Cell is undoubtedly one of the greatest villains in the entire Dragon Ball Z anime—and for good reason. Akira Toriyama came up with the idea of a supervillain who possesses not only the genes of the bad guys, but also those of the heroes, plus the bulk power of Androids 17 and 18. That’s a pretty horrifying concept for the Z Warriors.
What I don’t get is why Dr. Gero even created him in the first place. Once Dr. Gero let his supercomputer continue the project, it would take many years before Cell was even big or strong enough to exist. Considering that Androids 17 and 18 were built solely to kill Goku, they would’ve likely either failed or completed that mission long before Cell was ready to find them.
His Imperfect Form has moments that feel straight out of a horror movie. No one knew who—or what—this guy was until he started using that freaky tail to literally absorb regular humans like they were candy.
It wasn’t until Piccolo tricked him into revealing his entire life story that a path to actually defeating Cell began to emerge.
The heroes definitely had enough opportunities to finish him off before he became too strong. Piccolo gave up on tracking him, and Android 16 just couldn’t seem to finish the job, even when he was strong enough to do so.
Then, when Vegeta reached an enhanced version of Super Saiyan 1, he let Cell absorb Android 18 just for the sake of a greater challenge. If the Earth was doomed, it was definitely the heroes’ fault—especially Vegeta’s.
I really think Cell’s fight against Goku was the best part of his arc, even though it ended with Goku quitting and giving Cell a Senzu Bean—despite knowing Gohan wasn’t strong enough yet to defeat this menace.
Still, it was fun to watch Gohan toy with and torture Cell once he finally reached Super Saiyan 2. He hit Cell so hard that he actually spit out Android 18 and reverted to his Semi-Perfect form.
One moment I hated in Dragon Ball Z was when Cell tried to blow up the entire planet with a self-destruct attack. Goku sacrificed himself to stop it—and then the dude came back to life, even stronger than before, despite having lost Android 18!
Thankfully, Cell finally dies when Gohan hits him with the iconic Father-Son Kamehameha wave. Watching him fade away into nothing was incredibly rewarding.