Summary
Serving as thefinal antagonist of the Super Hero SagainDragon Ball Super, Cell Max is the creation of Dr. Hedo, working under the revived Red Ribbon Army. The character shares some similarities with the original Cell fromDragon Ball Z— one of the most memorable antagonists created by Akira Toriyama — although Cell Max’s persona was more akin to a kaiju than his predecessor.
In a way, Cell Max’s introduction was a blight on the legacy of one ofDragon Ball Z’sgreatest villains, replacing him with a lackluster monster who harbored no real depth and displayed none of theambition or initiative shown by Perfect Cell. Hence, here is an examination of why Cell Max isDragon Ball Super’sworst villain, and why he was more of a plot contrivance forDragon Ball Super: Super Herothan a real threat.
Who Is Cell Max?
Portrayed as anupgraded version of the original Cellcreated by Dr. Gero of the Red Ribbon Army, Cell Max is a Bio-Android developed by Gero’s grandson, Dr. Hedo. The young scientist was enlisted to create Cell Max by Magenta, the son of Commander Red, who is the current leader of the revived Red Ribbon Army, and president of Red Pharmaceuticals, which is its public face.
For the most part, Cell Max greatly resembles Semi-Perfect Cell in terms of facial structure and physique, although the former’s color scheme is primarily green and red instead of orange and green. Cell Max also has glowing eyes, wings, and a mace attached to his tail, which distinguishhis design from that of Semi-Perfect Cell.
Another key divergencecomes in terms of Cell Max’s stature, which was considerably large at the time of his debut, but increased to a colossal size by the end of the Super Hero Saga. InDragon Ball Super, Cell Max was also portrayed as a mindless monster, which was primarily due to the fact that he was awakened from his chamber by Magenta, before Dr. Hedo could finish working on him. This depiction was a radical departure from the characterization of Cell, who provided his genetic template.
Examining His Link To Cell
Unlike his predecessor fromDragon Ball Z,Cell Max exhibited no real motives, sense of composure, and strategic acumen, since the majority of his screen time was spent in a berserk rampage. This produces a clear distinction between the two antagonists, despite their many shared characteristics. Conversely, Cell Max did display enough combat skills to deal with experienced martial artists such as Piccolo and Gohan, but this was also due to the massive advantages he had over them in terms of size and raw power.
Whereas the original Cell was primarily an organic being,Cell Max appeared to be a compositeBio-Android with a lot of mechanical bodily augmentations, which were revealed inDragon Ball Super: Super Hero. This divergence from Cell’s earlier design could be attributed to Dr. Hedo using incomplete data from Dr. Gero’s work to create Cell Max. Ultimately, Cell Max’s similarities to Cell were more superficial than anything else, and herein lies the problem.
Why Cell Max Fails As An Antagonist
Even inDragon Ball Super: Super Hero, as well as the Super Hero Saga in theDragon Ball Supermanga, Cell Max’s introduction was far lessemphatic than that of the original Cell, which was compounded by his uninspiring characterization as a kaiju. Such antagonists are rare when looking at the entireDragon Ballfranchise, and the only other villain who fits into this category is Hirudegarn fromDragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon.
Cell was a villain that etched his placeinto anime history due to how he possessed well-fleshed out goals, an incredibly memorable design, a varied and unique fighting style, as well as a malicious magnetism that perhaps only Frieza could compete with. It is only natural for the franchise’s fan base to anticipate something similar from Cell Max, but the subversion of expectations here led to a character that was all brawn and no substance.
There was never any real doubt that Gohan and Piccolo would prevail against Cell Max because of how little he offered as a villain. In the end, Cell Max was simply an obstacle that Gohan needed to overcome, in order to achieve a new transformation that allowed him to catch up with Goku, Vegeta, and Broly. Before his Beast form premiered on screen, Gohan had been languishing behind Vegeta and his father, having made limited progress since his epic victory against Perfect CellinDragon Ball Z’sCell Games Saga.
With this in mind, Cell Max was set up to be a rival to Gohan like the original Cell, but the outcome was not the same. Perfect Cell was a character who stood far above the Z-Fighters in strength, and the sheer task of overcoming him took several visits to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and the achievement of new Super Saiyan forms. A similar aura has pervaded some of the more effective antagonists inDragon Ball Super, including the likes of Hit, Jiren, Beerus, and Golden Frieza,but the same cannot be said of Cell Max.
How This Tarnishes The Legacy Of An Iconic Anime Villain
Eclipsed only by Vegeta and Frieza in terms of the impact an antagonist can have on theDragon Ballfranchise as a whole,Cell remains one of anime’smost iconic villains, and his climactic battle with Gohan is one ofDragon Ball Z’sgreatest clashes. While Vegeta and Frieza were both revived and given new roles in the narratives ofDragon Ball ZandDragon Ball Super, a similar sort of rebirth for Cell’s character would not have made much sense given his origins.
That being said, creating a kaiju caricature of such an incredibly well-written villain was almost a disservice to the legacy of the Cell Saga, which is often cited among the best story arcs in theDragon Ballfranchise. Even thoughDragon Ball Superhas thrived on bringing back old antagonists alongside new ones, the Super Hero Saga was a rare miss for the series. Unfortunately, Cell Max simply could not live up to the massive shoes he needed to fill, and his presence acted as nothing more than an excuse tounleash a new transformation for Gohan, adaptingDragon Ball’stime-honored formula with none of its redeeming qualities.
