Cell (セル Seru) is the ultimate creation of Dr. Gero, who came from a future timeline, designed to possess all the abilities of the greatest fighters to have ever inhabited or visited Earth; the result was a "perfect warrior", possessing numerous favorable genetic traits and special abilities. He was one of the few Red Ribbon Androids not directly completed by Dr. Gero; he was completed by Dr. Gero's Supercomputer. He is the main antagonist of the Imperfect Cell, Perfect Cell, and Cell Games Sagas.
"You fool! Don't you realize yet you're up against the perfect weapon?!" — "Save the World"
As a child, Gohan is a shy and studious intellectual child who lacks the Saiyan fighting spirit, so he had to utilize his incredible half-breed Saiyan potential and emotional reserves to protect those he loves, becoming one of the most powerful Z Fighters. As an adult, he achieves his dream career of becoming a great scholar.
Being only half-Saiyan, Gohan is unusual in his values and personality compared to most full-Saiyans. These unique values and personality separate him from pure Saiyans; as powerful as he is, he does not like fighting much. However, when he is forced to fight, he shows special interest in protecting his family and friends. Like his father, Gohan has a truly pure and gentle heart, apart from having the typical Saiyan appetite and will eat anything.[3]
Though he claims he does not share the love of fighting Goku has, Gohan does indeed love martial arts and adventures. It is also clearly obvious that he enjoys his superhuman powers, and he greatly enjoys using them to be a superhero, though he dislikes receiving the fame and attention that comes with it and prefers to keep a low profile, which is why he created the Great Saiyaman persona, in order to keep his identity a secret. This is even more evident when he didn't acknowledge Cell's defeat at his hands to the public after Mr. Satan falsely took credibility for it. During the Zeno Expo, he admitted that his Saiyan half was getting excited from the challenge shown by Toppo of Universe 11, demonstrating that even though he despises senseless violence, he actually does enjoy fighting as a sport. It is possible that he prefers not to fight due to the many gruesome and painful fights he experienced in the past, and because of these battles, Gohan has negative emotions associated with fighting.
However, even though he is naturally smart, humble and kind, Gohan himself has been a victim of his own power in the past, whenever Gohan gets a gigantic power boost, he becomes arrogant and cocky, essentially becoming drunk in his power, often acknowledging and even enjoying his superiority over his opponents, as he did when he first became a Super Saiyan 2 against Cell, and later in his life when he achieved his Ultimate form, and fought Super Buu. This fatal flaw of his warrior-personality might be an actual side-effect of his Saiyan-heritage, since Saiyans such as Vegeta, or Nappa, have been known to act similarly when drunk in their own power while fighting. This had to lead him to the brink of defeat on several occasions and has later had to deal with the consequences of his actions, such as the death of his father at the hands of Cell, or Super Buu absorbing him and endangering the entire universe in the process. However, thanks to Piccolo, Gohan works on overcoming this flaw of his, to not let his own superior power blind him on the battlefield ever again.
Besides concerning himself with his family (and his studies), Gohan has a strong attachment with his mentor: his father's former archrival Piccolo. After the death of Goku, Piccolo chose to train Gohan as he sensed the boy's potential power, which would be harnessed to help defend the Earth from the attack of the Saiyans. At first, the relationship with Piccolo is a frightening one, but after just one year, Piccolo admits his change because of the friendship he develops with Gohan and even sacrifices himself to save the boy. Gohan has even openly come to think of Piccolo as a surrogate uncle to him. Krillin also has an influence on Gohan, as almost an uncle/nephew relationship, mainly because Krillin is Goku's closest friend. While Gohan does care about his mother, he like his father has a fear of her temper to the point in Dragon Ball Super he informs his mother that Goku planned to leave to train under Whis, stating that he had to tell her for his own safety, though fortunately Chi-Chi surprisingly calmed down after Goku left with Whis. However, Gohan will defy his mother if it is important as he tells his mother off after she refuses to let him go to Namek to revive Piccolo using the Namekian Dragon Balls, due to feeling responsible for Piccolo's death at the hands of Nappa.
After the battle with Cell, Gohan gives up martial arts to focus on his studies and only resumed his training at the behest of his little brother Goten. Although he acknowledged he had fallen out of practice and lacked the fighting expertise of his father and Vegeta, Gohan gave all that he had as he fought Majin Buu and was eager to kill Buu for murdering his family and friends. In the years to come, he continued to train on-and-off while having a career and being a family man. He marries Videl, with whom he fell in love despite her being Mr. Satan's daughter, and has a daughter named Pan. Gohan proves to be a loving husband and doting father who takes delight in lavishing his daughter with attention and affection.
Unlike his father, Gohan demonstrates interest in girls such as Videl though he is generally shy when it comes to girls around his own age and is respectful more towards girls and women due to his mother's influence (as Chi-Chi ensured that he and his brother had better manners and education than their father). However he can be at times just as oblivious as his father when it comes to romance as he is good natured personality as shown when he suggested Videl cut her hair for practical reasons though she assumed it was because he preferred girls with short hair and angrily told him off when she learned his true reasons as she herself was slowly developing a crush on him at the time and mistook his obliviousness as a sign that he wasn't interested, though she later followed his advice much to his utter confusion. However he too slowly developed feelings for Videl after spending time with her and was deeply angered when she was brutalized by Spopovich to the point he rage caused him to involuntarily transform into a Super Saiyan causing him to lose his bandana, while doing everything he could to restrain himself from interrupting the match. He was even determined to avenge her by defeating Spopovich in the tournament though this ultimately did not occur and Spopovich was killed by Babidi. He also hid his role in Cell's defeat from her out of respect for her and her father, though later came clean during the conflict with Majin Buu though she herself was actually relieved as she had always secretly questioned the validity of her father's claims and only made her feelings for Gohan stronger as she recognized he was truly an awesome guy as he was humble about his achievement and never sought to profit from his defeat of Cell as he could have easily refuted Mr. Satan's claims had he wanted to by simply defeating him in a show of power.
Gohan's feelings for her where so strong that during the Fusion Saga he angrily opposed his father suggestion of using her to bribe the perverted Old Kai to unlock his potential. In fact his angry reaction to his father's questionable yet well meaning suggestion is not unlike Chi-Chi's temper, indicating that he inherited his temper from her which due to his Saiyan genetics likely contributed to his berserker-like rage as a child (as Saiyans can increase strength through rage). However he is somewhat bashful about his feelings for Videl due to his shyness. In Xenoverse 2, while working as an Instructor with Videl his oblivious personality is still present despite his feelings for her (as they are from a time period after the Kid Buu Saga, though still in the early stages of their relationship) as he obliviously asks the Future Warrior to join them when Videl suggests they go to the movies unaware that she was subtly asking Gohan out on a date causing her to angrily uninvite him stating she and the warrior would go to the movies without him out of frustration (she however enlists the Future Warrior's assistance in learning what Gohan likes in an effort to impress him as her attempts have been frustrated by Gohan's well-meaning but pure-hearted obliviousness). However he and Videl managed to bond and grow closer even fighting crime together as the Saiya Squad with Videl even donning her own alter-ego Great Saiyaman 2 (Great Saiyawoman in the Funimation dub) and even developing a fondness for heroic posing despite finding it ridiculous at first, though in Xenoverse 2 it is implied that she reluctantly agreed to pose at Great Saiyaman's insistence and found that she actually enjoyed it which apparently increased their bond with one another. After his marriage to Videl, he became a devoted husband. He felt terrible when Videl was injured during Bulma's birthday due to his drunken overconfidence causing him to recklessly defect a bullet shot by Mai, though fortunately neither Videl or the unborn Pan were seriously hurt and Dende was on hand to heal the injury. Videl later revealed she was pregnant much to Gohan and their family's joy, with Gohan excited at becoming a father. An equally devoted father, though due to his job and family life he neglected his training which left him unprepared for Frieza's revenge.
After witnessing the death of Piccolo, Videl and Pan at the hands of Frieza before it was undone by Whis' Temporal Do-Over (as it was only undone and is still consider part of the official timeline as Whis' absence in an altered timeline in Xenoverse 2 resulted in Gohan dying with his father and everyone saved by Whis, when Frieza destroyed the Earth after Whis and Beerus had been lured away from Age 779 to Age 852 by Towa's trickery, only for it to be undone by the actions of Whis and the Future Warrior to restore the proper history), Gohan realizes that he must get much stronger in order to protect them. Because of this, he asks Piccolo to train him once again.[10] His devotion to protecting his new family helped him regain his strength and he even returned to fighting crime as Great Saiyaman (though Videl remained retired from crime fighting as she was more devoted to being a supportive wife and mother to their baby girl). However while working as a stunt double for Barry Kahn for the Great Saiyaman film after Mr. Satan got him the job (allowing him to ensure the film portrayed his alter-ego accurately so to protect Great Saiyaman's image as a heroic crime fighter), his identity as Great Saiyaman was discovered by pop idol Cocoa Amaguri (after she overheard Gohan talking about it to Bulma) who blackmailed him to fly her around town and do a rehearsal with her (as she was portraying Great Saiyaman's fictional love interest and damsel in distress in the film) though the rehearsal was something that Barry Kahn forced her to do as he planned to blackmail Gohan (and unbeknownst to Cocoa ruin her career at the same time) though Cocoa tried her best to avoid the planned set up by changing the location of the rehearsal as she had developed a crush on Gohan after recognizing how devoted he was to his wife and daughter, though she innocently kissed him on the lips to thank him for his kindness and words of encouragement, unaware that Barry Kahn had secretly followed them and took a picture though Barry's plan was thwarted by Videl seeing through his show of concern in an attempt to woo her after providing her with the photo as evidence that Gohan was unfaithful (when in reality Cocoa had kissed him without warning). After Barry was possessed by Watagash, he kidnapped Pan causing Gohan as Great Saiyaman to become Super Great Saiyaman (basically Gohan transformed into a Super Saiyan while wearing his Great Saiyaman helmet) and defeat the Possessed Barry (who had turned into a monster due to his evil nature powering up Watagash) to protect his family from the possessed actor, managing to separating Barry from Watagash (who was arrested by Jaco as Watagash was a wanted fugitive), though Barry is later blackmailed by Cocoa to prevent him from revealing Gohan's secret identity to the world out of spite. Both Videl and Pan both had the faith Gohan would protect them showing they both know Gohan would do everything in his power to ensure their safety.
By the time of the Tournament of Power, Gohan has become considerably more powerful than before, although it is unclear as to how much more powerful he has become as Piccolo has stated that Gohan's power is truly bottomless and that he can continue to further strengthen himself to new heights. However, despite reawakening his power, Piccolo points out his tendency to become arrogant and let his guard down could prove disastrous for Team Universe 7 during the tournament so Piccolo tries to discipline Gohan in order to break this dangerous habit. After witnessing his son's newfound power, fighting instincts and keeping in mind his keen intellect, Goku makes the decision to step aside from the role of Team Captain and appoints Gohan as the Captain of Team Universe 7 after their fight, stating Gohan's power is similar to his own and his intelligence makes him ideal for the role. Ultimately, Gohan goal to grow stronger has taken a unique path compared to other Saiyans. While desiring to surpass his father, he wishes to do so by his own terms and methods, choosing to focus on empowering his natural and unamplified power rather than depend on any Super Saiyan transformations, viewing this as relying more on his Earthling-side than that of Saiyan.
In Dragon Ball Online, it is shown that as a scholar Gohan became devoted to studying and researching the nature of ki and begins researching the martial arts of the past, organizing them in his book Groundbreaking Science in Age 804. The book became extremely popular and introduced the concept of ki to the general population of Earth sparking a renewed interest in the martial arts and fighting. One of the articles, "Katchin Can Be Cut!", had an immense influence on his brother and Trunks leading them to study swordsmanship which allowed them to develop their natural potential via intense training and as adults Goten and Trunks founded the Kikoukenjutsu Sword School. The renewed interest in the martial arts also had to lead to the founding of the New Turtle School by Krillin and New Crane School by Tien Shinhan. As Goku and Vegeta had left Earth to settle their rivalry in Age 801 after Goku realized his death was imminent, it was left to the remaining Z Fighters Gohan, Goten, Pan, Trunks, Krillin, and Tien to defend the Earth after the remnants of the Frieza Force invaded Earth following the death of Gohan's father-in-law Mr. Satan whom the Guard troops that lead the army assumed had defeated Frieza. Like he had in the past, Gohan resorted to using his old alter-ego Great Saiyaman to defend the Earth and managed to convince Pan, Goten, Trunks, Krillin, and Tien to disguise themselves with Saiyaman-like suits as well to hide their identities while combating the Frieza Force, however their ki-based fighting style became a hot topic and global interest in ki escalated. As a result, Gohan in his role as a scholar and Z Fighter ended up sparking a martial arts revolution on Earth and secretly continued to defend Earth with his family and friends as he had done for most of his life.
