Why Does Broly Hate Goku? Explained

The Broly and Goku rivalry was a big one, although it might seem a larger and more complex story depending on what version of Broly you’re more familiar with. So why in Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super does Broly hate Goku?

Broly hates Goku because of their difference in power level as babies and due to Goku’s apparent lack of respect in Dragon Ball Z, and Broly hates Goku in Dragon Ball Super because he believes he killed his father and that Goku is responsible for Broly’s exile.

Let’s explore whether Broly is right in his hatred and anger, and also take a deeper look at exactly what the relationship is between the two of them, and whether there is any hope for an improved relationship between the two of them.

Why Did Broly from Dragon Ball Z Hate Goku?

The Dragon Ball Z universe was not official, meaning that it saw several new characters, including the very powerful Broly. This character seemed to have a very strong dislike of Goku.

After Goku and Vegeta found Broly and his father on a different planet, they immediately realized how powerful Broly was. King Vegeta, however, also realized that despite Broly being a young boy, he was already considerably stronger than even Vegeta himself.

Knowing that Broly could be the Legendary Super Saiyan that had been spoken of, he took the action of ordering for Broly and his father Paragus to be executed, knowing that someone like Broly would threaten Vegeta’s dominance over the Super Saiyans.

Thus their planet was condemned, and the two found themselves on a different planet. Meeting up with Goku and Vegeta decades later, bizarrely it is clear that Broly hates Goku instead of the one responsible for the planetary destruction. 

The main reason is that Broly wanted revenge for the attempt on his life. However, it is also clear that Broly’s father has been trying to control him via a shock collar, which has caused mental distress.

But apparently Goku and Broly were nursed in the same room as infants, with Goku being the louder of the two. This led to Broly getting traumatized by the noise and thus harboring a grudge against Goku.

However, if we consider Saiyan culture, Saiyans are divided into different groups based on their abilities at birth.

It is fair to say that the Saiyans are a people that puts a premium on those who will become the strongest warriors. They also value a Saiyan’s untrained strength rather than a future potential.

Broly maxed out the power level scanner at 10,000 at birth, already being just under half  of King Vegeta at 25,000. Goku was born with a power level that measured nearly zero, at two.

It is thought that this difference in power meant that Goku should have respected Broly, as Saiyans can sense this, but instead kept crying for attention. This also hinted to Broly that Goku was going to try and become powerful, in a sense cheating the system.

Compare this to Vegeta, who was so scared by the power emanating from Broly, he had an immediate, visceral reaction to Broly, who would’ve detected this.

Thus defeating Goku would put Goku in his place, below Broly. It would once and for all prove Broly’s superiority, and this goes to a deeper point about respecting the ways of the Saiyans.

Goku was sent to an alien planet to either learn to survive, thus growing more powerful, or die. Unlike an elite such as Vegeta, he would have to come up through a very harsh environment, which is what seems to happen to Broly despite him being powerful already.

It could be that Broly felt that Goku’s spirit and guts is actually a threat, and that he may even be more powerful as he had to earn what he had, rather than being born with it like Broly was.

There are also some fan theories that Broly saw some future visions of himself being destroyed by Goku, which ended up being the case. This required the use of a fusion warrior as not even Goku’s Super Saiyan Blue could deal with the power of Broly.

Why Did Broly from Dragon Ball Super Hate Goku?

Due to the creator of Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama, not being responsible for this character Broly, technically he wasn’t canon or official.

Eventually Broly was introduced in Dragon Ball Super, but some changes were made to him, particularly regarding his origin story.

The nursery part was removed, and King Vegeta’s dislike of Broly and what he represented meant he was sent to a distant planet to remove him from any threat to the bloodline of Vegeta and his Saiyan royalty.

This of course also removed one of the reasons why Broly hates Goku.

Paragus thus boarded a ship to travel to the planet, so that he can raise his child and help train him, which is vital in Broly’s eventual emotional growth and understanding of the plight of his situation.

A more rational reaction is that Paragus and Broly hate King Vegeta due to this unwarranted exile, and Broly is actually a generally carefree guy.

However, due to his father’s desire for revenge and Broly wanting to please his father so much, he decides to fight Goku and Vegeta, hopefully killing the latter.

Indeed, this hatred towards Vegeta unlocked Broly’s Wrathful Form, fueled by extreme rage and emotional turmoil. Frieza then killed Broly’s father Paragus to really get him into extreme hatred and therefore power, although he made it seem as if Goku had killed him.

This caused Broly to go into his Legendary Super Saiyan form, beating out even the Super Saiyan Blue form of Goku, but this was not the end of the battle.

Broly’s uncontrolled emotions are also partly to blame for this, as when he gets into Wrathful Form, he regresses back to almost a primitive form of human or Saiyan, meaning he couldn’t even consider that Goku hadn’t killed his father.