Cell is the epitome of Dr. Gero's evil genius. His last project, a being created from the spliced DNA of Earth's greatest warriors, designed to mimick the strongest traits of Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Frieza, and others, as well as to imprint new techniques they might have learned. Cell is truly a masterpiece, for the incubation system that nurtured him from a single cell into maturity ran on autopilot for decades, even after Dr. Gero's death at the hands of Seventeen. Cell awoke, and his preprogrammed instinct led him to seek out Androids Seventeen and Eighteen, who possessed the components necessary for him to reach his final, perfect form.

Cell awoke at some point in an alternate Mirai timeline, after Trunks managed to destroy the androids. Desperate for perfection, Cell killed Trunks, stole his time machine, and catapulted himself into the distant past, years before Gero even activated the androids. He lied in wait, patiently seeking the opportune time to face Earth's warriors.

In his imperfect (more bug-like) state, Cell was very careful not to risk defeat by any of Earth's warriors. He sulked across the countryside, drinking the life out of innocent humans to increase his strength to a point where he could face Seventeen and Eighteen safely. He managed to get the drop of Seventeen, swallowing the cyborg whole and initiating the upgrade into Cell Level 2. Then, he appealed to Vegeta's legendary pride, and won the chance to absorb Eighteen, and achieve his long-awaited perfection.

With perfection came arrogance, as Cell longed for the ultimate challenge before annihilating the heroes of Earth. He did his utmost to incur young Gohan's wrath, and finally pushed the young boy over the edge to Super Saiyan Level 2. In the end, it was his arrogance that brought about his defeat. Just like Frieza, he hungered for the ultimate challenge before destroying his enemies, and gave Gohan the time he needed to dig deep into his own potential, and achieve a level of power that staggered his allies.