Was it immoral to kill Cell?

[Pantalones]

The present Cell that Trunks and Krillin blew up along with the rest of Dr. Gero's lab wasn't anywhere near fully developed, so I wouldn't count it as murder or immoral to kill it. It's be no different than blowing up all the other unfinished projects stashed away in Gero's lab. Plus, it's still some form of Cell. I don't know if even the craziest anti-abortion fanatic would say that it'd be totally wrong/immoral to get rid of a fetus that would eventually grow up into a super-powerful monster programmed to seek out and absorb a couple of people who (in this timeline, anyway) aren't evil just for the sake of reaching full power, and possibly go around absorbing entire towns of innocent bystanders for that same purpose (do we know if he went around absorbing ordinary humans in Trunks' timeline? I guess it could've just gone unnoticed with all the destruction #17 and #18 were causing...)

On the other hand... it's possible that if they had gotten Bulma over to the lab, she might be able to change the settings on the computer in some way so that this Cell wouldn't be programmed to want to reach his perfect form or seek out and absorb the Androids, which would make him a lot less of a potential threat (Cell would take so long to develop that wouldn't really be a serious opponent to anyone but #18 and the humans... and Tenshinhan's Shin Kikoho could probably hurt him pretty bad at the very least, if not kill him.)
And even if she couldn't completely remove that "programming" from him, it's possible that a Cell that was basically raised by the good guys might turn out very differently from the Cell we know. I mean, Android 16 managed to change his mind about the whole "kill Goku" thing, and even decide to kill Cell instead... and he's completely mechanical, unlike Cell. Dragonball has a lot of really evil guys like Piccolo and Vegeta changing and ending up much less (or not at all) evil, so why not some alternate Cell?

But no, I don't think it was wrong for them to blow up the developing Cell along with the rest of Dr. Gero's lab, even if there was a possibility that this Cell might turn out differently than the one we know. It's a similar situation to trying to destroy Buu inside his ball before he could be released--yeah, Fat Buu has the potential to become good (though it took a lot of weird circumstances to lead up to it--who'd ever imagine that telling the potentially-wiping-out-all-life-in-the-universe monster that killing is wrong would actually work?), but nobody knew that or even considered it a possibility before they saw it happen, so all they had to go by was what they knew of Buu beforehand (super powerful, mindlessly destructive, controlled by this evil wizard guy who basically has no goal beyond "kill the gods and cause general chaos.")

[Kaboom]

Killing Cell was no more immoral than killing the shark from Jaws, and for the exact same reason.

[Kid Buu]

Killing Cell was no more immoral than killing the shark from Jaws, and for the exact same reason.

Couldn't they have just banned people from going into the sea?

[Lord Exor]

The moral conundrum presented to us here is rather simple: Is it unethical to kill a creature operating on instinct? Unlike Frieza and Dr. Gero, Cell was biologically programmed with rote desires and impulses; he wasn't a connate psychopath like the former two characters. Cell couldn't help what he was. And what about a sentient being that has yet to be born?

Future Cell was killed out of self-defense, but his present counterpart was more-or-less aborted. As Kid Buu already articulated, there was no way of knowing whether or not this Cell would be identical in power and personality.

[Gonstead]

Let's see...

Future Cell - Cell Timeline

Killed an unmeasurable amount of humans from his own timeline.
Killed Trunks.
Kills all Ginger Town residents.
Kills all Nicky Town residents.
Almost successfully killed Piccolo.
Destroyed a number of islands which would have contained a number of people.
Killed the entire Royal Army when he knew full well they posed no threat to him.
Killed a defenseless #16.
Intended to self-destruct, thus destroy the entire Earth if successful.
Responsible for killing Goku, King Kai and Bubbles.
Killed Trunks again.

Future Cell - Trunks Timeline

Killed an unknown amount of residents.

Present Cell

Would have grown up to do pretty much what the previous 2 Cells would have done.

So no, it wasn't immoral to kill any version of Cell.

[Lord Exor]

Present Cell

Would have grown up to do pretty much what the previous 2 Cells would have done.

So no, it wasn't immoral to kill any version of Cell.

That isn't a certainty. Androids 17 and 18 weren't at all like their future selves.

[TheDevilsCorpse]

That isn't a certainty. Androids 17 and 18 weren't at all like their future selves.

Again, because Goku was still alive and they hadn't finished their "game". Had the heroes died within that first year, 17 and 18 almost certainly would have started killing and destroying to amuse themselves.

[Kid Buu]

That isn't a certainty. Androids 17 and 18 weren't at all like their future selves.

Again, because Goku was still alive and they hadn't finished their "game". Had the heroes died within that first year, 17 and 18 almost certainly would have started killing and destroying to amuse themselves.

Would #16 have allowed such anti-pacifist behavior to be condoned? I know he too wanted to kill Goku (out of sheer respect to the man who created him), but he loved the birds man.

He loved them birds more than Alfred Hitchcock did.

[TheDevilsCorpse]

Maybe, maybe not. If enough time passed for them to bond pretty well before the destruction started, I could see them just parting ways instead of 16 being willing to stop them by force. Some kinda agreement where 17 and 18 agree to destroy people and cities, but leave his nature alone. =P

[Dr. Machismo]

He absorbed thousands of innocent people, killing them, plotted to destroy all life on Earth, destroyed a city to show that he was serious about it, destroyed a military squad, attempted to blow himself and destroy Earth, killed Goku, King Kai and Bubbles, killed Trunks and nearly destroyed Earth.

so he obviously a peaceful creature lol

[Kid Buu]

He absorbed thousands of innocent people, killing them, plotted to destroy all life on Earth, destroyed a city to show that he was serious about it, destroyed a military squad, attempted to blow himself and destroy Earth, killed Goku, King Kai and Bubbles, killed Trunks and nearly destroyed Earth.

He still must be a good guy though.

Did you even read the thread?

[Dr. Machismo]

He absorbed thousands of innocent people, killing them, plotted to destroy all life on Earth, destroyed a city to show that he was serious about it, destroyed a military squad, attempted to blow himself and destroy Earth, killed Goku, King Kai and Bubbles, killed Trunks and nearly destroyed Earth.

He still must be a good guy though.

Did you even read the thread?

Reading the OP is enough. If this was the Cell in the main timeline you made it more clear.

But so this si the main timeline Cell? Well ... the thing was likely to grow up to be evil.

[Dr. Machismo]

Oh yeah my bad dude.

I think killing Cell was a fine idea, seeing as it would probably grow up to be evil.

[Kid Buu]

Oh yeah my bad dude.

Don't worry about it.

I thought most people would assume Baby Cell when I said "Geros' creation in Goku's timeline" but I guess not.

[Lord Exor]

17 and 18's personalities in the present timeline were incongruous with their future selves. They weren't interested in killing, and even spared the lives of everyone they came across. Were they mischievous? Yes, but not malicious. The same could be said of present Cell.

[Insertclevername]

There's a bit of a moral gray area in this situation as they're technically killing a fetus out of pure fear in what it will do 20 years from then. However, in this situation, Cell is a programmed entity, right? So it's not like he's not going to choose the same path as his other timeline self. Eventually it's going to be kill or be killed with him and the Z-senshi. It's not as immoral as it seems.

[KentalSSJ6]

Quoting Star Trek, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one". That being said, I can perfectly understand why Trunk's would destroy the fetus of Cell. Hes seen what it would grow to become and had the means to prevent it, so he did. Its like saying you have your hands on a child Adolf Hitler. Yes hes a child but you know what would happen if you let him grow into a adult. That being said, if you had the means to save millions of lives at the cost of one, would you take that life?

[Lord Exor]

There's a bit of a moral gray area in this situation as they're technically killing a fetus out of pure fear in what it will do 20 years from then. However, in this situation, Cell is a programmed entity, right? So it's not like he's not going to choose the same path as his other timeline self. Eventually it's going to be kill or be killed with him and the Z-senshi. It's not as immoral as it seems.

Cell was never programmed per se. He was genetically engineered to possess instinctual--albeit nebulous in certain respects--desires. That doesn't necessarily mean he will evolve evil traits.

[DBZ Mick]

Difficult question.

We know what it would do if it was finished.

Maybe Bulma could have somehow reprogrammed it so it only needs to absorb nutrients from the ground or something... and then it could be a part of the Z senshi then or something.

[Ringworm128]

Two wrongs don't make a right. Killing someone because they killed someone is still killing, everyone should have the right to live no matter how bad they are. However it was one of those "kill or be killed" things they couldn't just put Cell in prison, there was no other way.