Vegeta's Biggest Ego-Crushing Defeat

[Nikkolas]

For me, there are only two choices:
vs. Freeza
vs. 18

And for me, I think the Eighteen defeat is worse. I know a lot of people focus on his loss to Freeza but here's why I think 18 was so much worse in a nutshell: Imagine you thought you won the lotery than you learn you didn't. It's crushing yes - maybe you even already went out and bought a brand new sports car and condo and now you're going to have your body broken to pieces by debt collectors.

On the other hand, Vegeta vs. 18 is like actually winning the lottery but it's immediately followed up by American being conquered by some other country. Suddenly your currency is second-rate and worth almost nothing. You attained your heart's desire...and it accomplished nothing.

Vegeta was riding higher than ever before on his own ego. He had yearned for this power all his life - the power to be everything he thought he should be; no longer weaker than anybody or under the thumb of anybody. With that absolute confidence in tow, he fought 18.

...and you can see that same absolute confidence utterly collapse as she casually and indifferently defeats him.

[Kamiccolo9]

I agree; the fight with 18 was much more ego crushing.
Vegeta had just achieved what he thought was the pinnacle of Saiyan power, making him the strongest in the universe, and he gets crushed by a teenage girl. Against 'Freeza, he at least knew there was a possibility of him dying. 18 came out of nowhere and stomped him.

[Vice]

The one that made him cry.

[RandomGuy96]

I'm saying vs Freeza too. With 18, he was humiliated, but he still remained confident to the end. He also managed to put up a fight. He did get his arms broken and lose the fight, but he looked more dignified because he actually fought on even terms for most of the battle. After his defeat, he simply was filled with a desire to get more powerful- a desire he quickly fulfilled.

With Freeza, on the other hand, he went at him full force and couldn't even touch him. Look at most of Vegeta's battles. No matter how hard he's beaten, he always manages to get back up, say something badass, and continue the fight. Because that's who he is; he's cocky, fearless, overconfident, never-give-up Vegeta. He did this against the heroes on Earth, Recoome, 18, and Majin friggin Buu. But with Freeza? After his most powerful attack proved to be barley worth Freeza's notice, he basically died inside. For the rest of the "fight", he did nothing but lie there and get pummeled, tears of frustration, fear, and agony streaming down his face, until he was beaten so hard he couldn't move or do anything but beg to his mortal enemy, a low-class warrior he always saw as an inferior. I don't think 18 ever managed to crush him like that.

[dbzfan7]

I'm saying vs Freeza too. With 18, he was humiliated, but he still remained confident to the end. He also managed to put up a . He did get his arms broken and lose the fight, but he looked more dignified because he actually fought on even terms for most of the battle. After his defeat, he simply was filled with a desire to get more powerful- a desire he quickly fulfilled.

With Freeza, on the other hand, he went at him full force and couldn't even touch him. Look at most of Vegeta's battles. No matter how hard he's beaten, he always manages to get back up, say something badass, and continue the fight. Because that's who he is; he's cocky, fearless, overconfident, never-give-up Vegeta. He did this against the heroes on Earth, Recoome, 18, and Majin friggin Buu. But with Freeza? After his most powerful attack proved to be barley worth Freeza's notice, he basically died inside. For the rest of the "fight", he did nothing but lie there and get pummeled, tears of frustration, fear. and agony streaming down his face. I don't think 18 ever managed to crush him like that.

I have to agree with this(except for Vegeta fighting on even terms with 18). He made Vegeta cry "like a bitch". He even took away his will to fight. Never have I seen Vegeta before and after that literally let his enemy pummel him.

[Nikkolas]

I'm saying vs Freeza too. With 18, he was humiliated, but he still remained confident to the end. He also managed to put up a fight. He did get his arms broken and lose the fight, but he looked more dignified because he actually fought on even terms for most of the battle. After his defeat, he simply was filled with a desire to get more powerful- a desire he quickly fulfilled.

Vegeta "fought on even terms" because Eighteen has a very Lackadaisical personality. She was bored and wanted to see what he could do. Freeza toyed with him while 18 was meh for most of the fight.

The instant she actually tried, Vegeta was hopelessly outmatched. He could no more have defeated her than he could have defeated Freeza.

[ABED]

I'm saying vs Freeza too. With 18, he was humiliated, but he still remained confident to the end. He also managed to put up a fight. He did get his arms broken and lose the fight, but he looked more dignified because he actually fought on even terms for most of the battle. After his defeat, he simply was filled with a desire to get more powerful- a desire he quickly fulfilled.

With Freeza, on the other hand, he went at him full force and couldn't even touch him. Look at most of Vegeta's battles. No matter how hard he's beaten, he always manages to get back up, say something badass, and continue the fight. Because that's who he is; he's cocky, fearless, overconfident, never-give-up Vegeta. He did this against the heroes on Earth, Recoome, 18, and Majin friggin Buu. But with Freeza? After his most powerful attack proved to be barley worth Freeza's notice, he basically died inside. For the rest of the "fight", he did nothing but lie there and get pummeled, tears of frustration, fear, and agony streaming down his face, until he was beaten so hard he couldn't move or do anything but beg to his mortal enemy, a low-class warrior he always saw as an inferior. I don't think 18 ever managed to crush him like that.

I don't think Vegeta and 18 fought on even terms. I think she was toying with him that whole fight.

Maybe it's sexist, but I think losing to 18 is more humiliating. Losing to the strongest fighter in the universe isn't humiliating, but losing to a teenage girl (even if she is a cyborg) would be a shock to a prince.

[coola]

Vs. Broly, because it was first and only time, someone called him a coward, right into his face.

[TheMightyOzaru]

Vs 18 for sure. He finally has his life long dream, no, obsession be fulfilled only to have it be crushed by some man-made machine. I'm sure the fact that it was a girl didn't help Vegeta's ego either.

[Duo]

Both #17 and Trunks (whom, mind you, had fought against the Artificial Humans many times before), considered Vegeta to be impressive or on-the-level with #18. I definitely think it's fair to say Vegeta may have been almost as strong as her. Stamina was commented on as being the big difference in that fight.

The one that made him cry.

That.

[ABED]

Both #17 and Trunks (whom, mind you, had fought against the Artificial Humans many times before), considered Vegeta to be impressive or on-the-level with #18. I definitely think it's fair to say Vegeta may have been almost as strong as her. Stamina was commented on as being the big difference in that fight.

The one that made him cry.

That.

Trunks made a point of saying that the Cyborgs from his time weren't as strong as the one's in the main timeline. As strong as 17 is, he can call a spade a spade. Vegeta is incredibly powerful, just not as powerful as any of them.

[Duo]

You do not have sufficient evidence to say with anything near full confidence that Vegeta wasn't close to #18 in power (I never did say "as strong"). Even if those ones were stronger than the ones from Trunks' timeline, his statement about Vegeta's strength still holds a significant degree of weight.

[RandomGuy96]

I distinctly remember both of them screwing around at first, then both declaring their intention to get serious. Then they fought some more, with Trunks expressing shock that Vegeta was holding his own and Piccolo saying that due to his stamina he wasn't going to last long. Fight continued, he got tired, and he lost. Seems like they were pretty close in power to me; otherwise, why would the writer have stamina mentioned in story in the first place? Also, had these been the androids Trunks actually warned about, the much weaker and evil ones, he might have been almost completely even with 18.

I still think Freeza was worse. Again, with 18, he kept fighting, remaining confident to the end. After his defeat, he was more pissed off than anything, and quickly surpassed 18. With Freeza, he lost the will to fight and was so paralyzed with fear that he did nothing but sit there as Freeza broke every bone in his body. He just seemed so much more crushed, like he gave up on life in that one moment. And he cried. 18 didn't crush his ego ''that'' hard. I don't think anyone else ever did.

Also, I think you guys are kind of exaggerating the importance super saiyan had to him. It was important to him in the Freeza arc because he thought there was only 1 chosen super saiyan, and that said warrior would automatically be the strongest in the universe. He fought 18 knowing that neither of those things were true, so super saiyan wasn't as special.

[ABED]

I think stamina is just one factor in why he couldn't win, but at no time did it ever appear like they were fighting on equal footing. 18 was in control the whole time. Nothing Vegeta did even remotely hurt her.

[soulnova]

I'd have to go for Freeza's.

18's fight was actually quick compared to what Freeza's made him go through.

He cried not once but TWICE with Freeza. First at realizing he was utterly outmatched and would surely die, and again when begging to Goku to defeat him. Vegeta's goal in life until that point consisted on eventually kill Freeza and just when he thought he reached the level needed, the world around him went down crashing down. Nothing he did was enough. He stood there, lost the will to fight and technically left himself get beaten to death because there wasn't a goddamn thing he could do about it. His life had been a waste.


18 was some overconfident punk that just showed up and kicked his ass/arm.

[saiyanprincess]

At first i was going to say Goku, after their fight on earth, and he ended up having his tail cut off by Yajorobie,then crawling close-to-death back to his pod after Goku spared his life. That's got to be a blow to the ego - This in turn made him train for many many years to try and defeat Goku once and for all. After Goku turned Super Saiyan, it almost killed Vegeta; so he trained even harder to try and imitate the "low class Saiyan" and become a stronger SSJ. Each time he thought he got there, Goku was a step ahead of him.

As he was so proud and arrogant, not only being defeated by Goku on Earth, but then having Goku turn into a super Saiyan exceeding him must have really shattered his pride and ego.

Saying that, I think also perhaps his defeat at the hands of Freeza, - That must have hit him home hard as he realised that all his life he had merely been a servant and a pawn for Freeza, and that he stood absolutely no chance when in battle with him.

Sorry if there is any grammer errors, or this reads poorly. I'm on a mobile phone, and it's a pain in the backside.

[Insertclevername]

Maybe it's sexist, but I think losing to 18 is more humiliating. Losing to the strongest fighter in the universe isn't humiliating, but losing to a teenage girl (even if she is a cyborg) would be a shock to a prince.

I don't think it's necessarily sexist since we're talking in terms of Vegeta perspective. I would doubt that he looks down on women.

[vegetaslegacy15]

I feel like his most crushing defeat may have actually been to Goku. It was humiliating being defeated by a low class warrior of his race who was killed Raditz a year before that.
But I do understand how Freeza was his tormentor for many years, and Vegeta was under the impression he could beat him so he took the chance. Failing at that task must of been soul-crushing.

[Godo]

I believe that if the fight against Cell went on for long enough, Vegeta would have cried too.
But all in all, Freeza would take the cake. Not only did Vegeta work under him due to him not being powerful enough to even scratch Freeza (for years to add), to becoming a "Super Saiya-Jin" and then finding out that he is no Match after all.

Being forced to live with Bulma on Earth right after it is revealed that Goku is a SSJ would probably come close second.

[Chuquita]

While I don't know if I can count something that I haven't seen the full entirety of before I've seen it, whatever sorts of things Vegeta has to do to placate Beerus in BOG look pretty ego-crushing to me. He never had to sing and do pirouettes for Freeza (that I know of).