Warrior
Origin	Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan
Alignment	Evil
Age	30-37 Years Old
Created By	Akira Toriyama, Takao Koyama

Broly is the fabled Legendary Super Saiyan, an extraordinary class of Saiyan that only appears once every thousand years bearing immense power. Born with an extraordinary power level of 10,000, Broly was stabbed by King Vegeta in his youth, who feared that he would be a threat to the throne and left for dead alongside his father, Paragus. But due to his extreme, latent power, Broly survived the assassination attempt and then the destruction of Planet Vegeta at Frieza's hands, escaping alongside his father and carrying a deep-seated hatred for another young Saiyan named Kakarot, who had ruined the few moments of normal life he had with his incessant crying.

Development

Broly's overall character and the general design of his famous Legendary Super Saiyan state was created by Akira Toriyama (who created the full powered golden hair variant) as well as Takao Koyama. The latter in particular was inspired to create a powerful and menacing Saiyan villain due to watching the transformation sequence of Future Trunks into the Super Saiyan Third Grade in the episode "Trunks Ascends". In his notes for the design of the character, Toriyama mentions that Broly, unlike other Saiyans, does not wear the standard Saiyan Battle Armor due to them being standard issue for Frieza's forces, and Broly is not affiliated with that group. He also added a note regarding a particular concept art depicting him with a tail that he doesn't mind whether or not he has a tail, leaving it ambiguous as to whether or not he had one in the film. He also noted that he slightly redesigned his hair for his next film appearance.

Appearance

Broly is a light-skinned Saiyan with dark eyes and black spiky hair reaching his mid-back with short bangs framing his forehead. When he was a kid, he wore a black one-strap tunic with gray pants and brown boots, alongside a rope belt and bracelets. As an adult, Broly is towering man with a lean but well-built frame. His facial expression, even before wearing the crown, had a melancholic demeanor to it. He is shirtless while wearing white pants with a red sash draped around his waist and secured by a yellow belt with a blue gem-center. He also wears similar yellow boots with a blue gem at the top the front. It is implied that the outfit was made of a similar material to the Battle Armor, regardless of what size-increasing transformation he used, his clothing always remained intact and grew in size with him.

To better control Broly and his power as his mental-instability continued to grow, Paragus placed a crown on Broly's forehead, along with wristbands and a necklace with a flat plate over the chest, each of which are golden with a blue gem. Broly also wore golden bands over his biceps. After breaking free from Paragus' control, Broly's crown, neckband and armbands were destroyed. After Broly's defeat against Goku, he obtained scorch marks across his chest.

Personality

"He was a true warrior, born with the strength and clout that would make most Saiyan fathers proud. But there was something far darker about him. Violent, threatening, and in time it began to scare me. I had no choice but to have a scientist craft a device that would control his power." — Paragus reminiscing on Broly's true nature.

When first seen, Broly is seen as a rather docile and harmless-looking Saiyan (uncharacteristic of a majority of the Saiyan race). Although not nearly to the extent of his revised counterpart, he was also demonstrated to have a degree of loyalty to Paragus prior to being outfitted with the crown, as he willingly saved Paragus from Planet Vegeta's destruction as an infant when escaping the doomed planet, and his reaction when waking up before realizing Paragus was going to implement the crown on him in the latter's flashback indicated he did not feel animosity towards his father. However, Broly has an unpredictable dual nature, as indicated in Paragus's flashback, when he briefly wakes up and calmly asks what Paragus is up to, only to end up going into a screaming fit when realizing that Paragus is about to place the mind-control crown on his head. Once shifting into his more aggressive state, Broly demonstrates his love of fighting and brutality just like the typical Saiyan, but on a far more destructive level. This violent and maniacal side of him seemingly stemmed from both his extraordinary power that he never properly learned to control as well as the traumatic events of his birth, causing his frenzies to happen more frequently and last longer as he grew and these eventually led him to gouge out his father's left eye. Largely because of his insanity, Broly was also known to get hysterical when causing destruction or going into a frenzy, such being especially evident in Paragus's flashback where Broly after destroying a cityscape as a child is seen laughing uncontrollably, even while being physically restrained by Paragus. Broly also seems to have a real problem controlling his rage, meaning that he could end up destroying himself. In an effort to control his erratic behavior, Paragus used a device to subdue Broly's temperament.

When free of Paragus' control device, Broly's Saiyan nature becomes dominant. His thirst for combat and desire for death and destruction is unyielding, as shown by his destruction of Planet Shamo. Paragus also implies that his lust for combat, death, and destruction was at a scale far above even the typical Saiyan. Broly seems to acknowledge his malevolence; Piccolo calls him a freak, to which Broly replies that he actually is a devil (the FUNimation dub for the film tones this down slightly while at the same time getting the implications across by having Piccolo in the aforementioned scene accusing Broly of attacking children first in a disgusted tone, as well as Broly responding that he merely does what is needed to be done, before telling him that the Namekian should have expected that from "a true freak," although various video games retain the exchange.). It is suggestive that even though Broly was driven mad with his birth-given power and the various circumstances of his birth, Broly has some sanity of said madness as he has also shown a high degree intelligence while on his rampage: he sees through Paragus' lies and plan for having him die in the planet's collision with Comet Camori, as well as briefly engaging in ambushes against Gohan, Goku, and Future Trunks within the ruined city and successfully catching them off guard, and also deducing right before his first defeat that Goku's increase in power had been due to donations from his allies. A similar display of intellect was also demonstrated in the Victory Mission manga, where he, in a similar manner to King Piccolo, proceeded to devour two Dragon Balls in front of Beat and Froze, and then forces them to fight against him, knowing full well they can't actually harm him. On a similar note, he also had very little concern with minor wounds, which is especially evident after Goku kicked him in the face hard enough to bleed from the mouth slightly, where he proceeded to smirk slightly and lick the wound off, to Goku's disgust.

Also (in the FUNimation dub at least), he has a very dark sense of humor: When Goku demanded a handicap during the fight, Broly proceeded to sadistically ask him if "handicap" is another word for a coffin. He also had a more sarcastic sense of humor, at least in the Funimation dub, such being evident before he destroyed Planet Shamo, where he remarked that the Shamoian slaves decided to show bravery despite their being huddled together in complete fear at the time. He also seems to have some degree of respect for fighters who attempt to stop him even when the odds are against them, as evidenced by his remark to the Z Fighters in the Japanese version where he even claimed they were very much worthy of their Saiyan blood (in the FUNimation dub, he says the opposite: he instead calling them wastes of Saiyan Blood). Similarly, he seems to have some loathing of fighters who were all talk and no action, as evidenced by his remark to Vegeta shortly after he ended up quickly defeating them where he called him a "true piece of trash." Although largely lacking self-restraint, he nonetheless was implied in the Japanese version to hold just enough to hold off destroying New Planet Vegeta to allow Goku and the other Z Fighters a chance to fight with everything they had (although this was mostly because his Saiyan instincts demanded him to have a fight). On a similar note, he was capable of honor to a certain degree, at least in the first fight, as despite being aware of Piccolo's presence, he makes absolutely no effort to attack him while he's supplying Senzu Beans to the remaining Z-Fighters. Largely because of his true nature as the Legendary Super Saiyan, he acted as one of the few people Vegeta was initially terrified of, with other contenders being Frieza and Beerus, to the extent that he was initially completely unwilling to fight and even desperately demanded the other Z-Fighters cease their attacks on him due to it being futile.

Broly's most defining trait is his intense hatred for Goku. While both were newborns, Goku's relentless crying greatly irritated the nearby Broly, sparking the hatred which would grow sub-consciously in his early life and awaken upon seeing Goku again. It is implied that the reason behind his hatred for Goku is because he subconsciously associated Goku's incessant crying with the horrific things he had to endure later on such as narrowly surviving the execution and barely escaping Planet Vegeta's destruction, and thus blamed Goku for these things. It also is implied that part of the reason Goku's crying irritated him was because of how it made him cry slightly despite his high power level, sensing Goku may have had more of a warrior spirit than himself. Notably, while Paragus was observing Broly's struggling to maintain control of himself in his room while pondering what's causing his control over his son to wane, Broly was shown to have a disturbed facial expression as well as twitching and profusely sweating at one point, heavily implying that he was undergoing a PTSD episode. On a related point, Paragus's flashback to Broly's past had Broly, just before waking up and discovering Paragus about to outfit the crown on him, briefly turning and having his face quiver and groaning with apparent discomfort, implying he was undergoing a nightmare just before waking up. While under mind-control, and later when his insanity has set in, he often shouts Goku's Saiyan name, "Kakarot", in an exclamatory way. Although he generally addresses Goku by his Saiyan name, he has referred to him by his Earth name twice, both times during their fight on New Planet Vegeta (at least in the English dub). Despite his hatred of Goku, however, the Japanese version of Movie 8 implies that he at least respects Goku's resolve to try and stop him regardless of the low odds of doing so, due to calling him and the other Z-Fighters "worthy of their Saiyan blood." Although not to the same extent as Goku, it is implied that Broly has a similar low opinion of Vegeta, as in the Japanese version when Vegeta regains enough of his bravado to try and attack Broly, the latter coldly states he has no intention of letting Vegeta have an easy kill against him (The English dub tones this down by having Broly sarcastically requesting that Vegeta make Broly kneel before him in reply to Vegeta's boast that he rules over all the Saiyans, even the Legendary Super Saiyan).

By the events of his second movie, his defeat at Goku's hands as well as his severe injuries results in him totally losing his sanity. His speech is now limited to uttering "Kakarot" (except for one rare exception) and he has a diminished sense of reality, as he mistakes Goten for a baby Goku even though he already encountered Goku as an adult seven years prior, and also mistook Gohan for an adult Goku. Xenoverse 2 implies that another reason for his mistaking them for Goku was because they carried a similar scent to him. The only aspect of his mind that seems intact is his sadistic desire for revenge against Goku. Aside of his obvious hatred of Goku, he also seemed to fear him by that point, at least to some degree, as when Goku, or at least an image in his likeness conjured by Shenron, appeared in the final battle, Broly quivered slightly and said "Kakarot?" in a nervous tone. It is implied in Bio-Broly that his hatred for Goku is so great that it has become ingrained in him to the genetic level as his clone Bio-Broly seemingly inherited his hatred and habit of saying "Kakarot!", indicating he passed it on to his clone through some form of genetic memory.

Background

Broly was born in Age 737, during the period of intense turmoil between Frieza and the Saiyans. At birth, his most curious feature was his inordinate power level of 10,000. This anomaly meant that by birth, Broly's power had already been close to that of Bardock and King Vegeta at the time of their deaths. In the Saiyan delivery room where he rests afterward, Broly is tormented by the constant crying of his neighbor, Kakarot. Kakarot's crying, combined with the traumatic events to follow, affected Broly's psychological state of mind, causing him to hold a subconscious grudge against him. The two infants would not meet again for almost three decades.

King Vegeta feared the threat the boy posed to his empire, and so he gave the order for the infant's execution. Broly's father, Paragus, begged the king to spare the child's life, attesting that his son could be an extremely valuable asset to King Vegeta and his son. King Vegeta was quick to point out that while this is true, the same is true that Broly could use his ever-increasing strength to overthrow the Saiyan royal family. King Vegeta closes the argument by sentencing Paragus to death, shooting him with an energy wave. Broly is then stabbed in the chest and left to die with Paragus.

When Planet Vegeta is destroyed, Broly ascends and uses his powers to shield himself and his father. Ironically, the destruction of Planet Vegeta had been orchestrated by Frieza for exactly the same reason why King Vegeta tried to execute Broly earlier: Due to fear of the Legendary Super Saiyan rising up and overthrowing him. Broly then sticks with his father as Paragus plots revenge against King Vegeta and the royal family for the sentence they passed on them. As Broly developed, it became clear to Paragus that King Vegeta was not unjustified in trying to kill him (though he may not have considered King Vegeta's point). Broly's behavior became more maniacal and erratic as he matured, due to his power and the traumatic events during his infancy. One such consequence of this was when Broly punched Paragus in the face and blinded him in the left eye.

Fearing for his own safety but still unwilling to kill Broly, Paragus used a ring as a special control device to keep Broly under restraint. Paragus narrowly managed to survive adorning Broly with the ring; Broly's calmness vanished as soon as he noticed the crown that Paragus tried to place on his forehead. After successfully doing so, Paragus launched a plan to use Earth as a base of operations for universal domination and to take revenge on Vegeta by luring him to a planet doomed to be destroyed by a giant comet.

During this time, he also used Broly to destroy the remaining planets in the South Area, such being the main cause of the realization of disturbance in the universe from King Kai; this caused him to contact Goku and inform him of the Super Saiyan threat.

Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan

"Haha! No matter how much power you absorb from these idiots, it won't be enough to kill me!" — Broly to Goku when the latter absorbed the energy from the Z Fighters

Broly appears to be a quiet and gentle Saiyan until his personality is later dispelled as a charade caused by the suppression of his ring. He accompanies Vegeta to planet Todokama, ironically in search of the Legendary Super Saiyan. When Goku appears at Paragus' palace after warping to New Vegeta using Instant Transmission, Broly starts to fill with rage at the sight of Goku, before his father finally manages to calm him down. However, that night, Broly fails to control himself and goes into a blind rage, attacking Goku in his suppressed Super Saiyan form. Eventually, Broly manages to power up significantly, with Goku upon his doing so recognizing it as the very same energy trail he had been following, and then promptly accuses Broly of being the one responsible for attacking the South Galaxy (in the FUNimation dub, he instead just demands that Broly listen to a newly arrived Paragus and calm down). The battle is drawn to an early close when Paragus arrives and is able to once again use his control over Broly. This encounter leaves Goku in surprise and certain that Broly is the Legendary Super Saiyan he has been tracking down.

When Vegeta tries to leave the planet with the others and Paragus' plan is exposed, Broly starts to walk toward Goku and utter his name in rage. His headband is destroyed, and he transforms into the Legendary Super Saiyan, free of Paragus' control. Vegeta is completely shocked by Broly's ki and Broly proceeds to fight Goku and the others. Enraged beyond control and rampant with insanity, and despite Broly's request that they fight him with all their might if they wished to stop him, the combined Super Saiyan strength of Goku, Gohan, and Future Trunks are futile. During the fight, when Broly noticed the presence of the surviving slaves from Shamo, the Legendary Saiyan proceeded to blow up their home planet in full view after a fake out, greatly horrifying and disgusting the others, with Trunks even noting that he'll continue destroying the entire universe if he isn't stopped then and there. Eventually, Piccolo makes an appearance on the battlefield, but he too provides little help against the unbelievable power of Broly. Soon after, Vegeta dispels his fear and awe over Broly, joining in the fight, only to be quickly outclassed.

While the devastated Dragon Team lie scattered about the rubble of a fallen city, Broly ties one more loose end by confronting Paragus, who is making an attempt to escape the doomed planet in a Saiyan Pod. Broly ignores the fabricated plight of his father, crushing in his arms the Saiyan Pod, and Paragus with it; he muses that Paragus's plan to have the comet kill him would not work. Goku rises one last time and asks his friends to channel all of their energy into him, Vegeta's energy being the final channeling due to his beliefs that he should not assist a lower-class Saiyan. Broly throws a powerful punch to finish Goku, but with the addition of Vegeta's energy, Goku is able to catch Broly's punch. Goku then emits a powerful ki that causes Broly to step back in fear. Realizing the source of Goku's energy, Broly laughs at the idea of Goku being able to kill him before quickly powering up.

The two Saiyans charge each other head on, as the planet begins to break apart beneath them. Broly throws a punch at Goku that misses its mark, while Goku lands a powerful blow to Broly's abdomen. Broly's green ki bursts out from the point of impact, and his skin appears to crack as green light emits from his body. Broly then cries out in astonishment and explodes, seemingly defeated.

Broly - Second Coming

"Not until you lie dead at my feet..." — Broly to Gohan after the latter prepared a Kamehameha Wave

True to Broly's earlier prediction, it is revealed that Broly ultimately survived his defeat at the hands of Goku and managed to make a frantic escape in a Space Pod as New Planet Vegeta is demolished by Comet Camori. Over time the pod finally reaches Earth, soon after which Broly collapses from exhaustion and enters a sort of coma, where for seven years the elements expand around him. His landing on Earth also indirectly caused some trouble at a nearby village. Eventually, he is awakened underneath a thick pool of ice by the incessant cries of a nearby Goten.

After escaping this grave, Broly becomes stronger than before due to the near-death experience. He resumes his vendetta against his fellow Saiyans, particularly Goten, due to his resemblance to Goku, and later Gohan. However, Broly's sanity has been breached so heavily since the encounter on New Planet Vegeta that he fails to tell Goten and Gohan apart from their now deceased father. Despite Goten being Broly's main target, Videl and Trunks fall victim to his brutal rampage as well.

Gohan arrives at the scene and is astonished to find himself reunited with the Legendary Super Saiyan. When Gohan demands that he stop the carnage, Broly makes clear he has no intention of stopping until Gohan lies dead before him (in the Japanese version, he instead declares such to be useless and demands they finish their fight immediately before preparing his ultimate attack). Broly's uncoordinated attempts to take revenge are unsuccessful, and he is ultimately launched into the Sun by a Family Kamehameha fired by Gohan, Goten and the spirit of Goku, with his heart exploding just after screaming Kakarot's name one last time, apparently ending the life of the mighty Saiyan once and for all.

The end credits for the film show clips from the previous movie depicting moments of Broly's life up until his defeat on New Planet Vegeta.

Bio-Broly

After the Z Fighters leave Natade Village and the priest Maloja is kicked out, he discovers Broly's Attack Ball and manages to obtain a sample of Broly's blood. He turns it over to the wealthy industrialist Lord Jaguar, who in turn provides it to Dr. Collie and his team of scientists. They use the sample to create a mutant clone of Broly, Bio-Broly. It is also revealed that the original Broly was sent to Hell upon death and was eventually causing significant enough problems in Hell that Grand Kai dispatched Goku and Pikkon to calm him down. The movie's entry in Daizenshuu 6 left it ambiguous as to whether it was the original or Bio-Broly that was being referenced in the ending, due to it referring to the latter as "Broly" throughout the entry with no differentiation.

Trivia

• Broly's name is a pun on the vegetable broccoli, which is even referenced in Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan when a drunk Master Roshi calls him "Broccoli".
  • This technically makes him the second Saiyan whose name is a pun on "broccoli", after Shorty (who in the Japanese version was named "Brocco").

• In the Other World Saga, an alternate-colored Broly appears in the crowd at the Other World Tournament.
• In the Brazilian Portuguese dub, Master Roshi mentions Broly during the Universe Survival Saga.
• In Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans, it is shown that Broly is from a separate dimension to the main one.
• Despite being potentially mentioned at the conclusion of Bio-Broly that he is a resident of Hell, Broly does not make an appearance in Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn or the Super 17 Saga of Dragon Ball GT, when the residents of Hell make their escape to Earth. He does, however, escape from Hell a few times in Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai and Dragon Ball Heroes.
• Broly and Cooler are the only movie villains to appear in more than one Dragon Ball Z film as the main villain.
• Besides flashbacks of his infancy, Broly is not seen with a tail despite Akira Toriyama's character design sheets depicting him as an adult with it, with Toriyama's notes leaving it ambiguous as to whether or not he retained it in adulthood due to him saying it's "alright whether or not he has a tail." However, as most adult Saiyans wrap their tails in a belt fashion, Broly may have done so and is covered by his sash. In Dragon Ball Xenoverse's "Legendary Super Saiyan Saga", Bardock destroyed Vegeta's Power Ball after transforming with it himself to prevent Broly from doing the same, a feat he performs in Dragon Ball Heroes, showing that Broly indeed retained his tail.
• In Xenoverse, Broly appears in Toki Toki City for a mission the Future Warrior can participate in. If the Warrior is a Majin, he'll remark how they look cute.
• Interestingly, in Xenoverse 2, Beerus is shown to be aware of who Broly is if the Future Warrior talks to Beerus in Conton City while training under Broly. Beerus will state he is surprised that Broly would be willing to train anyone given his personality.
• Oddly, despite Broly's hatred of Goku being immense enough that, at least by the time of Second Coming, he mistook Goten for Goku just from a similar physical appearance, he does not seem to mistake Turles for Goku in Xenoverse 2. However, it is implied that Broly mistook Goten for his father due to his similar scent, crying, and appearance combined with Broly's fragile mental state as he notes similarities in the scents of Goku's close relatives such as his eldest son, father, and brother in Xenoverse 2 (the latter to a much lesser extent, as unlike with Gohan and Bardock, he ended up confused by Raditz possessing Kakarot's scent due to his lacking much resemblance to him at all). He also mistakes the Masked Saiyan for Goku presumably due to his similar appearance, scent, and the mask that obscures Bardock's scarred face. He also recognizes GT Goku despite him being reduced to a child. Broly even says that Kakarot won't escape him by shrinking away and hiding from him, which GT Goku states sounds pretty hilarious to him.
• Broly is similar to the previous film antagonist Android 13, both have a hatred for Goku and seek to eliminate him above all others, they both transform into a huge muscular pupil-less form which proves near impossible for the other Z Fighters to put a dent in until Goku is supplied with energy and defeats them with one punch in the gut. The only notable difference is that Broly's hatred of Goku was personal, while Android 13 only hated Goku due to being programmed by Dr. Gero to have hatred of him post-humously. The other difference is how Android 13 died from Goku's punch while Broly lived from it.
• Broly is mentioned in the description on Kale's artwork, noting that she looks just like "that legendary Saiyan." Broly's popularity was the reason she was created.
  • The Extra Pack 3 DLC from Xenoverse 2, lampshades their similarities in New Parallel Quest: "Catch Kefla If You Can as Kale's Potara fusion Kefla notes there is something familiar about him when she encounters him.
  • Beat comments in Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission that Broly and Kale share similar ki.
• Due to his actions in World Mission, the SDBH game world Broly is responsible for Beat achieving his natural Super Saiyan form due to rage he felt over the perceived "death" of Note.
• Broly wearing a crown that forces him to suppress his unfathomable power during the first movie was similar to Sun Wukong, who when imprisoned wore a crown that causes him agony whenever Tripitaka chants the mantra of obedience. Ironically, his sworn nemesis Goku also shares the same character origins.
  • In a further level of irony, one of the alternate character arcs had Broly and Paragus, after conquering the Earth, proceeding to protect it from various threats, including Cell and Majin Buu, which was similar to how Goku was originally slated to conquer Earth, only to end up thanks to his amnesia proceeding to protect it from various villainous forces such as the Red Ribbon Army and the Demon Clan.
• In some versions of the remastered release of his first appearance, Broly's voice was increased in pitch. However, for some unknown reason, his voice remained unaltered in the remastered version of his second appearance.
  • In addition, his voice was depicted differently between the Japanese and English versions. The former had him sounding somewhat younger as well as closer to a teenager, while the latter had him sounding significantly older.
• Broly is five years younger than his Dragon Ball Super counterpart as Broly (DBS) was born in Age 732 while Broly (DBZ) was born in Age 737.
• Broly is among the tallest known Saiyan in the Dragon Ball franchise, towering at 231 cm (7’7”) - 274 (9’0”).
• According to Shigeyasu Yamauchi, Broly has a lonely existence that stemmed from his strength in contrast to Goku and Vegeta who believed in fighting for something or someone, as part of a theme on how power alone ultimately is nothing compared to love, family, and connections. Broly has the realization that strength is not only physical upon his defeat, to the extent that he even proceeded to question what his true role in existence was. Elements of this characterization may have been included in Xenoverse due to his interactions with Turles, namely their differing philosophies regarding battle.