Is any villain in the franchise irredeemable?

[precita]

Of the Z-era "big three," Frieza is absolutely irredeemable. He sees everything that exists as his to do with as he pleases.

Like Vegeta used to be, and yet now Vegeta is supposed to be a good guy.

Freeza came back twice and did the same thing only to get defeated again.

[Kanassa]

Of the Z-era "big three," Frieza is absolutely irredeemable. He sees everything that exists as his to do with as he pleases.

Like Vegeta used to be, and yet now Vegeta is supposed to be a good guy.

Freeza came back twice and did the same thing only to get defeated again.

So would Saiyan/Frieza Saga Vegeta. If Frieza and Vegeta switched positions back then, Frieza would of prbably been redeemed.

[fadeddreams5]

Like Vegeta used to be, and yet now Vegeta is supposed to be a good guy.

Freeza came back twice and did the same thing only to get defeated again.

So would Saiyan/Frieza Saga Vegeta. If Frieza and Vegeta switched positions back then, Frieza would of prbably been redeemed.

The main difference between Frieza and Vegeta is that, after recovering, the latter DIDN'T go back to Earth. He went to Namek to wish for immortality before Frieza. Why? Because he knew he was heavily outclassed by several fighters in the universe. Frieza could not fathom anyone being his equal, and thus, if we reversed their roles, Frieza would have likely returned to Earth.

Frieza has been brought back to life twice, and each time he almost immediately travels to Earth to exact his revenge. He is absolutely obsessed with this goal. Vegeta would have wanted to defeat Goku in combat to prove he's superior. Frieza wants to torment Goku, and could care less how he defeats him. The first time he arrives on Earth, he commands his soldiers to kill all the living beings on the planet. Second time, he does it again.

You simply cannot redeem someone like Frieza.

[Kanassa]

Freeza came back twice and did the same thing only to get defeated again.

So would Saiyan/Frieza Saga Vegeta. If Frieza and Vegeta switched positions back then, Frieza would of prbably been redeemed.

The main difference between Frieza and Vegeta is that, after recovering, the latter DIDN'T go back to Earth. He went to Namek to wish for immortality before Frieza. Why? Because he knew he was heavily outclassed by several fighters in the universe. Frieza could not fathom anyone being his equal, and thus, if we reversed their roles, Frieza would have likely returned to Earth.

Frieza has been brought back to life twice, and each time he almost immediately travels to Earth to exact his revenge. He is absolutely obsessed with this goal. Vegeta would have wanted to defeat Goku in combat to prove he's superior. Frieza wants to torment Goku, and could care less how he defeats him. The first time he arrives on Earth, he commands his soldiers to kill all the living beings on the planet. Second time, he does it again.

You simply cannot redeem someone like Frieza.

Except RoF already proves that Frieza does aknoledge that there are people better then him before he had even heard of Goku, and just like Vegeta he seeks to be superior to Goku. Vegeta loves to torment his foes as well in the startingsagas, hell, even in the Cell saga he had that tendency.

[ShadowBardock89]

In DB, Tao is irredeemable.
In Z, Cell is irredemable.
Of the movie villains, Garlic Jr., Turles, Lord Slug, Cooler, Android 13, Android 14, Android 15, Bido, Bojack, Hoi, and Hirudegarn are pretty irredeemable.
In GT, Eis Shenron/Sān Xīng Lóng was an irredeemable scumbag.

Pretty sure Broly is irredeemable too.

Apparently everyone ignored what I posted that in DBZ Supersonic Warriors 2, there's a scenario where Broly befriends good Ol' Mark and is somewhat redeemed.

[B]

I'd say the biggest difference between Freeza and Vegeta is that you can sort of argue that Vegeta has lived his life, at the very least, under the thumbs of Freeza, Zarbon, Dodoria, Ginyu, Reacoom, maybe Butta, and maybe Jheese. Probably King Cold, too. Freeza is the top thumb and had never had to face any type of humility or embarrassment before Goku. It's a little tricky because you read the Saiyan arc and it's very obvious Toriyama wasn't planning ahead with how cocky Vegeta acts, but it still fits.

[Freeza9000]

I'd say Cell and Freeza were pretty incorrigible.

[TheUltimateVegito]

Freeza. They brought him back and he still couldn't change.

As of right now I'm tempted to say Gokû Black, but I don't know his full back story yet so.

Well Black is doing what he believes is justice, doesn't that make him more redeemable than the other villains?

[Chuquita]

I still don't know his back story. Is he a puppet of Zamasu? Does he have his own thoughts?

That's why I can't answer fully. Not until I know who he is.

[MaxZ]

Babidi, Kid Buu, probably Frieza and Cell, probably Dr. Gero.

[MadSaiyantist]

Cell has cells from guys like Goku and Vegeta so as evil as he is, I think he has some chance at being redeemed no matter how small that chance may be.

[Sailor Haumea]

I think Garlic Jr. could be redeemable, IF he was convinced it was pointless to carry out a grudge held by his father. Piccolo Jr. was able to realize this.

[Sailor Haumea]

Dabura is redeemable.

Babidi isn't.

Cell hypothetically could be redeemed. Many different ways it could play out that Cell stops being a murderous prick. Anything from Honor Trip to present Cell surviving and awakening without Gero's recording to drill into his head the whole "pursue perfection" thing could happen.

[Steven Bloodriver]

Dabura is redeemable.

Babidi isn't.

Cell hypothetically could be redeemed. Many different ways it could play out that Cell stops being a murderous prick. Anything from Honor Trip to present Cell surviving and awakening without Gero's recording to drill into his head the whole "pursue perfection" thing could happen.

I think that the only real way the incarnation of Cell that Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan killed together would have been born good is that if the cells of Vegeta were not included into his cellular structure, and instead replaced by those of Future Trunks.

[Sailor Haumea]

Dabura is redeemable.

Babidi isn't.

Cell hypothetically could be redeemed. Many different ways it could play out that Cell stops being a murderous prick. Anything from Honor Trip to present Cell surviving and awakening without Gero's recording to drill into his head the whole "pursue perfection" thing could happen.

I think that the only real way the incarnation of Cell that Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan killed together would have been born good is that if the cells of Vegeta were not included into his cellular structure, and instead replaced by those of Future Trunks.

Honor Trip has that Cell get hit in the head by Gohan in the same spot Goku hit his head as a kid. The end result is that Cell turns good.

Another way, as I said, would be if the Cell in the main timeline, the one they blew up in Gero's laboratory basement, survived, but was born without being indoctrinated into evil by Gero's supercomputer or audio recording.

[nickzambuto]

Nothing in the universe could ever persuade Freeza to become good, let alone a hero. That would require some modicum of sacrifice, but for Freeza, he is so inhumanly greedy, so completely self centered, that if it came down to restoring the life of his own father, who only died because he tried to help Freeza exact his revenge, but Freeza himself wouldn't gain anything out of it, or worse yet, he would actually have to give something up, like a few minutes of his time, if he himself doesn't gain something from doing that, he won't do it. He literally only cares about himself. Nothing else even matters. A person that utterly selfish can not be redeemed. You might say Vegeta was the same way, but his family is what ultimately transformed him. Freeza already had a family and couldn't care less about them.

And I like this aspect of Freeza. He wasn't born a physical manifestation of pure evil like Piccolo or Boo were. He's not a life form who was programmed for evil like Cell. He is a completely natural life form, who, for all intents and purposes, had the decision between being good and evil. Piccolo and Boo and Cell all did not. Freeza did, and he chose to be pure evil. That kind of makes him the most evil of all in a way. How, there's really nothing inhibiting him from being redeemed, evil isn't in his very nature like it is for Boo. He COULD be a good guy if he wanted, but he's just a normal guy who was so spoiled and pampered and grew to become so ungodly selfish and greedy, that he refuses to care anything about anybody else but himself. I like how he's a natural life form, instead of a freak like Cell and Boo. It makes him more relatable to Goku. I hope this makes sense.

Cell is an interesting case, because you can look at it from different perspectives. I like what fadeddreams said about how Cell's delusions are a lot stronger than some fans might think, because after he regenerated, he didn't return to Earth for revenge on Gohan, because even after Gohan humiliated him, it was impossible to convince Cell that he wasn't perfect and the strongest, so Gohan remained an insignificant afterthought equivalent to Vegeta and the others. That's some seriously delusional thinking there, Cell regenerated stronger and basically just forgot about his defeat 10 minutes prior. It had no effect on him, everything was back to normal, he's still perfect and the best and it doesn't matter that Gohan proved himself 10 times stronger because he's Cell and he's obviously still somehow the best. When your delusions reach THAT level, it's basically impossible to convince Cell of anything else. Gohan was infinitely more powerful than everyone else, but to Cell, they were all equivalent. They were all ants who he really didn't care about or think about. He's too busy constantly thinking about himself.

That's what separates Freeza and Cell. Freeza's motivations were sheer greed and selfishness, like a spoiled child, and when he didn't get what he wanted he would throw a fit. Cell's motivation was sheer narcissism, self-interest, pride, he literally thought he was the only being in the universe who was important, like some delusional sociopath. When he didn't get what he wanted, he reacted with denial and genuine confusion. Like, he literally didn't even understand why Gohan was beating him.

From that perspective, he's completely irredeemable. He'll never care about or respect anybody else, because he literally lacks the capacity to. To him, he's perfect, nobody else is, so therefore nobody else matters. He doesn't even understand the idea of caring about someone else, in any way shape or form. That includes hate. He lacks care on such a level that he didn't even hate Gohan, once again, in Cell's brain, Gohan was somehow equivalent to all the other fighters and Earthlings. He might have been incredibly powerful, but he's not perfect. After all, one million is equally far from infinity as one hundred is. To Cell, everything in the entire universe was inconsequential, and only he mattered. He genuinely believed that was the truth.

[Sailor Haumea]

The thing about Frieza is that he's a spoiled brat.

His father, King Cold, appears to have pampered him, while at the same time pampering his brother even more.

He doesn't care about anyone but himself and his father, and how much he cares about Cold is questionable.

From what we can tell, he doesn't even care about his son Kuriza.

Nothing matters to him but himself and his father. He doesn't care about his brother or his son.

[Roronoa-pt]

At first, we could have all said that Vegeta and Piccolo were irredeemable monsters, but they changed with time. Are any villains in this series truly monsters that can't change for the better?

Piccolo Jr. was never the monster Daimao was. He's completely different from his father, a whole new personality.

[DBZAOTA482]

At first, we could have all said that Vegeta and Piccolo were irredeemable monsters, but they changed with time. Are any villains in this series truly monsters that can't change for the better?

Piccolo Jr. was never the monster Daimao was. He's completely different from his father, a whole new personality.

Exactly. Piccolo Jr. just needed love and guidance. Daimao would laugh at that stuff.

[Kanassa]

Nothing in the universe could ever persuade Freeza to become good, let alone a hero.

I'd say the same thing about Vegeta, yet here he is now as the secondary hero. All it takes is the right development.