Cell
Cell is one of the "major" villains of DBZ. Others being Vegita, Nappa, Freeza and Buu. All other villains are indeed vile etc. but DBZ is generally divided into sagas named after the largest villain of the period. Cell is no exception. If you were to describe his personality, he has the manners of Freeza and the temper of Vegita, (which makes sense since those are two people he's made up of). The general concept of Cell was brought forth by Dr. Gero, however, Dr. Gero's computer is what really "makes" him. Dr. Gero combined blood samples of Piccolo, Gokou, Vegita, Freeza and King Kold, (which were collected by a robot drone disguised as a bee), and created a small life form which would one day become become Cell. Unfortunately, the amount of work needed to input data into the being and make it intelligent takes a ridiculously long amount of time, so Gero sealed the larva Cell in his secret lab and let his computer tinker away at creating the creature for 24 years. After 24 years, voila! Instant killing machine! However, when Cell emerges as an intelligent being, he's far from being what Dr. Gero dreamed that he would one day become. He basically resembles a walking cockroach. In order to reach perfection, Dr. Gero created two components for Cell to absorb, and once he absorbed the components, he would then become "Perfect" and have no equal in strength. Those two components were of course, Androids 17 and 18. Now here's the tricky part. The Cell that you all know is NOT from the normal time-line. He comes from a third time-line, and was born in the year 762. In this time-line, Trunks had defeated Androids 17 and 18, unfortunately for Cell, that meant he could not absorb them and become "Perfect". In the year 786, he emerges from Dr. Gero's lab in his first form and begins to absorb the people of Earth to gain power. In the same year, ( after absorbing enough people to increase his power beyond Trunks' ), he siezes his chance to accomplish his dream. He sneaks up on Trunks, just as he's about to make a departure in his Time Machine to help Gokou and the rest with their fight against the Androids, however, he doesn't get very far. Before he leaves, Cell kills Trunks and steals his Time Machine. In order to fit in the Time Machine, he reverts to an egg state and launches the Time Machine. He ends up in the normal time-line sometime in the year 764. After his arrival, he hatches from his egg and at this point resembles a giant cicada. He crawls several yards away from the Time Machine and burrows down into the Earth to enter his pupa state which he needs to stay in for three years to absorb the neccessary nutrients to reach his first form again. In the year 767 her makes his grand appearance and the Cell Saga begins. Cell is a unique being. Since he is composed of several different species, he has many diverse abilities and fighting techniques. In the anime he can use just about anyone's techniques, but in the manga, he sticks to the techniques that his "genetic parents" could perform. For example, he can regenerate any limb or appendage from any cell in his body. However, his main core is a nerve in his brain. Even if every part of him is destroyed except that nerve, he can still regenerate. He can utilize Kame Hame Ha, and just about any move Gokou can do, the only catch is, he was created from Gokou's cells before he knew certain moves, so Cell needs to see the moves that Gokou learned after his cells were taken in order to perform the specific move, like Shinkan Idou for example. When Gokou's cells were taken, he didn't know the move yet, so Cell wasn't aware that he could perform it, but after he sees Gokou use it, he gains the ability to teleport. Cell is finally killed on May 26th, 767 AD by Gohan with help from the Z Soldiers.
