Why do people consider Frieza to be the worst out of all villains in the series?

[keyz05]

While it might be true that Frieza's actions became the catalyst for the whole DragonBall franchise, it kind of makes me curious as to why he is the worst out of worst to so many fans. Villains like Buu and Cell are motivated by destruction, but Frieza is evil for his own guilty pleasure. I know he ruined Vegeta's life, made the Saiyan's evil and merciless, destroyed Planet Vegeta, and used his men as tools for his own bidding. But it makes me think that he's the king of all villains from the franchise.

Why do people consider him to be the worst, anyway?

[SSOROBO]

Well, he does stand to have the highest body count out of any character in Dragon Ball.

...Barring Beerus, of course.

[TheGreatness25]

I don't know about the worst, but I think that Freeza is the best. Freeza has more motivation, more depth, more development, and the most presence out of anyone that came before or after him. With that bias, it's easy to gravitate to him and be able to say that he is the biggest villain in DB.

[Ki Breaker]

Worst? Freeza? As in character wise?
Ya right

He is the best villain of all series I have watched, and I have watched a fuck ton of them..
Evil emperor, torture and kill even little kids, extremely dangerous, unpredictable, literally an evil prodigy, goku had to fulfill a legend that hasn't been fulfilled for 1000 years and he still didn't die, comes back years later and reached god levels on his own in months..

No Villan Carries as much weight as freeza does

[WittyUsername]

I haven't heard of anyone who considers him "the worst", at least not in terms of how memorable he is as a villain. Freeza is easily the most iconic villain in the entire franchise (sorry Broly).

[NintendoBlaze53]

I think what the TC mean't was why do people consider Freeza the worst as in most evil or most maniacal, not the worst as in bad.

In that regard he's ruthless, his torture of Kuririn for one is pure unadulterated evil. He can be compared to Meruem from Hunter X Hunter in terms of sheer lack of humanity (Without getting into HXH spoilers). He could have easily killed Gohan, Piccolo, Vegeta anytime. But he made their deaths agonizing and brutal as revenge for his dream of immortality getting dashed.

[Merged Zamasu]

I'd say Zamasu is far worse than Frieza. In fact, Frieza is just a scared little child compared to him. Frieza blew up a bunch of irrelevant planets, everyone can do that. Zamasu became one with the Multiverse and is responsible for its destruction. Name me one character, besides Zamasu, who could accomplish that. And Zamasu is one psycopath bastard. First, he stole Goku's body. Then, he used Goku's own body to kill him. And then, he used Goku's own body to kill Goku's family. That's fucked up, even Frieza would be shocked by Zamasu's cruelty. Using someone's body to kill that someone's family is just... terryfing. I also find Frieza kind of boring, he is such a one-dimensional character, all evil and stuff.

[Lord Beerus]

Freeza was the first villain that really displayed throwing his weight around without no real repercussions. He was killing and torturing anyone in his sight, knowing he could do it and get away with it.

[ABED]

I also find Frieza kind of boring, he is such a one-dimensional character, all evil and stuff.

But it was executed brilliantly. Hans Gruber and The Joker are both plain evil, but they are iconic villains.

[DBZ Macky]

I know he ruined Vegeta's life, made the Saiyan's evil and merciless

I thought TeamFourStar already addressed this misconception. No, Vegeta and co. would definitely still be evil even if Freeza wasn't around.

I personally think he's just overrated.
Though, overrated doesn't really mean bad. He's still one of the most iconic villains of the franchise.

[Akyon]

Because Frieza is personal.

You know how Buu killed everyone on Earth? We didn't see that. He didn't purposely take his time and torture any of the opponents he killed, he just murdered them without a second thought.

Or Cell? Sure he killed a fair few nameless people, but with the exception of Trunks and 16, Cell didn't really target anyone of importance to kill. Goku, King Kai, Gregory, Bubbles and 17 died by proxy of his explosion, but like Buu he purposely decided just to indisrciminately murder the entire planet.

Frieza on the other hand REVELS in the personal touch. Look at the way he tortures Gohan, Krillin, Piccolo, Vegeta, Dende and Nail. Watching a psychopath crush people beneath his feet with a sick and twisted grin sends the chills down your spine a lot more than watching everyone get killed by a singular attack.

Whilst Buu seems to have some aspect of him that is genuinely good, and even Cell as twisted as he is seems to be more interested in proving his perfection than torturing people, Frieza is someone who gets off on destroying weaker opponents, be they genuine potential threats like the Saiyans, mild nuisances like Krillin and the Namekian warriors or absolutely no threat whatsoever such as the Namekian elders and children. He laughs and kills them all. He subjugates entire planets and races for his empire, murders his own henchmen with all the care one would casually dust their own shoulder and blows entire planets of people up for giggles.

That is why Frieza is deemed, at least IMO, the 'worst' villain(as in one of the best villains) in the entire damn series.

[keyz05]

I'd say Zamasu is far worse than Frieza. In fact, Frieza is just a scared little child compared to him. Frieza blew up a bunch of irrelevant planets, everyone can do that. Zamasu became one with the Multiverse and is responsible for its destruction. Name me one character, besides Zamasu, who could accomplish that. And Zamasu is one psycopath bastard. First, he stole Goku's body. Then, he used Goku's own body to kill him. And then, he used Goku's own body to kill Goku's family. That's fucked up, even Frieza would be shocked by Zamasu's cruelty. Using someone's body to kill that someone's family is just... terryfing. I also find Frieza kind of boring, he is such a one-dimensional character, all evil and stuff.

Frieza isn't one-dimensional. He wants to seek immortality, rules himself as a tyrant, is sociopathic, cold, selfish, treated Zarbon with little respect, and so on.

[Merged Zamasu]

I'd say Zamasu is far worse than Frieza. In fact, Frieza is just a scared little child compared to him. Frieza blew up a bunch of irrelevant planets, everyone can do that. Zamasu became one with the Multiverse and is responsible for its destruction. Name me one character, besides Zamasu, who could accomplish that. And Zamasu is one psycopath bastard. First, he stole Goku's body. Then, he used Goku's own body to kill him. And then, he used Goku's own body to kill Goku's family. That's fucked up, even Frieza would be shocked by Zamasu's cruelty. Using someone's body to kill that someone's family is just... terryfing. I also find Frieza kind of boring, he is such a one-dimensional character, all evil and stuff.

Frieza isn't one-dimensional. He wants to seek immortality, rules himself as a tyrant, is sociopathic, cold, selfish, treated Zarbon with little respect, and so on.

His motivations are very boring, he is evil for the sake of doing evil stuff. I feel many people like Frieza because he was the first real major world-ending threat of Dragon Ball, not because he was actually a well-written character with a lot of depth.

[Doctor.]

I'd say Zamasu is far worse than Frieza. In fact, Frieza is just a scared little child compared to him. Frieza blew up a bunch of irrelevant planets, everyone can do that. Zamasu became one with the Multiverse and is responsible for its destruction. Name me one character, besides Zamasu, who could accomplish that. And Zamasu is one psycopath bastard. First, he stole Goku's body. Then, he used Goku's own body to kill him. And then, he used Goku's own body to kill Goku's family. That's fucked up, even Frieza would be shocked by Zamasu's cruelty. Using someone's body to kill that someone's family is just... terryfing. I also find Frieza kind of boring, he is such a one-dimensional character, all evil and stuff.

Frieza isn't one-dimensional. He wants to seek immortality, rules himself as a tyrant, is sociopathic, cold, selfish, treated Zarbon with little respect, and so on.

His motivations are very boring, he is evil for the sake of doing evil stuff. I feel many people like Frieza because he was the first real major world-ending threat of Dragon Ball, not because he was actually a well-written character with a lot of depth.

A character doesn't need to be well-written and have a lot of depth to be likeable.

[keyz05]

Frieza isn't one-dimensional. He wants to seek immortality, rules himself as a tyrant, is sociopathic, cold, selfish, treated Zarbon with little respect, and so on.

His motivations are very boring, he is evil for the sake of doing evil stuff. I feel many people like Frieza because he was the first real major world-ending threat of Dragon Ball, not because he was actually a well-written character with a lot of depth.

A character doesn't need to be well-written and have a lot of depth to be likeable.

What do you mean, exactly?

[Doctor.]

What do you mean, exactly?

Exactly what I said. You don't need to find a character well-written to like him.

Kaioshin's characterization is all over the place and he's a complete utter idiot, yet I still find his personality endearing.

[DBZAOTA482]

I'd say Zamasu is far worse than Frieza. In fact, Frieza is just a scared little child compared to him. Frieza blew up a bunch of irrelevant planets, everyone can do that. Zamasu became one with the Multiverse and is responsible for its destruction. Name me one character, besides Zamasu, who could accomplish that. And Zamasu is one psycopath bastard. First, he stole Goku's body. Then, he used Goku's own body to kill him. And then, he used Goku's own body to kill Goku's family. That's fucked up, even Frieza would be shocked by Zamasu's cruelty. Using someone's body to kill that someone's family is just... terryfing. I also find Frieza kind of boring, he is such a one-dimensional character, all evil and stuff.

Frieza isn't one-dimensional. He wants to seek immortality, rules himself as a tyrant, is sociopathic, cold, selfish, treated Zarbon with little respect, and so on.

His motivations are very boring, he is evil for the sake of doing evil stuff. I feel many people like Frieza because he was the first real major world-ending threat of Dragon Ball, not because he was actually a well-written character with a lot of depth.

Freeza is motivated by his greed and controlling nature.

As for characterization.... he's charismatic, polite (though sarcastic), and fucking racist with a hint of sadism for good measures, but is also a spoiled brat who reveals himself as a coward at heart hence his fear that the Saiyan race would get strong enough to eventually come and overthrown which is why he wants immortality.... so he can rule forever without fear of getting killed.

[ABED]

His motivations are very boring, he is evil for the sake of doing evil stuff. I feel many people like Frieza because he was the first real major world-ending threat of Dragon Ball, not because he was actually a well-written character with a lot of depth.

What are interesting motives to you? And what constitutes depth?

Freeza isn't doing to to be evil. He doesn't think in terms of morality. It's about power for him. He's interested in whatever gives himself pleasure and he seeks the means to keep it all going as long as possible.

[Merged Zamasu]

His motivations are very boring, he is evil for the sake of doing evil stuff. I feel many people like Frieza because he was the first real major world-ending threat of Dragon Ball, not because he was actually a well-written character with a lot of depth.

What are interesting motives to you? And what constitutes depth?

Freeza isn't doing to to be evil. He doesn't think in terms of morality. It's about power for him. He's interested in whatever gives himself pleasure and he seeks the means to keep it all going as long as possible.

Zamasu's motivations are intersting for example. They are unlike any we have seen before in this show. Name me another character who fought in the name of justice, to create an utopian world for Gods, by Gods. Heck, even Cell is more unique than Frieza, because he wants to achieve perfection and show everyone that he is the ultimate fighter. But villains like Frieza are just ugh...he never even showed remorse for the things he did. He might look cool and be a psycopath, but the reasoning behind his actions is that of a 4 years old: i am evil and I'm going to hurt innocents cuz i am evil. gosh i am so evil! Like, atleast Frost tried to deceive us into believing he was a benevolent ruler, even he had more depth than "EVIL EMPEROR" Frieza, and Frost appeared for about 6 episodes.

What i mean when i'm talking about a character with a deep personality is someone who is not black and white, someone who shows some conflict within itself. Vegeta and Zamasu are examples of "deep" villains, because they are not just black and white. Vegeta was ruthless and cruel, but he came to appreciate Goku and that rivalry he had with him. Zamasu was a promising Apprentice Kai who doubted the purpose of mortals and came to hate them because of their violence and stupidity (and he was right btw). But Frieza is just a bad guy doing bad stuff because he wants to be the evil emperor of the universe and torture everyone because he is sooo evil!! I personally don't find him that much interesting: he is basically the average evil emperor that you find in many other franchises. Atleast with Zamasu and Vegeta, they tried to make a villain a little more unique.

[ABED]

he never even showed remorse for the things he did

Some people don't show remorse for things they do. If you've ever watched documentaries or interviews with real life hitmen, most of them have no compunction about what they do. They are cold blooded.

the reasoning behind his actions is that of a 4 years old: i am evil and I'm going to hurt innocents cuz i am evil.

Not his reasons. He doesn't think in terms of ethics. Freeza isn't doing it for the sake of evil. He's not Lord Zedd. He's doing it because he wants power. It's all about execution, and villains that do what they do because they want revenge or were hurt by the protagonist or have something/someone they love aren't rare, but the execution of any type of villain from the more sympathetic ones to pure evil ones runs the gamet. I've seen plenty of pure evil villains that were more compelling and interesting than so called sympathetic villains. Villains who think they are doing what is good can be just as hacky as pure evil baddies. Cell is not unique. His motivation is still the acquisition of power. What you are missing about Freeza is the concretes like his behavior. He's gentlemanly and aristocratic and polite.

And depth just means they feel real and have a perspective. There are people out there with truly black hearts. And if everyone is "not just black and white" then the only way to stand out is in how well they are executed. Their reasons will all come across as same song, different verse.

Atleast with Zamasu and Vegeta, they tried to make a villain a little more unique.

Villains who are somewhat sympathetic aren't unique.

but the reasoning behind his actions is that of a 4 years old: i am evil and I'm going to hurt innocents cuz i am evil.

I believe Michael Westen from Burn Notice said it best, "Spend time with corrupt, homicidal, Third World political figures and you hear a lot of self-pity. What kind of man throws his political enemies in prison and tortures them to death? Usually it's a guy who feels so sorry for himself that he feels justified doing anything. Killers, by and large, are whining losers. But that doesn't make them any less dangerous."