Very possibly, if we’re talking about the DBS version of the characters.
Spoilers ahead!
Summary:
- Many Dragon Ball fans argue that Broly is the best antagonist in the series.
- He originally was a character from the filler DBZ movies, but was promoted to canon in Super.
- This gave him a better written, deeper personality — and because of the Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie, he might as well be the best antagonist.
When it comes to antagonists, it’s really hard to imagine a series that has a wider and more diverse cast of them than Dragon Ball. Many of them would later become supporting characters and allies of Goku (Vegeta and Piccolo are the most notorious cases). Some, like Frieza, won’t.
And then there’s the curious example of Broly, who, despite originally not being imagined as a prominent character, managed to become one of the franchise’s most beloved icons. Many fans argue that he’s the best antagonist in the series — and there are some good points that support that opinion.
A fun-to-watch villain from DBZ movies
Funnily enough, Broly wasn’t even technically a canon character. He first appeared in the Dragon Ball Z movies, where he was an antagonist in two of them. Despite his relatively brief appearance, his personality and powers quickly became very popular with fans.
Yes, his backstory is… questionable, with him hating Goku purely because he heard his cries as a child, but in the end, that part was rather unimportant (and by far not the weirdest motivation in the franchise).
Promoted to a canon character
Broly, however, was so beloved by fans that he was later added to the Dragon Ball Super manga — and even got a canon movie for himself. While Akira Toriyama doesn’t draw the manga for Super in person, he still writes the plot for it — and the revised version of Broly from it should be considered canon now.
The “promotion” to a canon character allowed for a much deeper personality to be written for Broly. While he was mostly a psychopath with two personalities in the DBZ movies, he’s very different in Super.
Despite being one of the strongest characters in the series, he’s compassionate, loyal and wise, not wanting to fight all the time (a rare thing in the Dragon Ball series). Despite that, he still retains some traits of the original, and his powers are directly linked to his emotions.
The best antagonist in Dragon Ball Super
Is Broly the best antagonist of the Dragon Ball series? His DBZ version probably isn’t — while he’s fun to watch in those movies, they’re not canon, and his character writing isn’t that deep in the end.
In Super, however, he might as well be the best antagonist (and he definitely is an antagonist for Goku in the DBS: Broly movie) — a unique type of character with an understandable motivation and a likable personality.