Beerus

Lord Beerus
Dragon Ball character
Beerus as he appears in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods.
First appearance	Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (2013)
Created by	Akira Toriyama
Voiced by	Japanese Kōichi Yamadera English Jason Douglas (FUNi) Archie Fletcher (Bang Zoom!)
Profile
Species	Hakaishin/Anthropomorphic Cat
Relatives	Champa (Fraternal twin brother) East Kaiō-shin (life linked) Whis (Attendant/Martial arts teacher) Future Beerus (Alternate self)

Beerus, the God of Destruction (Japanese: 破壊神ビルス, Hepburn: Hakaishin Birusu) is a character in the Dragon Ball franchise created by Akira Toriyama. Beerus made his first appearance in the 2013 feature film Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods as the main antagonist and returned as a supporting character in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F', as well as one of the main characters in Dragon Ball Super. He is a purple sphynx cat-like god seen wearing traditional Egyptian clothing and ornaments, whose occupation is to maintain balance by destroying planets, in contrast to the Kaiō-shin who create and preserve them.

It had been stated that Beerus is a star buster by Whis. Often seen destroying planets at a whim, Beerus' two sole desires are, being quite a gourmet, enjoying the Universe's finest cooking and fighting opponents whom he considers to be worthy. The latter ultimately leads him to look for the Super Saiyan God (超サイヤ人ゴッド, Sūpā Saiyajin Goddo) who turns out to be one of the Saiyans now living on Earth. Eventually, Son Goku, with the help of other Saiyans, transforms into the Super Saiyan God and fights Beerus, just to be defeated by the God of Destruction. Having enjoyed the match, Beerus spares both Goku and the Earth, saying that Goku was the second strongest opponent he ever faced; first being his caretaker and martial arts teacher, Whis.

Conception and creation

The development of Beerus' characters first started sometime in 2011. His name and voice actors, along with the film's poster, were officially revealed in December 2012 in Weekly Shōnen Jump's first issue of 2013; Beerus, the God of Destruction voiced by Kōichi Yamadera.^[1] The film poster displays Super Saiyan Goku combating the God of Destruction Beerus, with Whis floating showered in light in the background.^[1] The character was in the initial draft of the Battle of Gods, though Toriyama notes Beerus was changed completely despite his liking of the concept.

The name "Beerus" was taken from the word "virus", though Toriyama mistook its origin as "beer", which began the naming pun used for Whis during production of Battle of Gods, and later future Gods of Destruction and attendants.^[2]

In the following week's issue, he revealed that Beerus' design is based on a cat and his clothes based on Egyptian garments.^[3] Beerus' design was partially based on a Cornish Rex cat that had lived with Toriyama at the time of design work, the cat miraculously recovering from an illness and the veteran joking that it was demonic.^[4][5] Toriyama initially had the character to resemble a lizard, changing it entirely after. Beerus was planned to use either a spoon or fork in combatting the heroes, the idea being overturned when Tadayoshi Yamamuro, the animation director on Battle of Gods, considered it difficult for Beerus to fight that way and made the suggestion of chopsticks instead.^[6]

The April issue of V Jump teased about a new Super Saiyan transformation being in the film, titled "Super Saiyan God" (超サイヤ人ゴッド, Sūpā Saiya-jin Goddo), saying: 39 years ago, the Oracle Fish told Beerus that the Super Saiyan God would appear before him. And that this is the beginning of the movie's story.^[7] In Weekly Shōnen Jump issue #14 of 2013, Toriyama said that the plot for Battle of Gods began two years ago with ideas for the God of Destruction and Super Saiyan God, and that he got deeply involved in the story in order to keep it in-line with the series' original tone so kids could enjoy it.^[8]

Appearances

Involved in events previously left unexplained, preceding the events depicted in the manga, Beerus is revealed to be the one who sealed Old Kaiō-shin into the Z Sword and destroyed North Kaiō's planet, with only the small planet where he now lives remaining, both acts being out of anger over squabbles. He also knew about Freeza's plan to destroy Planet Vegeta, and went into a deep sleep soon after.

Beerus awakens from a 39-year sleep and goes in search of a Super Saiyan God. He travels to meet Goku after learning that he had defeated Freeza, and easily defeated him despite his advanced stages of the Super Saiyan transformation. Beerus next travels to Earth, coming across partygoers of Bulma's birthday party, including Vegeta, who met Beerus during his youth and is fearful of him due to his superior strength. Although Beerus is disappointed that Vegeta does not know what a Super Saiyan God is, he stays at Bulma's party because he enjoys Earth's cuisine. Beerus is mostly calm until requesting some pudding from Majin Boo, who refuses to share, causing him to become enraged and easily beat Boo, Gotenks, Gohan, Android 18, Piccolo, and Tenshinhan in combat. Bulma slaps Beerus, who he slaps back and in doing so causes an angered Vegeta to grow in strength and seemingly surpass him. Beerus then easily defeats Vegeta after powering up, and moves to destroy the Earth until Goku pleads for him to allow the Earthlings time to find a way of making a Super Saiyan God appear. After the Saiyans perform a ritual, which sees Goku transform into a Super Saiyan God, Beerus duels him and though defeating him, spares him and the Earth.^[9] During Freeza's resurrection and subsequent battle with the heroes, Beerus observes the fight and worries Freeza that he will become involved until Beerus confirms he will not.^[10]

After Goku defeats Freeza, Beerus sets up a tournament between his Universe 7, and his twin brother Champa's Universe 6.^[11] After Universe 7 wins, Beerus wishes for the population of Universe 6's Earth to be restored. Beerus, Whis and Goku travel to Universe 10 to meet with Gowasu and Zamasu after gaining a clue about Goku Black's identity;^[12] when Zamasu is discovered to be planning to kill Gowasu, Beerus confronts him and erases him.^[13] Beerus then murders the already deceased Dr. Mashirito.^[14] Beerus tries preventing Goku from using a button to summon the Omni-King, which sets up the Tournament of Power.^[15]

Voice actors

Jason Douglas is the English voice of Beerus.

Beerus is voiced by Kōichi Yamadera in all Japanese Dragon Ball media.^[16]

In the English Funimation dub, Beerus is voiced by Jason Douglas. Douglas interpreted voice director Chris Sabat as believing Beerus' voice was "similar in tone" to Douglas' prior role in Borderlands 2 as Krieg. Douglas found out he had earned the role through his agent.^[17] In the Bang Zoom! Entertainment dub he is voiced by John DeMita.^[18]

Abilities

Beerus possesses strength capable of easily destroying the universe. During his first fight with Super Saiyan God Goku, the clashing of the two's fists created ripples which traveled through the macrochosm of Universe 7, and was stated to be able to destroy the universe if it continued. It was also revealed after the fight that Beerus was holding back a considerably huge amount of his power and had an ability to neutrilize energy of any mortal's energy. In Chapter 28 of the Dragon Ball Super manga, Beerus was shown to have the imperfect version of Ultra Instinct, which was showcased as he effortlessly dodged the attacks of every other God of Destruction. Some of Beerus' unique attacks include Sphere of Destruction (ビルス玉, Birusu Dama), where he creates a small sun-like ball of energy inbetween his hands, raises his arms, and quickly enlarges the ball before launching it, along with Destruction before Creation, where he surrounds himself in an aura resembling a sun prior to releasing an energy wave. Beerus' strongest technique, the Hakai (Destruction|破壊 (はかい) can be used to completely destroy all objects and entities within the universe. The Hakai is able to instantly destroy the body and even souls of mortals and low-tier Gods, which can be seen in action when Beerus uses the technique on Zamasu and the ghost of Dr. Mashirito. Although the technique is first seen being used by Beerus, all Gods of Destruction can utilize the ability. Similarly to other Gods of Destructions and Kaiō-shins, Beerus is life linked to the East Kaiō-shin, where if one dies then so will the other. This amounts to a weakness given East Kaiō-shin's vast inferiority in strength to Beerus. Due to the East Kaiō-shin being killed in the alternate timeline, while assisting Trunks in facing Dabura, the version of Beerus that exists there dies during his sleep.^[19]

Appearances in other media

Beerus has appeared in several Dragon Ball games, the first being Dragon Ball Heroes. In the 2015 game Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Beerus pretends to be possessed by Demigra before revealing gods are immune to his powers, Beerus then engaging him in battle with the player and after besting him fighting the player and Trunks with Whis in a test, Beerus allowing the player to defeat Demigra after he passes, staying awake long enough to see the player overcome Demigra in battle. Beerus also serves as a mentor, teaching his moves to the player. In the 2016 sequel Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Beerus becomes angered by the bad taste of the pudding made by the Supreme Kai of Time, causing Whis and the player to have to subdue him. Beerus and Whis leave Earth while Freeza is attacking it when contacted by the Supreme Kai of Time, allowing Freeza to destroy Earth without Whis' prevention and the pair discovering they have been deceived by Towa. Beerus and the player fight Whis before Beerus and Whis depart from the main story.

Reception

Reception to Beerus is positive. In 2015, Beerus was ranked No. 8 on Jacob Yothment's list Top 10 Villains of the Dragon Ball Franchise.^[20] Reviewer Nathan Farrugla saw Beerus as being "an interesting villain", citing his nature being unpredictable and varying motives.^[21] Jason Douglas' voice work as Beerus in the English Funimation dub was also praised.^[22] IGN found Beerus to be similar to previous villains in the franchise in being "over-the-top".^[23] Theron Martin of Anime News Network found the fight between Goku and Beerus to be lacking in distinctiveness.^[24] Though reviewer Damian Seeto liked Beerus killing Zamasu, he hoped the character would not get involved in the battle with Goku Black and the alternate timeline Zamasu as it would make defeating them "too easy".^[25]

References