| Frieza | |
| Series: | Dragon Ball |
| First: | Dragon Ball chapter #247 Dark Clouds Swirl Over Planet Namek, October 24, 1989 (Weekly Shōnen Jump 1989) |
| Creator: | Akira Toriyama |
| Lbl1: | Voiced by (Japanese) |
| Data1: | Ryūsei Nakao |
| Lbl2: | Voiced by (English) |
| Species: | Unnamed race |
| Gender: | Male |
| Lbl31: | Archenemy |
| Data31: | Son Goku |
| Lbl23: | Abilities |
, also spelled as Freeza in Funimation's English subtitles and Viz Media's release of the manga, is a fictional character and the primary antagonist in the Dragon Ball manga series created by Akira Toriyama. He makes his debut in Chapter #247: "Dark Clouds Swirl Over Planet Namek", first published in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on October 24, 1989,[1] as the main antagonist of his eponymous saga, depicted as a galactic tyrant feared as the most powerful being in the universe.
Despite not appearing until the manga's second half, Freeza is widely considered to be the most iconic and popular villain in Dragon Ball, and the archenemy of Goku - since he effectively serves as the catalyst of many of the events depicted in the story, due to the destruction of the Saiyan homeworld Planet Vegeta at his hands and Goku's arrival on Earth and subsequent conflicts with Raditz, Nappa and Vegeta. Freeza later appears as the primary villain in the 2015 film and as a recurring character in Dragon Ball Super.
Freeza, a broker who forcibly takes over planets to resell them, often rendering the planet's population extinct first, was created around the time of the Japanese economic bubble and was inspired by real estate speculators, whom Toriyama called the "worst kind of people."[2] Toriyama purposely does not draw bad guys so unscrupulous that it affects one psychologically, although he admits Freeza is close. Therefore, he paid special attention to how Freeza spoke; because villains typically speak rudely, he gave him polite speech making for an unsettling contrast with his cruelty.[3] The character's name is a pun on freezer, and because of this, his minions and the members of the Ginyu Force are named after fruits and dairy products, items one would normally put in a refrigerator.[4] The Shenlong Times issue #2, a bonus pamphlet given to some buyers of the Daizenshuu 2: Story Guide guidebook, says that Freeza was modeled after Toriyama's editor at the time, Yū Kondō.[5]
Toriyama had the idea to bring Freeza back while attending a concert by the metal band Maximum the Hormone. It came to him while watching them perform their 2008 song "F", which is about the fictional character.[6]
Toriyama revealed that he did not think to have Freeza transform until about midway through. He said he has a habit of making characters gradually more tough and complex-looking, until finally making them very sleek, as it is a pain to draw them if their appearance is too complex. The author confirmed this is why Freeza's third and most intricate form is only shown for a short time, and joked that three transformations might be one too many.[3]
In the original Japanese version, Freeza is voiced by Ryūsei Nakao in every single piece of Dragon Ball media.[7]
In English, Freeza was voiced by Pauline Newstone in the Ocean dub of Dragon Ball Z.
In Funimation's in house English dub, Freeza was voiced by Linda Young in the Dragon Ball Z series and continued playing him in all subsequent media up until the first episode of Dragon Ball Z Kai. Christopher Ayres voiced the character in later episodes of Kai and all subsequent media through Dragon Ball Super.[8] Due to being diagnosed with end-stage COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and requiring a double lung transplant, Ayres was forced to step down from the role in 2018. He briefly reprised the role in 2019 for and the home media releases of the Universal Survival Saga of Dragon Ball Super before passing away in 2021.[9] [10] Ayres' understudy Daman Mills [who has a strong ability to imitate Ayres] assumed the role beginning with the television broadcast of the Universal Survival Saga, and has voiced Frieza indefinitely in all subsequent appearances with the exception of Broly.
Before the start of the series, Freeza destroys Planet Vegeta out of both fear of a potential uprising by the Saiyans due to their increasing power and the prophecy of the coming of the legendary Super Saiyan and Lord Beerus ordering him to destroy planet Vegeta. Freeza only knowingly spares Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz, who were away on a mission when he blew Planet Vegeta up, after telling them it was struck by a meteor. However, when Bardock made a final stand when Freeza destroyed Planet Vegeta, he did not notice the Saiyan's second son being sent to Earth where he became known as Goku.
Freeza makes his official appearance in the story after Vegeta's defeat on Earth at Goku's hands, having traveled to Planet Namek to find the seven Namekian Dragon Balls to wish for immortality. He and his men massacre Namekian villages one after another, until Gohan, Krillin, and Vegeta begin to hamper his efforts in their own way. Though Freeza manages to gain the Dragon Balls, with the Ginyu Force dealing with the interlopers, his inability to speak Namekian forces him to find the Great Elder of Namek. Freeza ends up fighting Namekian warrior Nail, whom he beats repeatedly until Nail reveals that their fight was only to buy time for Dende to give the words needed to activate the Namekian Dragon Balls, for the warriors from Earth. With his entire army killed by Vegeta and the Ginyu Force defeated by Goku, Freeza intercepts Vegeta and the others personally.
Enraged to find he is too late, as the Dragon Balls have become inert on Guru's death, Freeza briefly battles Vegeta, with the Saiyan Prince goading him into transforming and revealing his true power. Freeza transforms into his second form, and during the battle he finally admits to be the one who had destroyed the planet where the Saiyans had settled. After defeating Vegeta, Freeza takes on Piccolo, who has at this point fused with Nail. Although Piccolo appears to be even with him, he transforms into his third form and dominates the powerful Namekian.[11] Following a brief tussle with Gohan, Freeza decides to transform into his final form.[12] He kills Dende to stop him from healing the others[13] and mortally wounds Vegeta just as Goku arrives, who just recovered following his fight with the Ginyu Force.[14] Frieza fights Goku and the two seem evenly matched, but Frieza powers up to 50% of his maximum power and brutally beats him;[15] however, Goku manages to seriously wound the tyrant with a Spirit Bomb.[16] In retaliation, Freeza critically injures Piccolo and kills Krillin, which sends Goku into a rage, consequently assuming Super Saiyan form for the first time.[17] Goku takes the upper hand and viciously pummels Freeza, who damages the core of Namek in an act of desperation, knowing he can survive in vacuum of space.[18] The tyrant then uses 100% of his power and briefly regains the advantage, but his power level begins to drop and he is again outclassed by Goku and ultimately sliced in half by one of his own attacks. Though Goku spares the crippled Freeza while leaving for his ship to escape the planet's destruction, Freeza attempts to blast Goku from behind, prompting Goku to retaliate with his own attack that apparently destroys Freeza.[19]
However, Freeza survives both the attack and Namek's explosion, and drifts through space until he is found by his father, who was on his way to Namek to aid him against Goku. Over the next year, Freeza is rebuilt with cybernetic prosthetics, increasing his strength significantly, and the two immediately head for Earth to exact revenge on Goku and his friends, but they are confronted by Trunks, the son of Vegeta and Bulma, who has travelled back to their time from the future.[20] After a brief battle, Freeza is sliced to pieces by Trunks and his remains blasted into oblivion, with his father following shortly afterwards. Though finally gone, Freeza's cells are later used as a catalyst for the future villain Cell. Cell is eventually destroyed by Gohan, thereby destroying the last traces of Freeza's biological tissue.
In the original unaltered timeline where Goku dies of a viral heart disease, Freeza and King Cold are intercepted and killed on Earth by Goku, who arrived via Instant Transmission, and Cell is later killed by Future Trunks.
Ending up in Earth's Hell after being killed by Future Trunks, Freeza spends the next fourteen years being tortured by playful antics of an overly saccharine cadre of angels and fairies while reliving the memories of his defeats at the hands of Goku and Trunks. But Freeza is resurrected by Sorbet, who saw Freeza's return as essential to restore the Freeza Force to its former glory, and his right hand, Tagoma. The two then bring Freeza's diced Mecha Freeza form to their ship, where they use their advanced medical technology to restore him to his full organic form. After learning that Goku defeated Majin Buu and fought Beerus to a stalemate, both being the two figures his father warned him never to cross, Freeza decides to undergo four months of intensive training. This led to him achieving a new form which he dubs "Golden Freeza" before setting off for Earth with his army. The Z Fighters hold back Tagoma and Freeza's minions long enough for Goku and Vegeta to return from their training session on Beerus's planet. Freeza executes his defeated army for their incompetence just as Goku, Vegeta, Beerus, and Whis arrive. Goku reveals his new Super Saiyan Blue form, although Freeza overpowers him yet lacked the stamina for a prolonged fight in his powered state. He then has Sorbet shoot Goku, forcing Vegeta to take up his place. Vegeta nearly kills Freeza who instead causes his death by destroying Earth. but Whis rewinds time so Goku can quickly kill off Freeza before he destroys the planet. Freeza returns to Hell, where he is once more tormented by the angels.[21] Frieza appears in the manga adaption omake alongside Sorbet and Susami in Hell.
Freeza later returns in the Universal Tournament Arc as a replacement member for the Seventh Universe team after Majin Buu is ineligible to fight due to having fallen into a deep sleep from which nobody could wake him, revealed to have mentally trained himself to maintain his Golden form. When approached by Goku, who is arranging for him to be temporarily revived by Fortuneteller Baba for a day, Freeza accepts the offer on the condition of being fully resurrected by the Dragon Balls after the tournament. Upon being revived, Freeza slaughters a group of assassins hired by the deities of the Ninth Universe to kill him while trapping Goku in a Destroyer-based energy attack meant for him. He then attempted to offer his services to the Ninth Universe deities in return for a place in their universe until Beerus and Whis appear. Despite Beerus's reservations, Goku vouches for him as they join the rest of their team.
As the tournament commences, Freeza meets his Sixth Universe counterpart, a con artist who posed as a hero until a previous contest between the Seventh and Sixth Universes exposed his criminal activities and forced him into hiding. Freeza tricks Frost into believing they have forged an alliance to take out the Saiyans, proceeding to take out both the Ninth Universe's Roselle and the Tenth Universe's Murichim as the tournament commences.[22] After eliminating Frost when he appears to commence their arrangement, Freeza eventually ends up being one of the four remaining combatants alongside Goku, Android 17, and Jiren of the Eleventh Universe. Freeza unexpectedly teams up with Goku to force Jiren out in a triple elimination with 17 declared the winner, resurrected soon after by Whis at Beerus's behest as a reward for his efforts. Freeza then takes his leave to begin rebuilding his empire but is warned by Goku that he will be destroyed if he ever torments the universe again.
During the events of the film , Freeza starts rebuilding the Freeza Force while deciding to use Earth's Dragon Balls to make a wish to increase his height by five centimeters, having become disillusioned with the idea of eternal life from his time in Earth's Hell. Freeza recruits the Saiyan Broly and his father Paragus, who accompany him to Earth for the last Dragon Ball, realizing the former's potential as he matched Goku and Vegeta in their Super Saiyan Blue forms. This inspires Freeza to kill Paragus to force Broly's transformation into a Super Saiyan, only to be caught in Broly's rampage after the latter quickly defeats Goku. Freeza is saved at the last second by Gogeta, a merged warrior between Goku and Vegeta created when they perform the fusion dance technique, who thwarts his attempt to kill off his former subordinates Cheelai and Lemo when they use the Dragon Balls to save Broly's life by wishing him off the planet. Freeza falls back while deciding not to go after Chilai and Lemo as intends to use them to make Broly docile enough for him to use against Goku in the future.
Years later, Freeza is contacted by a former subordinate named Elec to meet him and his group on planet Cereal. Meanwhile, Elec wishes for his younger brother, Gas, to be the strongest warrior in the universe. After Elec sets up a trap to have Granolah and Gas kill Goku and Vegeta, Freeza arrives and murders Gas. Freeza then kills Elec after revealing that he was aware of the latter's plan to assassinate. Freeza reveals to Goku and Vegeta that he had found a place very similar to the Room of Spirit and Time on a distant planet and trained in the room for 10 years in just a matter of days, which is why Elec's wish did not take him into account at the time it was granted. Freeza presents his new form,, before knocking Goku and Vegeta to the ground, sparing the Saiyans as he only traveled to kill Elec and Gas before leaving Cereal.[23]
Freeza is capable of moving at superhuman speeds and flying, and has quick reflexes.[24] Like most characters in the series, he can harness a supernatural energy known as Ki and manipulate it into powerful and devastating concussive beams of said energy, with which he is able to destroy planets with relative ease. Some of Freeza's signature ki techniques include the, a sharp piercing beam from his finger, and the, a large energy sphere he used to destroy planet Namek and previous to that, Planet Vegeta. He is capable of surviving in the vacuum of space, and also seems to possess some form of telekinesis, being able to lift opponents without touching them and cause them to explode.
Freeza's power was so great over time, that his body could not comfortably contain it and a series of physical transformations were developed that limit his actual strength.[25] While changing shape from his "first form", each alteration builds on the previous. In all, Freeza has three transformed states, each with increasing power, some larger than others and each resulting in different physical attributes, although the two transformed states (along with his first form) were merely to suppress Freeza's power, and that his fourth transformed state is actually his true form, while a fifth and later sixth further transformation that he discovers after performing vigorous times of training that actually increase his power drastically and lets out most of his latent strength.
Freeza's 6th Universe counterpart, Frost, also initially appears in this form.
Freeza's 6th Universe counterpart Frost also takes on a second form, however it bears a greater resemblance to Freeza's third form and is said to be the equivalent of it by Piccolo.
Freeza's 6th Universe counterpart, Frost, also briefly uses this form during the Tournament of Power.
In numerous filler episodes of the anime and Dragon Ball GT, Freeza makes numerous cameo appearances, usually as comic relief, causing trouble in Hell, having somehow been permitted to keep his body despite his wrongdoings. In Hell, he is defeated and sent to prison by Goku and Pikkon along with Cell, his father and the Ginyu Force, and he is later seen watching Goku's final battle with Majin Buu in a crystal ball, comically hoping for Goku to lose (this appearance is later contradicted in Resurrection "F" and its Dragon Ball Super adaptation, where Freeza is depicted as unaware that Goku fought and defeated Buu, although for flashback sequences and such, Super alludes to Dragon Ball Z Kai, where most filler material has been cut). In , Freeza briefly escapes from Hell with an army of villains to attack Earth, but he is swiftly defeated by Gohan. In Dragon Ball GT, when Goku is sent to Hell by accident, Freeza and Cell confront him, their bodies having been rendered temporarily immortal due to the unbalance between the two worlds. Using a joint attack, Freeza and Cell send Goku to a lower level where he is frozen by a witch, but the two villains end up frozen themselves when they foolishly venture downwards to gloat at Goku. Goku accidentally breaks the ice holding Freeza and Cell and it shatters to pieces, implying that Freeza and Cell have been erased from existence. However, in a future scene, Freeza and Cell are seen being taken away in a jail cell with tape over their mouths and appear in the live action GT show where he and Cell gained new forms to track down Goku. He appeared in a TV ad for , as he makes a non-speaking appearance in the film.[36]
He also appears in a chapter of Toriyama's Neko Majin manga, published in August 2003, which also introduces Freeza's son, . He briefly appears in the 2006 Dragon Ball crossover chapter,, of Osamu Akimoto's manga Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo.[37] Frieza appears in Naho Ōishi's 2011 Dragon Ball spin-off manga Episode of Bardock, but it predominately features his ancestor . He also appears in Toriyama's 2014 special.[38]
Freeza has made numerous appearances in other media. The Japanese nu metal/hardcore punk band Maximum the Hormone released the song "F" as part of a double A-side single on July 9, 2008.[39] The entirety of the song references Freeza, with the single itself rising as high as number two on the Oricon music chart.[40] The song was the source of reference used by Toriyama for the title of the film Fukkatsu no F and is featured in the movie.[41] Seikima-II frontman Demon Kakka wrote and performed the song that appeared in two episodes of Dragon Ball Kai and on the 2009 Dragon Ball Kai Song Collection album.[42]
In the manga Black Cat, the character Sven Vollfied is often seen using his cell phone with a wrist strap of a miniature-sized badge of Freeza's head.[43] A caricature of Freeza mixed with a grey alien was parodied as a mech pilot in an episode of Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi.[44] The anime Yakitate!! Japan featured a spoof re-enactment of the fight between Goku and Freeza, with a character clad in a refrigerator representing the latter.[45] The Cartoon Network show had a parody of their own of the climactic fight and the Freeza character, with the Delightful Children From Down the Lane portraying him as a multi-headed monstrosity.[46]
Freeza has been featured in many of the video games based on the series. Often, he appears as both a playable character and boss, though more frequently the latter. He is also usually able to transform into his many different forms.
Freeza appears in the Famicom game (and later Playdia remake) Dragon Ball Z Gaiden: Saiyajin Zetsumetsu Keikaku. Freeza seems to be somehow resurrected, and he and other past villains start attacking Goku and his friends. Once it's revealed these are merely ghost-warriors meant to distract the heroes, however, the false Freeza and his allies are easily dealt with. Other games highlight Freeza in alternate story paths; including those where he successfully attains immortality and goes on to threaten Earth such as , and where Freeza and Cell are resurrected and controlled by Bobbidi as a distraction for the player.
Freeza also appears as a playable character in the crossover fighting games Jump Ultimate Stars, Battle Stadium D.O.N, J-Stars Victory Vs and Jump Force.
Yū Kondō, Toriyama's second editor from the Saiyan arc until the appearance of Perfect Cell, and Fuyuto Takeda, his third editor from Perfect Cell until the end of the series, said that Dragon Ball hit its peak in popularity during the Freeza arc. In a one-thousand ballot popularity poll held in Weekly Shōnen Jump, Dragon Ball received 815 of them.[47] In 2004, fans of the series voted Freeza the ninth most popular character for a poll in the book Dragon Ball Forever.[48] Frieza topped a poll of Dragon Ball antagonists by fan vote, the results of which was published by the March 2018 issue of V Jump.[49]
Freeza was mentioned as one of the "most beloved characters" in an article by GamePro.[50] The casting and direction of his English voices has often been criticized over the years, with IGN's Ramsey Isler writing that, coupled with the ambiguous physical features, the "old lady" voice led to some gender confusion with fans.[51] The Ledgers December 8, 1999, paper names him as one of the reasons that Dragon Ball Z was listed as a violent show for children, stating, "In one recent episode, beads of sweat form on the brow of a character named Vegeta, as he is nearly strangled to death by an evil foe named Freeza. In another, Freeza uses the horns on his head to impale a good guy named Krillin through the chest."[52] The paper also comments on Freeza's appearance: "Little Gohan is abruptly in the icy metallic grip of one of his arch-nemeses, Frieza, a silvery androgynous giant who looks like a cross between the monster in Alien and Batman's Mr. Freeze."[53] Comic Book Resources regarded Freeza's role in the original series as the reason why his arc is one of the darkest ever in the franchise due to the violence in fights, deaths and resolution of his fight against Goku, giving it an improvement in retrospect.[54] Both Kotaku and Den of Geek regarded Freeza as the series' most entertaining villain in the entire series which led to the staff to revive him multiple times in order to appeal to returning fans.[55] [56]
Response to Freeza's revival in Resurrection F has been mixed to negative. DVD Talk enjoyed the rematch between Freeza and Goku in Resurrection F but still lamented that its length was too much when compared with other subplots.[57] IGN was more positive in regards Freeza's new powers and rivalry with Goku.[58] Anime News Network lamented Freeza's role as he felt that he barely gave a decent fight in the movie as the writing fails to portray him as a menacing villain with the new powers of Goku and Vegeta easily surpassing him alongside other plot devices like the healing beans. In regards to the voice actors "Ayres’ brand of childish pompousness is a lot less threatening in a story where Freeza isn't in a position of power from the get-go. Ryusei Nakao's slightly more adult tone works a little better in this instance."[59] Den of Geek found the fight between Goku's allies and Freeza's army as the best part of the movie in contrast to the lead's fights which he felt was "standard" to the point it gets "boring".[60]
For the final arc of Dragon Ball Super, Anime News Network had mixed feelings about the second return of Freeza to have him teamed up with Universe 7. He felt that while Freeza might be turning into a Dragon Ball cliche where most characters such as Yamcha, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, Piccolo, Vegeta and Majin Buu served as villains before becoming heroes, his actions were still ambiguous and it was satisfying to see him engage with Goku on a one-on-one to settle their rules in the Tournament of Power.[61] Hobby Consolas commented that Freeza was overpowered by Jiren so many times that it became tiring to see. However, Freeza's team up with Goku in order to force their enemy out of the tournament's arena was found surprising for how such characters who have hated each other's for years have decided to join forces to the point even Vegeta is shocked at seeing this.[62] IGN noted that Freeza was absent through so many episodes of the final arc and praised his team up with Goku not only due to their differences but also animation highlights. However, the fact that Freeza is not only revived but also given his own empire back left the reviewer in a dilemma in regards to the impact it might give the franchise in the future due to whether or not he will keep being evil as he kept interacting with Goku for a long time.[63] Cine Premiere agreed that Freeza's future actions might be up to debate.[64]