Beerus

"Is there nobody on Earth more worthy to destroy…?"
— Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods

Beerus (ビルス), feared as the God of Destruction Beerus (破壊神ビルス), is the main antagonist in the movie Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods.

Overview

Creation and Concept

Akira Toriyama's inspiration for the design came from an old Cornish Rex cat living with him (like Toriyama's previous cat was the inspiration for Korin). After the cat became seriously ill, the vet declared it did not have much longer to live, but the cat miraculously recovered and the vet joked that it might be some kind of demon. Beerus' physical design also takes some inspiration from Ancient Egyptian deities, notably Seth and Sekhmet. Seth is a humanoid with a jackal-like head who is the god of desert, storms, darkness, and chaos in ancient Egyptian culture. Sekhmet is a humanoid with a lioness head who is the Egyptian Goddess of Destruction, believed to cause diseases. In addition to sharing the same position as Sekhmet, Beerus is a felid like her, as he is an anthropomorphic cat.

Appearance and Personality

Beerus is a thin purple cat-like humanoid, with large pointed ears, similar to Cornish Rex and sphynx cats. He dons black, blue, and gold Egyptian-looking attire with the same white and orange diamond decorations as his ally Whis.

Beerus is powerful yet playful too (like most cats). He is also a gourmet, and his temple is stocked with fish and other food. While he is a fearsome god, his cat-like gestures and his variety of facial expressions seperate him from the more malevolent antagonists in the series. However, Beerus is easily angered over trivial matters, such as being beaten in a game of Hide-and-Seek or being denied pudding. He is also fairly confident in his superior power, not without cause, as he proved to be one of the strongest opponents ever confronted by the Z Fighters.

Biography

Beerus pondering about the Super Saiyan transformation

Out of all the many gods in the universe, Beerus is the most feared. He is feared even by Kais and Kaioshin. As a God of Destruction, he was once tasked with maintaining balance in the universe. Beerus is the God of Destruction of the Seventh Universe, and his administrative zone includes planet Earth. He slumbers for several years to several decades straight, and he destroys planets of his administrative zone during the few years when he is awake. This is because destruction is required in order to create new planets, but he does not act on Kaioshin's orders; the God of Destruction destroys according to his own individual judgment. Also, because he is capricious, he destroys even important planets without a second thought. When he finds it bothersome, he lets someone else act as an agent of destruction. While he is awake, tense days for the Kaioshins continue, as nobody knows how many planets will be sacrificed.

Beerus with the Oracle Fish

Beerus was trained in martial arts by Whis. One day, the God of Destruction Beerus stopped by King Kai's planet, which was larger at the time. He and King Kai played a video game together, a car racing one and Beerus lost, so the planet was destroyed by the peeved God of Destruction. King Kai then took a large leftover fragment, whittled it down to a sphere, and built a road on it so that he could have fun driving there. This became King Kai's current planet. Another day, King Vegeta treated Beerus to a feast in his palace on Planet Vegeta and Beerus used the Saiyan King as a stepping stone while he was eating. Prince Vegeta, who is just a kid at that time, shockedly saw this and became mad, but remained silent.

Whis and Beerus meet Goku

39 years before the events of the movie, the Oracle Fish said to the God of Destruction that a strong opponent would appear before him, the Super Saiyan God. During the events of the film, alarm bombs explode, but Beerus still does not wake up. Whis tells him to get up and he says he will sing with a microphone if Beerus keeps sleeping. Since Whis is terrible at singing, Beerus eventually awakens from his long slumber and asks Whis whether the galactic overlord Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta during his nap, saying the Saiyans and Frieza were very evil and King Vegeta was stingy. Despite the fact that Planet Vegeta was destroyed two years before Beerus went to sleep, he was unaware of it until he was informed of it by Whis. Whis then tells Beerus that Frieza was defeated by "a Saiyan known as Goku or Kakarot," and uses his scepter like a projector to show the past battle between Goku and Frieza on Namek. Next, Beerus touches an egg and destroys it. When Whis explains about Super Saiyans and some Saiyans including Prince Vegeta living on Earth, Beerus recalls his dream about him fighting with the Super Saiyan God and he then calls the Oracle Fish. The Oracle Fish does not remember it, but Beerus is convinced that it said so. Since he heard rumors that a Saiyan defeated Frieza, Beerus tracks down this warrior, Goku, on King Kai's planet. When he arrives on the planet, the God of Destruction complains that King Kai's planet is so small, but Whis reminds him that he is the reason it is so small for destroying it when getting mad after losing at hide-and-seek. Beerus questions Goku about the Super Saiyan God and, after Goku demonstrates the various Super Saiyan forms he can achieve, Beerus accepts Goku's challenge to fight. Beerus blocks Super Saiyan 3 Goku's punch and flicks him on the head. Next, Beerus repeatedly blocks Goku's punch and defeats him with a Pressure Point Attack, making him unconscious and reverting him back to his base form. Disappointed by the subsequent lack of challenge, Beerus departs in order to see if the Saiyan Prince Vegeta and the other Saiyans on Earth know more about the Super Saiyan God.

Beerus concentrates his ki while he is on Earth, producing a pink-colored aura

He arrives at Capsule Corporation, where Bulma's birthday party is held. The Saiyan Prince Vegeta seems to have met Beerus before, and he musters all of his excitement and casts aside his pride to put the party's unannounced attendee in a good mood. Beerus asks Mr. Buu for one or two of the custard puddings he has, but Mr. Buu eats all of them, angering the God of Destruction, who decides to destroy the Earth. Mr. Buu is blasted away into a lake by a Kiai from the God of Destruction. Android 18, Tien Shinhan, Piccolo attempt to fight Beerus and the God of Destruction easily defeats them one after another with some chopsticks. While Beerus retrieves Buu back from the water, Gohan powers up and attacks Beerus only to have his head slammed into Buu's. Beerus also faces Gotenks and quickly defeats him as well. Vegeta decides to fight the God of Destruction on his own after the other Z Fighters have been defeated, but he is ultimately defeated. While Beerus is about to finish off Vegeta, Bulma walks up and scolds Beerus for ruining her birthday party, slapping him. The God of Destruction returns the favor right back and responds with a slap of his own, only his is much harder. Seeing his wife being beaten, Vegeta explodes in a fit of rage starts knocking Beerus around for a bit. Vegeta's anger gives him incredible power, but as soon as his rampage is over, Beerus is just fine and the Saiyan Prince once again accepts his and the planet's fate.

Beerus kicking Vegeta

Soon, Goku turns into a Super Saiyan God and faces Beerus again. They have a battle in space, right above planet Earth. The form gives Goku the power to resist Beerus, but he reverts back to his regular Super Saiyan form due to the form's time limit. However, he learns the form's godlike feeling, which allows him to use Super Saiyan God power against Beerus. Beerus points out to Goku that Super Saiyan God's time limit ran out some time ago and that Goku did not notice because he was able to absorb Super Saiyan God power into his body while he was fighting. Beerus says that because of this, Goku did not greatly power down even after returning to normal.

Beerus raises one hand towards Goku

The two seem to be equally strong at some point, but Beerus eventually wins when he uses his God of Destruction Super Energy Sphere. Goku stops Beerus' energy sphere, barely holding it back, and the screen suddenly blacks out. Chi-Chi and Goku's friends appear in Goku's mind, then he briefly transforms to Super Saiyan God again and absorbs the energy ball. Goku gets exhausted, and Beerus wants Goku to say "I give up" and he says so. Beerus stops the fight and they talk for a while before going back to the ground. Beerus says that the Super Saiyan God was not that strong and the Oracle Fish's prediction was a little exaggerated. Beerus reveals that Whis is his martial arts master and stronger than him. He also says that there are twelve universes, and the one Goku and his friends know is just one of them, the Seventh Universe. Beerus is the God of Destruction of the Seventh Universe, and each universe has its God of Destruction. On the ground, Beerus tries to destroy the planet, but he blasts only a small rock and says he has already run out of power. Whis asks Goku if he would like to be the next God of Destruction after Beerus dies, but Goku turns him down. From the Sacred World of the Kais, the Kaioshins comment on Goku befriending the God of Destruction. After they return home, Beerus tells Whis that both Goku and Vegeta might become formidable foes before long. While they are eating sushi, Beerus tries some of the wasabi, his head turns red and he starts destroying the moons around his temple. Then, Whis karate-chops Beerus to make him stop. Whis then orders Beerus to sleep for more 3 years.

Power

Beerus dominates Super Saiyan 3 Goku

His power surpasses that of all the main Dragon Ball Z villains: Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu. Going further, V-Jump notes that Beerus is without a doubt the strongest being in the history of Z. However, this is disproven in the film when Beerus reveals that his martial arts master, Whis, is stronger than him. He usually uses his power to destroy planets, and he is strong enough to destroy even an entire galaxy. The overwhelming power of Beerus exceeds even that of Goku, who has surpassed several Super Saiyan levels; Beerus completely dominates Super Saiyan 3 Goku in battle, rendering him unconscious with merely a chop to the neck. He also takes down the fully-powered Gohan with a single kick to the abdomen, causes Gotenks to defuse, and dominates Super Saiyan Vegeta as well (until Vegeta gets mad, allowing him to put up a fight to Beerus, even making him spit out blood). Beerus' power is finally challenged by the appearance of Goku's Super Saiyan God power. The two seemed to be equally strong at some point, but Beerus eventually wins. However, it is said by Whis that during the fight with Goku after he became a Super Saiyan God, that Beerus used up 70% of his full power in the fight with Goku using 80%, and that he had not been that worked up in a long time. The God of Destruction's power is in another dimension altogether, however, he is not as powerful as his martial arts master Whis.

Techniques and special abilities

• Flight – The ability to fly with the use of ki.
• Kiai – An invisible wave of ki that Beerus emits from his palm. Used against Mr. Buu.
• Ki Blast – The most basic form of energy wave. Beerus can fire ki blasts strong enough to destroy planets, as shown in the arcade game Dragon Ball Heroes.
• Sand Conversion – Beerus is seen reducing an egg to ashes with only one finger using this special power when Whis shows him the past battle between Goku and Frieza on Namek.
• Wrath of the God of Destruction – A finger attack that is Beerus' super attack in Dragon Ball Heroes.
• Continuous Energy Bullets – A combination of many energy waves fired at a very rapid rate. Beerus uses an energy sphere barrage technique similar to Piccolo's Hellzone Grenade attack. Used against Goku, as well as in the video game Dragon Ball: Zenkai Battle Royale.

Beerus prepares his ultimate attack

• God of Destruction Super Energy Sphere – A huge Sun-looking energy sphere technique. He uses this attack during his battle against Goku, while facing him above planet Earth. Named in Dragon Ball Heroes, and also used in Zenkai Battle Royale.
• Pressure Point Attack – Beerus uses Pressure Point Attacks to render his opponents unconscious. He uses this on Super Saiyan 3 Goku during their confrontation of King Kai's planet, using chopsticks on Piccolo, and later on Vegeta.
• Explosive Wave – Beerus is able to use this technique in Dragon Ball: Zenkai Battle Royale.

Video game appearances

Beerus is a boss and a playable character in Dragon Ball Heroes, Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission, and Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z. He is also a playable character in Dragon Ball: Zenkai Battle Royale, and is unlocked after collecting all seven Dragon Balls during "Competition for Dragon Balls" battles.

Voice actors

• Japanese: Kōichi Yamadera
• English: Jason Douglas (Battle of Z)
• Latin America Spanish: Jose Luis Orozco
• Portuguese Dub (Brazil): Marcelo Pissardini

Trivia

• The scriptwriter Yūsuke Watanabe originally envisioned Beerus as a villainous character who infects people with evil and was the one who gave the Saiyan race their characteristic ruthlessness. Also, Beerus originally looked like a lizard, but Toriyama changed his design entirely.
• In accordance to the original concept for this character, his name in Japanese, Birusu (ビルス), is a pun on "virus" (ビールス; German pronunciation).
• Beerus was going to fight the Z Fighters with a spoon or fork, but the Battle of Gods animation director Tadayoshi Yamamuro thought it would be hard for him to fight like that, so he suggested switching it to chopsticks.