Dr. Gero is a major antagonist in the Dragon Ball franchise.
He serves as the main antagonist of the Android Saga and the posthumous overarching antagonist of the Cell Saga and the TV special The History of Trunks, and reappeared as one of two main antagonists of the Super 17 Saga of Dragon Ball GT and one of the two posthumous overarching antagonists (alongside Commander Red) of the movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
He is the head scientist of the Red Ribbon Army who was responsible for the deaths of an innumerable amount of people thanks to his creations (Cell) and experiments (Future Androids 17 & 18) and other villains carried on by their legacy (Majin Buu, Gomah, both versions of Zamasu, Moro and Commander Magenta).
He was voiced by the late Kõji Yuda in the Japanese dub, Brian Dobson in the Ocean Group dub and Kent Williams in the FUNimation dub.
His Qualities[]
What Makes Him Entertaining?[]
- Kõji Yada, Brian Dobson and Kent Williams did a good job voicing him, in addition to bringing out his over-the-top insane and sadistic personality.
- His scenes as a mad scientist are unique in the franchise, making him an interesting character.
- He created the Androids 8, 16, 17, 18 and 19 (and several others in non-canon media), who have cool designs and abilities all of them.
- He created Cell, who is another evil-is-cool villain, managing to extract cells from the strongest characters in the series at the time with the Remote Tracking Device without raising the slightest suspicion.
- He is a genuine threat for the Z-Fighters even when he had to work alone after the defeat of the Red Ribbon Army, showing that he is very intelligent and strategic.
- His android appearance and abilities are cool, having superhuman strength and his ability to absorb energy through his hands is unique.
- He has a good fighting sequence against the Z-Fighters, managing to resist in combat even when outnumbered and managing to escape to his laboratory when he had no chance of winning, demonstrating good adaptability.
- He genuinely loved his family, as he built Android 16 with the appearance of his son and was worried when 17 and 18 decided to activate it.
- He is the trigger of the plot of the Android Saga, which offers a complex and entertaining plot for the public.
- Despite being a villain responsible for countless deaths at the hands of the Red Ribbon Army and other villains connected to it while having hardly any redeeming qualities, he's nowhere near as hatable as the Red Ribbon Army's leader Commander Red, who is a petty, unintelligent loud-mouth with an even pettier goal and lacks the ability to fight, while Gero on the other hand is smart and calm, has a more understandable motive and is rather amazing in combat.
What Makes Him Detestable?[]
- Prior to his first appearance, he worked as the lead scientist for the Red Ribbon Army, being responsible for the creation of their equipment and mechs, including the android project. This makes him partially responsible for the many people killed by the RRA in their goal to conquer the world.
- Following the fall of the Red Ribbon Army, he spent the rest of his time devoted to killing Goku, leading to him stalking Goku for years and coming up with multiple ways to kill him.
- While spying/stalking Goku, Gero stole the DNA of various fighters to be used in the creation of Cell, whom Gero designed to where he had to absorb 17 and 18 to become perfect in a disturbing and disgusting process that left a deep impact on 17 and 18. He also designed Cell to be able to power up by absorbing the biomass of living organisms, killing them in an excruciatingly painful manner.
- At an unknown point, he kidnapped twins Lapis and Lazuli and forced them to undergo a procedure that turned them into Androids 17 and 18, while also erasing most of their memories. In the future timeline, after Goku died of a heart virus, Gero further modified 17 and 18, removing all traces of their humanity and turning them into killing machines, with him ultimately being killed by them as their first victim.
- He also is confirmed to have destroyed all android models prior to Android 16 (With the exception of 8 in the main series, and 13, 14, and 15 in the Super Android 13 movie) simply because they were flawed.
- Because of his actions, Future Androids 17 and 18 went on a killing spree that lasted several years, killing a large portion of Earth's population, including the future Z Fighters and most tragically, Future Gohan, all of which was entirely Gero's fault. Additionally, Cell also managed to kill Goku, which left his family and friends with severe depression and trauma and deprived his youngest son Goten of his father for the first 7 years of his life, with his father's absence's implying to have strained his relationship with his family years later.
- When he is properly introduced, one of his first acts was to attack a city, with him and 19 killing several innocent people, including a man just for the petty reason that the man insulted him.
- He attacked and nearly killed Yamcha by draining his energy and impaling him through the chest.
- When Goku requested that they take the battle somewhere else to avoid further innocent casualties, Gero destroyed the whole city, claiming that they could continue the battle now that there were no innocent people in the way.
- When Android 19 was defeated by Vegeta, Gero cowardly ran back to his lab to activate 17 and 18, blasting the plane Bulma, Yajirobe, and baby Trunks were in to distract the heroes.
- While he is killed in both timelines by 17 and 18, it's hardly a crime and is completely deserved as he tortured them and attempted to force them to do his bidding, threatening to kill them several times, not to mention it's actually treated as a good thing since he can no longer harm anyone else.
- Plus, despite being killed, he still left his mark on both timelines, being responsible for everyone killed by both the Future Androids and Cell, as well as leading Commander Magenta to attempt to recreate Cell as a giant known as Cell Max. Furthermore, his actions caused Trunks to go back in time, leading to Goku Black specifically targeting his timeline, as time travel by a mortal was considered a sin. This resulted in Trunks' timeline eventually being permanently erased by Future Zeno.
- In the Majin Buu Saga, he is among the villains cheering for Buu to defeat Goku. Furthermore, it's also indirectly his fault that Majin Buu was able to kill everyone on Earth (including Goku's loved ones) and then destroy it along with more planets, because if it weren't for him and Cell, Goku would've been able to stop Buu. This would also lead to Gomah turning the Z-Fighters into kids, as well as Moro's return years later.
- When he returns in GT during the Super 17 Saga, he allies with Dr. Myuu, another mad scientist, to create Hell Fighter 17, an evil clone of Android 17 with several similarities to Future 17, with the intent of HF 17 fusing with Android 17 to become Super 17. In the process, he also caused all of Hell to literally break loose on Earth, as past Dragon Ball villains arrived and wrecked havoc on Earth before being sent back to Hell. It was also revealed that he hoped to one day replace all life with artificial beings. When the Dragon Balls were gathered to revive all those killed by the villains who escaped Hell, it led to the creation of the Shadow Dragons, which all ended with Goku being forced to leave Earth and everyone he loves permanently in order to restore the Dragon Balls.
- His whole reason for wanting to kill Goku is petty at best, downright hypocritical at worst, as he claimed he wanted to avenge the Red Ribbon Army, but is shown and implied to have not truly cared for the Red Ribbon Army nor Commander Red, and was merely just upset because he was unable to conquer the world. Later information reveals that Gero's son was a soldier in the army who died fighting in it, which could give Gero a more sentimental reason for wanting to kill Goku (Goku destroyed the army Gero's son had previously given his life serving), but it's still very myopic considering the fact that Goku wasn't even the one who killed his son, and his son died fighting for an evil army that killed many people and sought to conquer Earth.
- While the Future Androids have a higher kill count for direct kills, Gero has the higher indirect kill count, as he turned the Future Androids evil and created Cell. It should be noted that Cell himself suggests that Gero intended him to eliminate all life in the universe as revenge on existence itself for the defeat of the Red Ribbon Army.
- Also, despite the fact that the Future Androids, Cell and several other villains commit worse crimes, with several on larger scales, Gero stands out due to being responsible for countless lives lost due to his creations (including crimes committed by the Red Ribbon Army using his technology and by Majin Buu, Gomah, Goku Black, Future Zamasu and Moro because of his technology).
Trivia[]
- For a while, Dr. Gero was considered a Hate Sink until is was decided that he had too many cool moments to qualify.
- Originally, Gero, alongside Android 19, were intended to be the main villains of the Android Saga as well as the Future timeline, but it was changed to 17 and 18, and then finally Cell, because Toriyama's editor didn't like 19 and 20's designs. Had Gero remained the main villain of the Future Timeline, it would have made him much worse.
- In a twist of Irony, Gero's grandson, Hedo, became an ally of the Z Fighters in the movie Dragon Ball Super Super Heroes.
- Gero and everyone in his family are named after various words for vomit.
External Links[]
- Dr. Gero on the Villains Wiki
- Dr. Gero on the Near Pure Evil Wiki
- Dr. Gero on the VS Battles Wiki
- Dr. Gero on the Dragon Ball Wiki
[]
 Entertainingly Detestable
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