One of the most iconic villains of Dragon Ball is one who barely appears in the franchise, but one who gets extremely powerful and makes a major impact on the heroes of Earth before he is killed. We are, of course, talking about the biological android Cell.
Cell was first introduced in the Imperfect Cell Saga of Dragon Ball Z and he was created by Dr. Gero, who was working with the Red Ribbon Army. Over the few sagas of Dragon Ball Z, he was in – and the movie he appeared in – Cell transformed several times, achieving new levels of power each time. Let’s take a look at every form Cell ever had, or rather, all the forms he has had so far.
Larva Cell
The first form of Cell is his youngest form, Larva Cell. In the larval stage, Cell is still growing into his android self. This is before he has absorbed anyone and during this process, he is presumably infused with the genetic material of Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Frieza, and King Cold.
This larval version of Cell first appeared because when Cell plotted to go back in time to absorb Android 17 and Android 18. The time capsule was too small for him so he had to deform.
By the time the fighters find Cell’s larval form, he already shed his shell and absorbed the majority of a city close to where he landed. However, when Trunks and Krillin journeyed to Dr. Gero’s laboratory, they did find a small version of this form incubating in a tank. Not much else is known about Cell in this form.
Imperfect Cell
Imperfect Cell is the first Cell to go up against any of the fighters, and he was first seen in the Imperfect Cell Saga of Dragon Ball Z. Imperfect Cell was achieved after Cell absorbed people on Earth. The combined power of the people he consumed allowed him to evolve from his base larval form and grow into Imperfect Cell whose goal quickly became to absorb the androids.
Other than his Larval form, this is the version of Cell that looks most like a bug, whereas most of his other forms take on more of a humanoid look.
This version of Cell roamed Earth looking for people to absorb before absorbing Android 17. While in his Imperfect form, Cell was already powerful enough to beat Krillin and Piccolo while he had reformed with Kami. Imperfect Cell also went toe to toe with Android 16 before he retreated and caught Android 17 off-guard, absorbing him.
Semi-Perfect Cell
Semi-Perfect Cell is the result of Cell absorbing one of the android twins, and in the anime, it was Android 17. Semi-Perfect Cell looks like an evolution of his previous form with gained muscle mass and a bulkier face. In this form, Semi-Perfect Cell would have had no trouble defeating both Piccolo and Tien if they had not been whisked away by Goku at the last moment.
This version of Cell may have been able to defeat Goku after he recovered from the Viral Heart Disease but as they did not fight, it is up for debate. One thing is for sure, though — Super Vegeta would have had no problem defeating Semi-Perfect Cell but Cell goaded Vegeta into sparing him so he could absorb Android 18 and transform into his ultimate form.Â
Perfect Cell
Perfect Cell is what Cell was intended to be, and is perhaps his most iconic look. Perfect Cell is only triggered once after Cell has absorbed both Android 17 and Android 18. This version of Cell is also quite cocky, as he is extremely powerful and was able to defeat Super Vegeta easily. This version of Cell debuted in the Perfect Cell Saga, where he was the main antagonist.
Perfect Cell sought to find an interesting way to defeat the fighters after beating Future Trunks, who was able to turn into a Super Saiyan Third Grade, so he created the Cell Games. The Cell Games were Cell’s version of the World Martial Arts Tournament, although he quickly blew up the stage he created.
This version of Cell bounced between a few different forms and created one of his own. He also managed to replicate Goku’s Instant Transmission technique. Ultimately Perfect Cell would see to his own destruction, coming back in an even more powerful form.
Power-Weighted Cell/Cell Super Saiyan Third Grade
We first saw the Power-Weighted Cell form in the Perfect Cell Saga of Dragon Ball Z, when he battled Future Trunks. Future Trunks thought that powering up to his Super Saiyan Third Grade form would be enough to defeat Perfect Cell, but the form just made him slower, so Cell was able to dodge all of his attacks.
Realizing the mistake that Trunks had made, Perfect Cell mimicked him and took on a form similar to his Super Saiyan Third Grade form.
While it is possible that the reason Cell is able to replicate the Super Saiyan Third Grade form is because he has Saiyan DNA in his genes, this form could be the result of someone else’s DNA. It is possible that while he was a Super Saiyan, the quick reproduction of the form and the added mass could stem from Piccolo’s genes as he too has a large form called the Great Namekian, and he can stretch his limbs.
Super Saiyan Cell
This form of Cell is seen throughout the Cell Games Saga of Dragon Ball Z and it is another variation of Perfect Cell. It is simply the Perfect Cell form turned into a Super Saiyan, and it is not very distinguishable from his base Perfect form other than the fact that he is surrounded by yellow energy like all the other Super Saiyans are in their forms. He did fight Goku in this form as seen in the image above.
Cell Jr.
Perfect Cell created multiple Cell Juniors during the Cell Games Saga of Dragon Ball Z. They were blue, smaller versions of Cell and were as powerful as at least Vegeta in his Super Saiyan form. He created them to endanger the other fighters to get Gohan angry while they fought, as Perfect Cell wanted a challenge. They were only children, so they were quite childish while they fought the Z Fighters.
Because Cell was made up of the DNA of the heroes via a remote tracking device, it is very possible that Cell thought up the idea of Cell Jr. from the Saibamen created by Vegeta and Nappa during the Saiyan Saga of Dragon Ball Z. The Saibamen were small like the Cell Juniors, but they were green. Ultimately, the Cell Juniors are defeated by Gohan who turns into his Super Saiyan 2 form.
Self-Destruction Cell
We are only treated to the fat, bloated version of Cell briefly as he transforms into this version by inflating himself, turning himself into a super powerful bomb. This form could not be stopped by anyone, instead, Goku resorted to teleporting him to King Kai’s planet where unfortunately he detonated killing Goku, Bubbles, Gregory, and King Kai himself, as well as Android 17 who was still absorbed in the form.
Cell turned into this form because Gohan kicked him, forcing a regurgitation of Android 18, and causing Perfect Cell to turn back into Semi-Perfect Cell. Knowing he would be beaten by Gohan, Cell took the coward’s way out and hoped to take the rest of the Earth with him, until Goku stepped in. Unfortunately, Cell would survive his own explosion.
Super Perfect Cell
Super Perfect Cell is most likely the most powerful version of Cell we have ever seen, at least in Dragon Ball Z. Appearing in the Cell Games Saga of Dragon Ball Z, Super Perfect Cell was the result of Cell’s Self-Destruction from exploding. Because tiny pieces of Cell’s nucleus remained when Cell exploded, he was able to reform. The resulting form was even more powerful than Perfect Cell because Cell had Saiyan DNA in his genes, and whenever a Saiyan is close to death, they recuperate stronger than they were before.
Super Perfect Cell was so powerful that Gohan reaching his Super Saiyan 2 form was the only one with enough power to defeat him. Even then he was distracted by Vegeta blasting him in the side of the head, and Gohan’s Kamehameha was joined by Goku’s from the afterlife as they performed a Father-Son Kamehameha, destroying Super Perfect Cell forever.
Cell Max
Cell Max is another form of Cell, as he does stem from Dr. Gero’s original work, but he is a different android and an upgrade of the original Cell. Cell Max appears in the film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and he was created by Dr. Hedo, Dr. Gero’s grandson at the bequest of the leader of the Red Ribbon Army, Magenta.
Unfortunately, or maybe, fortunately, Cell Max was released prematurely, where he resembled his Semi-Perfect form, except he was extremely large, bigger than that form ever was. Cell Max was extremely powerful, as not even Piccolo in his new Orange Piccolo form could defeat him. It eventually took Piccolo nearly dying to cause Gohan’s emotions to trigger his transformation into Gohan Beast, who was more than powerful enough to defeat Cell Max.
That is every form that Cell achieved throughout the Dragon Ball franchise. Unless they bring Cell Max back in the future or revive Cell somehow, it seems like Cell is done creating new forms of himself. But seeing as it’s Dragon Ball and we never really know when we see the last of someone, the character could always come back, in one form or another.
