Summary
Vegeta’s rivalry with Goku is fueled by his desire to be separate and superior, but deep down, he is more like Goku than he realizes. Vegeta’s training methods, including comparing himself to Goku, have left him forever behind in power. Neither Vegeta nor Goku mastered the Hakai destruction technique as they became more merciful and pure over time.
vegetable and Goku are two of the most iconic rivals in anime history, and while it’s true that their rivalry has grown into one of respect, brotherhood and progress are mutually assured. , but it’s still a competition. Vegeta craves his own glory and importance beyond Goku, despite spending most of Dragon Ball canon standing in Goku’s seemingly ever-present shadow. However, as was essentially confirmed in Dragon Ball Super, Vegeta is actually much more similar to Goku than he ever admitted.
The two Saiyan warriors first encountered each other in the early days of Dragon Ball Z, when Vegeta was still evil and wanted to destroy all life on Planet Earth. After Vegeta found redemption by aligning with the Z-Fighters to fight Frieza, he began using Goku as someone he could compare himself to when training alone. While this method yielded incredible results – including Vegeta unlocking a state beyond Super Saiyan before Goku – he found that training this way kept him falling behind Goku. So, after Vegeta transformed into Majin Vegeta in the Majin Buu Saga, Vegeta accepted his role as Goku’s training partner. However, Vegeta never lost that edge that made him crave superiority over Goku and be more than just a clone of his Saiyan opponent. Unfortunately, it’s for this reason that Vegeta will definitely feel uncomfortable since he is, in fact, very similar to Goku, and in more ways than just their power levels.
Vegeta and Goku cannot master Hakai for the same reason
In Dragon Ball Super chapter 76 by Akira Toriyama and Toyotarou, Vegeta admits that he failed to perfect Hakai (aka Destruction) because he could not become the callous, emotionless man, hungry for power like when he started his Dragon Ball career. When using Hakai, one essentially wants something out of existence, completely destroying every aspect of it. Therefore, one must be steadfast in the mindset of total destruction, especially regarding any person or thing that one wants to destroy. To have that mindset, one has to be pretty callous, and Vegeta realizes that he’s not like that anymore – and Goku discovered the same thing a few chapters earlier.
In Dragon Ball Super chapter 25, Goku tried to use Hakai against Zamasu, because he thought it was the only way to eliminate this super villain. However, because Goku has a pure heart, the attack does not have much effect. While it’s true that Zamasu had set up some defenses against anything these Saiyans could throw at him (which is why Zeno had to take him down in the end), the line of logic created with Vegeta’s explanation of his shortcomings possibly going back to Goku’s failure to use Hakai as well. This means that all the while in Dragon Ball Z, when Vegeta was following Goku and trying to reach his power level, he picked up something from the Saiyan hero that he didn’t have. Meaning: kindness.
Vegeta went from being a literal destroyer of worlds – someone who would kill those closest to him like it was nothing – to a cosmic warrior against evil and protector of the very planet that he used to threaten. He is no longer an emotionless agent of evil but instead – like Goku – is someone with a relatively pure heart. Although his actions in later DBZ and throughout Dragon Ball Super only confirm this, there is no better comparison than Goku and Vegeta’s respective failures to use Hakai, as that has been proven. vegetable more like Goku than he would ever admit.