How Vegeta's Big Bang Attack Works and Where It First Appeared in Dragon Ball

The Big Bang Attack was the next signature move Vegeta actually named in Dragon Ball Z after the Galick Gun, and it works differently from his other techniques. Its original form is a compressed ball of energy that explodes on contact, which is why it so often serves as a finishing move.

Earlier in this technique guide series, I examined the Galick Gun, the first true signature move Vegeta used in Dragon Ball Z against Goku. Here I'm going to look at how the Big Bang Attack works, what makes it different from Vegeta's other techniques, when he used it, and its complete history.

Vegeta's Big Bang Attack comes in two different forms

The Big Bang Attack is another one of Vegeta's signature moves. Vegeta takes his right arm, extends it out, opens his palm and fires a blast at his opponent. On the surface, it may look like this technique is the same as the Galick Gun in what it does and how it works. It's really not, or maybe it is, depending on your perspective.

There are two different ways Vegeta does the Big Bang Attack. In one, it fires like a smaller ki blast from the palm. That's the version we saw him use against Android 18, and it's also the version Vegito used when he did the Big Bang Attack against Majin Buu.

The original Big Bang Attack is a different kind of ki blast, because it fires a round ball of energy. When that ball connects with the opponent, the particles that have been condensed into it explode. On many occasions this is a finishing move. Vegeta will do it when he's trying to severely injure you or kill you.

The Big Bang Attack's blast radius can crater the surrounding area

The blast radius for the Big Bang Attack is much larger in scope, and it can do serious damage not only to the opponent but to the surrounding area. If there's a mountain or a stretch of land nearby, it can cause a huge crater and destroy whatever objects may be around it.

An easy example is Dragon Ball Z episode 228, when Majin Vegeta blasts a section of the crowd at the tournament with a technique that is presumably the Big Bang Attack, although Vegeta doesn't say its name there.

Vegeta first named the Big Bang Attack against Android 19

Going back, the first time we ever saw the Big Bang Attack was Dragon Ball manga chapter 344, which corresponds to Dragon Ball Z anime episode 130. Vegeta, fighting a much weakened Android 19, fires the Big Bang Attack. The dub butchered this line tremendously, with Vegeta saying something about a going away present or something like that.

In the Japanese version, Vegeta refers to the technique as "super vegeta's big bang attack," and that's the first time the move is both shown and named. As I said above, the Big Bang Attack is a move meant to kill. Vegeta compresses the energy into a small ball, unlike the gigantic ball that Frieza, for example, can make.

Even though it's small, that sphere of energy is packed with power, sort of like a Spirit Bomb. The difference is that Vegeta doesn't gather the energy from the Earth. It's literally part of his own ki from inside his body. Throughout Dragon Ball there have been other techniques similar to this move, but this is Vegeta's pride and joy, and he kept it in his arsenal going into Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super.

Baby's Big Bang Attack in Dragon Ball GT was a Japanese scripting error

I want to discuss a mistake that was made in Dragon Ball GT. There's a part where Baby is preparing a Final Flash, and as he's preparing it, he shouts Big Bang Attack. This is a scripting error that Toei Animation made in the Japanese version of GT. It isn't in the dub, so this isn't the dub's fault. The Japanese version is the one that got this wrong.

Because of that error, the Final Flash was renamed the Big Bang Attack in some games. They're obviously different techniques, though. At the time, I planned to discuss the Final Flash in the next technique guide as part of this spotlight on Vegeta.

The Big Bang Attack is named after the Big Bang theory, not the TV show

The origin of this technique's name is the Big Bang theory. I don't mean the TV show. I'm talking about the actual Big Bang theory, the idea that the universe was created when there was a large scale explosion at some point billions of years ago. It is thought by many scientists that there was a sort of expansion of density and temperature in the universe that led to it continuing to expand even to this day, because there have been studies of how stars and quasars in space are moving.

That's sort of similar to what Vegeta is doing, because the Big Bang Attack is like particles being condensed and then exploding. Much like the Final Flash, Vegeta says big bang in English, even in the Japanese version. Vegeta's techniques all have English names spoken in English by Vegeta.

I like the fact that Toriyama chose to change things up for the character, but it's weird, because in the world of Dragon Ball, especially the Japanese Dragon Ball, the English language doesn't exist. There are only a few languages we know about. Namekian has its own language, but the language spoken in the series is called galactic standard, depending on whichever dub you're following. There's no English because there's no England, and there's no Japan, not in the world of Dragon Ball. So presumably galactic standard is some kind of hybrid language where Vegeta will say English words too.

Super Saiyan God Vegeta used a God Big Bang Attack on Broly

Fast forward to Dragon Ball Super: Broly. Vegeta busts out the Big Bang Attack, although he doesn't name it, while he's fighting Broly in his Super Saiyan God form. He's kind of whooping up on Broly, and he fires a Big Bang Attack that Goku thought may have killed the warrior.

I'm not entirely sure Vegeta was actually trying to kill Broly, but the technique sent Broly into the water and pretty much signified a win in the Vegeta column. Then Broly powers up and comes back out of it, and that's when Goku decides to challenge him to a fight.

Super Saiyan God Vegeta doing the God Big Bang Attack, which is what that was, just shows it's a Big Bang Attack with god ki. It could get its own guide, but there's not really much to say about it. What I do want to point out is that you can make the Big Bang Attack, and any of these moves, with both regular ki and god ki.

Could Vegeta fire a Big Bang Attack with Hakai energy?

The question that remains is whether Vegeta can make a Big Bang Attack with Hakai energy, as we've seen him use in the Dragon Ball Super manga with his new transformation. At the time I put this guide together, I didn't know if he could do it.

If he can, we're talking about destructive energy that can destroy and disintegrate almost anything, not just blow it up. The sky is the limit with the Big Bang Attack.

Which version of the Big Bang Attack stands out most to you?