Vegeta is one of the most beloved characters in anime and manga, period! Some might even describe him as standing next to Roronoa Zoro as one of the best deuteragonists in the medium. But sadly, that’s not how the late creator, Akira Toriyama, initially felt about the guy.
Vegeta constantly talking about pride made Toriyama think, “This guy should be a one-off character.” The author wanted fans to resonate with Goku more and use Vegeta to counter him.
Admittedly, he did not expect the Saiyan Prince to become very popular when he created him. But as the story progressed, he grew to like the character, who ultimately became one of his favorites.
Even so, fans still wonder why Vegeta is always behind Goku.
Vegeta’s supposed strength is actually his biggest weakness
Now, there are many reasons why Vegeta hasn’t surpassed Goku in the long term.
One of them comes from Vegeta himself, as he states at the end of the Buu saga that both he and Goku fight but with different mindsets.
Even though they both fight to protect their loved ones, Vegeta still fights to win and kill his enemies, basically to puff up his pride.
Whereas Goku fights not to kill but to constantly improve himself. In a nutshell, Goku loves fighting because he wants to get stronger and stronger and Vegeta fights to become the strongest.
Vegeta’s false sense of pride becomes his undoing and hence, he lets Goku steal the victory from him. This is Toriyama’s way of saying, “Don’t let pride get to you. Or else, you’d keep losing at the end of the day.“
He always believed in the strength of humility, despite being one of the most famous personalities on the planet. He showed through example that leading a bombastic life filled with noise and glamour isn’t going to fulfill you.
Goku remained the strongest at the end of the day because he mirrored this quality of Toriyama’s.
Goku being born weak may actually be his biggest strength
Another reason comes from a theory posted on Reddit, where it states that Vegeta has to strive harder than Goku to achieve higher levels of strength because he was born stronger than the Earthly Saiyan.
It’s kind of like how skinny people win more eating competitions than larger people, because their stomachs have more room to grow even though the larger person eats a lot more normally.
Vegeta would have a harder time expanding his power because he is already so strong, whereas Goku is strong but has a lot more room to grow.
This applies to Broly as well, because his power level at birth was the highest in recorded history, surpassing even Vegeta’s. Then he trained with his father Paragus until he fought Goku, Vegeta and Frieza in Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
Though he managed to surpass the Saiyan duo at that time, Goku and Vegeta surpassed him again after the Moro and Granolah arcs. In chapter 93, fans witnessed Goku train Broly on how to control his power and use it efficiently.
That means Broly has a lot more to learn from the two Saiyans he had surpassed as kids. But that’s not the end of it.
A V-Jump promo stated that Broly’s future path is set, as the fruits of his training will lead him to tap into God Ki and unlock a different but better version of Super Saiyan Blue.
Both Goku and Broly are stated to be “Pure Saiyans” and unlike Vegeta, they can tap into greater power due to the notion that Saiyans have unlimited potential. Unless the Saiyan Prince becomes Pure like them, he will always be behind Kakarot.
Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Super are available to watch on Crunchyroll.
