Raditz may be treated like a joke by the end of Dragon Ball Z, but when he first appeared, he was a genuinely terrifying menace.

He crash-lands on Earth and, unlike E.T., he doesn’t come in peace. He’s more than happy to kill anyone who gets in his way—sometimes just for the fun of it.

Raditz was also the first character to introduce us to the concept of scouters, those iconic devices used to measure power levels—back when power levels were still a cool and sensible concept.

In a shocking twist, it’s revealed that Raditz is actually Goku’s older brother. And let’s just say, he’s not exactly the ideal uncle. While Goku was inspired by Sun Wukong from the classical Chinese tale Journey to the West, by the time Dragon Ball Z begins, he resembles Superman far more than the Monkey King.

Unfortunately, most American fans didn’t get to watch the original Dragon Ball anime before jumping into Dragon Ball Z, which made Raditz’s dominance over both Goku and Piccolo even more impressive. He handled them with ease.

In the end, it took a combination of Gohan’s hidden rage and the (low class) Saiyan weakness to tail grabs to bring him down. Goku sacrifices himself to hold Raditz in place, allowing Piccolo to finish them both off with the Special Beam Cannon.

Even in death, Raditz causes damage. With his final breaths, he learns—and then relays—the secret of the Dragon Balls to Nappa and Vegeta. If that message had never been sent, Earth might have enjoyed peace a little longer… at least until Androids 17 and 18 arrived.