Throughout Vegeta’s career, he’s been in no shortage of outstandingly epic battles–from fighting intergalactic emperors to cosmically powerful bounty hunters–but there is one fight that stands above the rest as being the absolute greatest grudge match in Dragon Ball history–at least, it could have been, if fans weren’t totally robbed of it in Dragon Ball GT.
When Vegeta was introduced in Dragon Ball Z, he was presented as a hardened villain who would destroy entire planets on a whim, concoct treacherous plots against his superiors, and even kill his closest allies like it was nothing. In terms of that last point, Vegeta brutally killed Nappa–a Saiyan who had been by Vegeta’s side since he was a child–after Nappa was defeated by Goku in battle. Vegeta looked at Nappa as a failure to all existing Saiyans, and believed it was better for him to be dead rather than live on in such shame. After some years went by, Vegeta’s heart softened significantly as he eventually became a genuine member of the Z-Fighters. However, the sins of his past were still ever-lurking in the shadowy parts of Dragon Ball’s interdimensional universe–and in GT, one of them came back to haunt the reformed Saiyan Prince.
Nappa’s Return from Hell in GT was Super Anticlimactic
In Dragon Ball GT episode 43 (written by Atsushi Maekawa, directed by Osamu Kasai, produced by Toei Animation), Android 17 has opened up a portal to hell, and through this gateway flew a number of long-dead Dragon Ball villains–including Nappa. When Nappa arrived back on Earth, he destroyed a portion of a city and relished in the resulting calamity, only for Vegeta to find him and immediately obliterate Nappa just as he did the first time. Barely a word was spoken between them, Nappa growled and Vegeta boasted his superior strength, and then Nappa was dead with a flick of Vegeta’s wrist.
While it may seem obvious that Vegeta could kill Nappa like it was nothing at this point in the series (Vegeta has elevated to beyond Super Saiyan, after all, and he could kill Nappa long before then), that’s not necessarily a given. It has been established that fighters can keep training themselves in the afterlife to be stronger should they ever return to the mortal realm, and Saiyans especially receive a massive power up the closer they get to death–which means actually dying gives them a pretty significant upgrade in the afterlife. Nappa has been in hell for decades at this point, and it doesn’t seem as though he gave up his destructive lifestyle, which means that he was more than likely getting into fights all the time in hell–fights that may have resulted in his death and subsequent regeneration within the underworld countless times over, increasing his power level every time. Basically, it is hard to believe that Nappa was the exact same power level in this episode of GT as he was when he first died in Dragon Ball Z, so with that in mind, it becomes even harder to believe that he wouldn’t be a match for Vegeta upon his return to Earth.
Vegeta’s betrayal of Nappa was significant in a way that not too many people consider, but was one that rocked Nappa to his core. Nappa had watched over Vegeta since the Saiyan Prince was a boy, and he fought by his side for decades leading up to their invasion of Earth. So, for Vegeta to kill Nappa after one defeat–to another Saiyan, no less (which means it shouldn’t have been regarded as shameful)–was an extremely cruel thing to do. Nappa’s thirst for vengeance would be unquenchable, especially after stewing in that hatred in hell for so many years, and GT gave him the chance to unleash that fury upon Vegeta in a fight that could have been the grudge match of the century–but, sadly, that didn’t happen, as Dragon Ball GT totally robbed Dragon Ball fans of that experience.
