One of the most iconic enemies in the Dragon Ball franchise is Frieza, the alien overlord who was feared throughout the galaxy and ruled over many worlds before finding defeat at the hands of Goku. After being vanquished in the original Dragon Ball manga, Frieza found new popularity in Dragon Ball Super, coming back in the Resurrection of F movie before appearing in the manga too. Now, the Japanese magazine V-Jump has shared a detailed overview of the history of Frieza and his fearsome family.
Frieza made his first appearance in chapter #247 of Dragon Ball and he is the main antagonist of the Namek Arc. He is the son of King Cold, a mutant of a yet-unnamed race, born with an abnormally high power level that he used to establish a galactic empire. However, Frieza was born with an even greater power, so once he grew up Cold abdicated and left the reins of the empire to his son, who greatly expanded it, conquering planets and reselling them at a high price. During the course of this expansion, Frieza encountered the Saiyans, a strong, powerful race of warriors that he recruited into his army. After hearing of the legend of the Super Saiyan, however, Frieza decided to destroy the Saiyan planet, Vegeta, and all of its inhabitants, fearing that someone stronger than him could be born among them. This ultimately put Frieza on a collision course with the few Saiyan survivors, including Goku, who killed Frieza on planet Namek after unlocking the power of a Super Saiyan.
Frieza proved to be a very popular character, and he ended up making several comebacks since his fight with Goku on Namek. He was resurrected as part of the Dragon Ball Super franchise, which provided the chance to expand on his backstory a bit. The Tournament of Power arc even introduced a version of Frieza from another universe named Frost. In December 2021 V-Jump, the magazine where the Dragon Ball Super manga is published (along with Boruto), further expanded on these characters' backgrounds, giving a rundown of the history of Frieza, his father Cold, and their army. The relevant pages were shared by Twitter user @DBSuperFrance.
The tribe where Frieza was born always possessed good combat potential, but Cold was the first one to be so powerful to conquer other alien races, creating what would later be called the Frieza Army. At this point in time, he recruited powerful underlings who were shown during the Namek arc, such as Zarbon, Dodoria, and the Ginew Force. They also developed advanced technology such as the Scouter and the regeneration vats. When Frieza took over, the empire further expanded, and even powerful forces of good in the galaxy such as the Galactic Patrol and the North Kai could not stop him. Finally, Frieza decided to get rid of the Saiyans, which proved to be his undoing. V-Jump also gives a recap of the Granolah Arc, presently unfolding in the manga, specifying that Granolah's planet was conquered by the Saiyans at the behest of Frieza 40 years before the current events.
Considering that, at the end of the Tournament of Power, Frieza was resurrected once again and even resumed his title of emperor of Universe 7, the information provided by V-Jump will be useful for fans of Dragon Ball Super, who can expect to see the fearsome villain Frieza again in the future.
Source: @DBSuperFrance