The seemingly unbeatable Dragon Ball villain Goku and Vegeta are currently facing off against is Dragon Ball Super’s version of Vegeta. The similarities the two exhibit lie in their origin as well as their likelihood of redemption with Vegeta having gone through his arc and Granolah seemingly next in line. While the villain was previously inconsolable and completely unwilling to resolve his issue with Goku and Vegeta in any way other than violence, a third party to their fight was finally able to reach him, setting up the villain for a Vegeta-like redemption arc.
In Dragon Ball Super Chapter 77 by Akira Toriyama and Toyotarou, fans and Granolah alike learn the secrets of Granolah’s tragic past and the facts behind the assault on his planet. Forty years ago, Frieza’s Saiyan army descended on Planet Cereal and decimated it in a matter of minutes. Granolah and his mother were the sole Cerealian survivors, and before the assault was over the two found themselves face to face with Goku’s father, the Saiyan Bardock. Instead of killing them, however, Bardock decided to show mercy and flew the family to safety. The insight told by the Namekian that raised Granolah made the villain’s quest against the Saiyans less than deserved, especially once the true evil-doers against Granolah are made known, hitting the would-be avenger way too close to home.
While Bardock saved Granolah and his mother, only Granolah survives with his mother dying at the hands of the organization with which he works so closely. After the Saiyans left Planet Cereal, an intergalactic scavenging group called the Heeters arrived to take stock of the now vacant planet and sell it to the highest bidder. When the Heeters arrived, they spotted Bardock, Granolah, his mother, and surrogate Namekian father and killed Granolah’s mother with the rest of them next in line before Bardock was able to save the remaining group and flee from the area. The irony of this situation lies in Granolah’s present-day company as he often works with the Heeters as a bounty hunter, unwittingly assisting the same people that killed his mother.
After the revelation of Granolah’s past, he has no right to be angry with Vegeta and Goku especially after he realizes that Goku’s father is the one who saved him and his mother more than once when the planet was being destroyed. Not only that, but the organization with which he is close has ended up being the true villains in his story, no too random Saiyans that had nothing to do with the assault with half of them actually related to the man who saved him. The parallels between Vegeta and Granolah are striking as their origins are almost exactly the same. Both unwittingly assisted the organization that was responsible for the destruction of their planet and both initially fought against the wrong enemy upon their introduction.
If Granolah’s story arc continues on the same path as Vegeta’s, then not only will the Z-Fighters gain an incredibly strong new ally, but Dragon Ball Super will have its very own version of Vegeta originating within that series. If Granolah does follow the same path as Vegeta then the next step could be teaming up with the Saiyans who he no longer has any reason to hate and take down his true enemies, just as Vegeta did in Dragon Ball Z when he was on Goku’s side on Planet Namek in the fight against Frieza after previously working for the tyrant not long before then. Dragon Ball’s unbeatable villain is Super’s version of Vegeta, with Granolah’s redemption arc hopefully underway.