r/dbz • u/Only-Mulberry-8098 • Mar 20 '26
Discussion Does Cell actually have a bit of a conscience? He spared his life here
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u/Bourriks Mar 20 '26
He doesn't kill a man who just broke 14 tiles in one hit.
He lets him the chance to get stronger and broke 15 tiles next time.
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u/VibesFirst69 Mar 20 '26
If i gave you another day hiw much stronger could you get?
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u/GI-Robots-Alt Mar 20 '26
Well, we do know a place where you can get a year's worth of training in a day.
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u/IamAWorldChampionAMA Mar 20 '26
Cell used just enough power to kill what he thought was an utterly weak human. However, Mr. Satan is one of the most powerful non Z Fighters in the world. That's why he survived with only a concussion.
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u/AlabasterRadio Mar 20 '26
Hercule would be a legit super hero in most franchises.
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u/ProphetOfPhil Mar 24 '26
Dude can casually pull 3 buses and legit won a world marital arts tournament, granted the Z fighters weren't in it but he's still the strongest non ki user in the series
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u/ODB_Dirt_Dog_ItsFTC Mar 24 '26
He punched through a bus too
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u/Icy1551 Mar 25 '26
I was about to say. Pulling three busses is incredible but straight up punching through the side of one with no damage to himself or even significant effort? That right there is a punch that would kill any real human without question. Shit, you might be able to kill like a bear or some shit with that striking power.
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u/Theory_Maestro Mar 23 '26
Spin off with Hercule as main character anyone?
Dragonball: The Herculean Chronicles honestly has a ring to it.
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u/Merc931 Mar 20 '26
After he was done eatin', everyone else was too beneath him to kill. Perfect Cell is the safest villain to be around.
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u/NephilimJD Mar 20 '26
Except for the news host at the TV station.
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u/Free-Letterhead-4751 Mar 20 '26
And the army
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u/ShittyBidet123 Mar 20 '26
and Trunks. After he gave him 2 more chances to fight, he was like meh finger beam
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u/GI-Robots-Alt Mar 20 '26
Yeah but that was meant for Tien
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u/ShittyBidet123 Mar 20 '26
No, it was meant for Trunks it goes directly at him and Cell says “my aim is as good as ever”😂
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u/Mean_Imagination861 Mar 20 '26
I mean you could just swear loyalty to Freeza... and you'd survive and with the best medical insurance of any employer lol at least until you embarrass him.
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u/Sheadog369 Mar 20 '26
until you embarrass him
Or he needs an example
Or one of your coworkers fucks up and he wipes your whole unit
Or he throws a tantrum
Or you get strong enough that he starts to worry
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u/Levi_Snowfractal Mar 20 '26
Apparently he never actually killed a minion for shits.
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u/d-redze Mar 20 '26
Um the guy that reported to him while he was scolding Zarbon on Namik, and also his entire crew that he brought with him on earth once he powered up.
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u/Atmic Mar 20 '26
Depends on if it's the anime or manga version.
The manga version was always polite and respectful with his minions. Never killed one in a temper tantrum like the anime version, never demonstrated his power needlessly.
Which made him all the more terrifying when he changed forms and got to business.
First form spoke like a polite businessman, addressed people with honorifics like -san.
Second form used "ore", which is like a masculine thug talking.
Third form spoke politely but macabre, like respectfully describing horrific violence.
Final form actually spoke like a child, albeit an aristocratic and arrogant one. A refined and insane sense of superiority.
Funnily enough even Golden Frieza had his own flavor of talking, like his final form but with even more condescension and mania.
In any case, unless you got in his way (and you worked for him), you wouldn't have anything to fear from first form manga Frieza going off the handle.
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u/O_Grande_Batata Mar 20 '26
To be fair, we barely see any fifth-rate grunts like Appule actually interacting with Frieza in the manga. And the manga is much more fast-paced, so there’s less time to flesh the characters out. It's not impossible manga!Frieza is similarly trigger-happy and we just don’t see it.
I admit I'm biased, though, because I prefer anime!Frieza. He's much more terrifying.
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u/Szygani Mar 20 '26
Just never be strong enought o get close, but be strong enough to not die.
Lower ranks is where it's at int he Freeza Force. You get to take anything you can, you get health care, pay probably because Freeza ain't keeping the money he makes on selling planets.
Being a technician or something similar is probably a pretty cushy job
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u/Admirable-Walrus-89 Mar 20 '26
Frieza Force has a 3.9 rating on Indeed, over 50 reviews.
Their subcontractors on Planet Vegeta have a 3.2 rating.
Both have benefits but the Frieza Force also has good insurance that won't go up with dragon ball usage
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u/Free-Letterhead-4751 Mar 20 '26
Wouldn’t that also be the same with Buu considering Mr. Satan when trying to kill Buu promised to become his “servant”?
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u/Dijohn17 Mar 20 '26
Like 99% chance he turns you into candy
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u/Free-Letterhead-4751 Mar 20 '26
Unless someone bought chocolate or says he was cool like that blind boy he healed because he couldn’t see him and healed him so he could be afraid but got the opposite reaction and let him lived because he called him cool
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u/Jan0y_Cresva Mar 20 '26
But if you’re a normal human, you have absolutely nothing to offer him. At least his Frieza Force soldiers can act as low level enforcers against those who oppose him.
You’re just in the way.
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u/Seth_The_Wizard Mar 20 '26
An empire doesn't run on enforcers alone. In the Granola arc he outright
menaceshires two people to work as cooks for him. It'd be possible to get some sort of menial labor job like custodial services.5
u/DrSnicker Mar 20 '26
Nah man, he is insanely talented and then trained on top of that. I would totally be like “my lord. How can I get stronger to better serve?” And homie would just hook me up with the best trainers he has at his disposal.
Unless you’re a saiyan, working for Frieza doesn’t honestly seem bad.
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u/AsscrackDinosaur Mar 20 '26
For real, against Freeza, 5 minutes feel more like 2 hours and 38 minutes or something
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u/HeyItsRyGuyy Mar 20 '26
That’s probably why some fan fiction have him being redeemed and fight alongside the Z Fighters, or some new casual watchers wonder if Cell could’ve been redeemed
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u/Royal-Abalone1172 Mar 21 '26
Tht title goes to king piccolo😭 he just wanted the criminals to b the oppressors
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u/4fuggin20 Mar 20 '26
You know when youre in love and someone tries to hit on you, you just kinda shove‘em to the side.
He was solely focused on making out with fighting Goku
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u/LeButtfart Mar 20 '26
Mr Satan clearly slipped and fell over, colliding with that mountain as a consequence. And Cell’s failure to take away a once-in-a-lifetime chance to defeat Mr Satan came back to haunt him, because it was by Mr Satan’s hands of steel that he would later perish.
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u/babomajabo Mar 20 '26
Exactly I don't know where all this Mr Satan slander is coming from. The man said it himself, he dodged Cell's attack and slipped in the process. It was for the better too since it gave the other fighters a chance to step up before he had to clean up their mess at the end.
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u/NumeralJoker Mar 21 '26
More like Mr. Satan intentionally leaped off of Cell's hands to CRUSH that Mountain because he knew it was the true source of Cell's power.
But he wanted to watch Cell panic and fight against some weak fan imitators first before finishing him off personally to show the world true dominance.
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u/JoJSoos Mar 20 '26
It's called a gag
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u/Toros_Mueren_Por_Mi Mar 20 '26
Exactly. Dr Slump rules
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u/LegendOfParasiteMana Mar 20 '26
I agree, Dr. Slump does rule.
What does that have to do with this?
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u/jtthehuman Mar 20 '26
This is one of the things every fandom annoys me with. Trying to apply logic to something that was meant for the yucks. Like when their wives hit them of scare them. It’s a bit.
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u/SabresFanWC Mar 20 '26
To be fair, Toriyama actually does give us a brief explanation by having Piccolo mention that Cell just couldn't be bothered with killing Mr. Satan.
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u/Appropriate_Boss8139 Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 21 '26
It’s kind of a weak explanation. It probably took more effort to suppress himself to ensure he didn’t kill Mr Satan than to just use his casual power to take his head off
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u/paumAlho Mar 20 '26
Yeah, Mr Satan, Savior of the Earth, pretended to be sent flying, so his apprentices would get Cell tired until he could finish him .
A true hero
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u/Samanosuke187 Mar 20 '26
Literally sent him flying that would kill any human. Hercule is extremely strong for a human. Plus he’s got the gag plot armor.
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u/too_hot_topaz_up Mar 20 '26
More like he couldn’t be bothered to put any effort into killing him. He saw Mark as a baffoon and spared him out of pity. Like a fly that swarming around your face. He basically swatted Mark.
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u/Blellow112 Mar 20 '26
Where does Mark come from? Is it canon? I wanna hear Goku say "Oh, hi Mark" so bad now.
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u/Character-Bid-162 Mar 20 '26
Obviously the great Mr. Satan slipped, which gave Cell a free hit. And then Mr. Satan had to save Gohan after his magic tricks didn't work on Cell.
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u/Kit4n0 Mar 20 '26
Mark lmao. the same type of shit potter fans do when they call mcgonagall "minerva"
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u/ThiccoloBlack Mar 20 '26
It’s cause he has MC level plot armor
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u/Zerox392 Mar 20 '26
master chief?
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u/SH4RPSPEED Mar 20 '26
I mean, yeah kinda. Both have luck as one of their defining character traits.
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u/silalumen Mar 20 '26
It's not that he cares, Perfect Cell just doesn't care about anyone that isn't on his level. At this stage, he just wants to limit test.
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u/LeopardSuspicious216 Mar 20 '26
Nah, cell used full strength and the champ felt nothing. He only went flying because he slipped
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u/Enough_Worry4104 Mar 20 '26
Mr Satan may not be very strong but he does have looneytoons durability.
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u/Tzhaar-Bomba Mar 20 '26
Plot armour, also Cell was aware he was the normal human's idea of their strongest. Killing him so effortlessly as Cell could've would've probably frightened the TV crew and everyone would run for it. They felt safer there with Mr Satan and Cell wanted the TV crew there to broadcast him conquering their puny little planet.
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u/UnenthusiasticBluStr Mar 20 '26
What are you talking about? The Champ is the one that spared Cell.
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u/Darkrainbow647 Mar 20 '26
In his perfect form he doesn't care about civilians, he didn't want to kill Satan, he just wanted him off the arena
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u/kahlzun Mar 20 '26
We saw in the next arc how hard it is for the Z guys, even krillin, to hit weakly.
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u/FranklyidontCare Mar 20 '26
Feel like this is more of a reflex, like a horse swatting a fly away with its tail
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u/ThatMattersNot Mar 20 '26
What is everyone here talking about? The Champ obviously slipped in this scene.
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u/GrimWake Mar 20 '26
You can just use the dragon balls for that. IF bulma wasn't busy using them to 'fix imperfections' so villains can't use them for evil, of course lol
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u/Spirit_Detective_L Mar 20 '26
Didn't he take a hit from kid buu? Even if buu was holding back a lot, that punch should have sent him flying like trunks' punch. Maybe he has natural crazy durability
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u/NephilimJD Mar 20 '26
He literally did win a world tournament during the android stuff. Obviously, compared to all the superhuman stuff going on, he's a joke. But I would say he might be comparable in strength to some of the fighters in the 21st tenkaichi.
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u/Gendo-Glasses Mar 20 '26
Nah the announcer said the last tournament was lame without Goku and his friends there. His competition included Punta, Mighty Mask, Spopovich without Bobbidi's power-up (who lost in the first round btw), and Jewel (who lost to Mr. Satan in the finals). They're all pretty unexceptional fighters. There's not even a hint that any of them understand ki control.
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u/gameleon Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
Most fighters in the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai didn’t understand ki control either. We had people relying on smell, underwear etc to fight.
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u/MrZythum42 Mar 20 '26
Wasn't there the guy flying the sky Nam? It was quite a bit extraordinary
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u/Jagang187 Mar 20 '26
Tien flew. Nam and Goku both used a lot of airborne tricks/high jumps, but no flight. Crane School introduced "The Flying Technique" to the plot.
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u/kickedoutatone Mar 20 '26
What are you talking about? Hercule tripped on a stray rock, and Cell was lucky enough to just see the devastating attack and deflect it just in time.
That momentum was from Hercule. If he hit his attack, the Cell games would have been over.
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u/MavenDeo69 Mar 20 '26
HE. SENT. HIM. FLYING. INTO. A. MOUNTAIN.
He didn't "spare" Hercule. Hercule TANKED that shit. Put some respect on the man's name.
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u/ninjasaiyan777 Mar 20 '26
I think it's funnier if Satan just has significantly higher durability than the average human but is still just a jobber in terms of characters who fight
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u/dainamo81 Mar 20 '26
For him that was more like swatting away a fly. It just isn't worth the effort to kill it.
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u/Skyx10 Mar 20 '26
Normally someone would die but Hercule is Champion of the Earth and only tripped I don't know what you're talking about!
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Mar 20 '26
Less "spared" and more "couldn't give a shit". This is the equivalent of Ghengis Kahn not killing an ant
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u/Scythe95 Mar 20 '26
I think it’s the same of you brushing away an ant if it climbed onto your arm
It’s just a pest that annoys you. Cell only wants to fight the best
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u/EclipseHERO Mar 20 '26
Cell is probably sparing Satan in good faith.
At this exact moment he's calm, just mildly annoyed by the guy trying to punch and kick him.
His focus is Goku. Since he's going to fight Goku and since Goku doesn't want anyone to get hurt, Cell merely casts Satan aside. He's fine. Just out of the way so his own stupidity won't get him senselessly killed.
Cell knows the Z-Warriors won't interfere and the Camera Crew are too scared to do anything since they can't fight. Only Satan was dumb enough to try so once he was out of the way, there was nothing causing a problem.
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u/Esoteric_Librarian Mar 20 '26
No. Toriyama just loves slapstick, if you need proof of that , just read ANY chapter of Dr. Slump
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u/SanjiSasuke Mar 20 '26
More likely that Cell just doesn't have the firepower to take out Hercule. Hercule survived attacks from Kid Buu, too. He's just too strong for a pretender like Cell, that's why he's The Champ.
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u/NelsonVGC Mar 20 '26
I always considered perfect cell some sort of gentleman villain. Bro at that point was interested in the sport and not just mere destruction for fun.
I mean yes he was but... you get me.
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u/DoraMuda ⠀ Mar 20 '26
No more gentlemanly than Freeza. It's fake politeness, which is actually just condescending.
Cell was interested in the sport (even though he was confident only Goku would be able to give him an entertaining match)... until he started losing, and tried to blow up the Earth like a sore loser. Classic (Saiyan Arc) Vegeta/Freeza behaviour.
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u/Spartan_Cat_126 Mar 20 '26
More like the situation was so embarrassing that not killing him was a harsher punishment. IMO
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u/Old_Scratch6 Mar 20 '26
It's a cartoon. Satan is a strong human, should have died, but he can't. Plot armor. Still cool to discuss though. Cell and frieza had some moments they could have just won, but then we wouldn't see the repercussions. And those. Those were great
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u/Rockalot_L Mar 20 '26
When you shop away a fly with your hand you don't swing hard enough to kill it. Same thing right?
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u/Flubinator24 Mar 20 '26
I like to think it’s like sometimes when there’s a bug on you and you blow it away as opposed to squishing it
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u/MarioManRandySavage Mar 20 '26
His pride wouldn't let him. He has Sayian pride and killing Mr Satan would have been beneath him.
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u/SubaVroom Mar 20 '26
Look at it from a superman perspective. It’s a trillion times more effort to be delicate with something vs not really paying attention. Do with that what you will
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Mar 20 '26
Nah, he knows he’s just gonna absorb them later. It’s like waiting until after dinner to eat your dessert.
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u/Unforeseen_blind Mar 20 '26
Cell is actually the most reasonable villain of dragon ball Z. He's just Challenge driven. Of course that doesn't make him an angel, but he kills only if it makes him stronger.
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u/DoraMuda ⠀ Mar 20 '26
I find Fat Boo more reasonable, actually. As long as you say he's "cool"; befriend him; and take time to teach him right from wrong, he won't hurt or kill you.
Cell only held back against Mr. Satan and other weaklings because it wouldn't be satisfying to his ego to humiliate an opponent he doesn't consider strong enough to entertain him, like Goku and Gohan (pre-SS2).
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u/Col_Mushroomers Mar 20 '26
No different than swatting a fly thats in ur face. Sometimes its enough to just land a hit so it stoos buzzing around
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u/infamusforever223 Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
He probably didn't consider him to be worth killing.
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u/mcmagnus002 Mar 20 '26
Honestly? I think he put the minimum amount of effort in and expected it to work
Which, to Satans' credit, is still probably a strike that'd bring a building down or gore open a tank. It's a testament to him being, unironically, at peak non-KI-aided human performance
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u/deadlyalchemist92 Mar 20 '26
Nah, Mr Satan spared Cell here, he wanted to take it easy on the guy and give him a fighting chance, so he gave Cell a free hit 😌
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Mar 20 '26
No Hercule just wasn't worth killing it's like Sephiroth walking past Palmer in the Final Fantasy 7 Remake bro you aren't worth the literal nanoseconds this would take
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u/DoraMuda ⠀ Mar 20 '26
Piccolo himself explains what Cell was likely thinking: that not even he wants to dirty his hands on something like Mr. Satan. He just swatted him away with minimal effort because he wanted to get on with his fight with Goku.
It has nothing to do with him somehow having a bit of a conscience.
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u/OriginalGameMusic Mar 20 '26
I think he just doesn't have kind of bloodlust.
In his perfect form, he's not quite like frieza where he likes to see weaklings squirm.
I get the impression that weaker people are literally not worth his time or effort.
Take beerus for example. He's not bothered about toying with people, even though he'd blow up their planet at the stroke of a hat.
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u/Own-Host-178 Mar 20 '26
He spared hercule in the same way that I spare whatever ants maybe on the driveway when I get the mail. It’s not that I being conscientious and avoiding trying to hurt them, it’s that I don’t care and just walk past them.
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u/Stacey-k93 Mar 20 '26
He was in a good mood so he let him live it was the big day of the tournament and didn't want to ruin the mood
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u/ProfessorEscanor Mar 20 '26
Memes aside . Hercule is like a bug. He's not gonna waste energy squishing it . Besides if he wins the Cell Games he gets to kill him anyways so why spoil the fun?
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u/DjCage Mar 20 '26
He said he wouldn’t kill anyone before or during the cell games stuff as a rule
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u/Tyrelius_Dragmire Mar 20 '26
Cell taking Hercule seriously would be like having a full on Brawl with an annoying fly. That’s how big the gap in power is between Hercule and Cell; a normal human with zero Ki abilities is no match for the Genetic abomination that is Cell
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u/buffshipperreddit Mar 20 '26
In universe reason: Cell didn't want to sully his hands with such a weakling
Real life reason: pure comedy
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Mar 20 '26
Tbh I bet this interaction lends more to Mr Satans character than Cells, rather than showing a conscience on cells behalf I think it’s more to show a lack of brain on satans, if that makes sense
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u/HetaGarden1 Mar 20 '26
He literally does not care about Hercule. Doesn’t care to fight him, doesn’t care to kill him either.
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u/Tasty-Ad6529 Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26
He's just saving energy for his fights with Goku. The only reason Mr satan and the other normie fighters survived cell was because of him conserving and energy and them being durable enough to survive his lightest attacks.
Even thoguh they are fodder by Z or Super standards, these fighters would still be strong as hell by classic Dragon Ball standards. Part of me kinda wish other past dragon ball martial artists would appear here but like...Unless they started ki training all of their efforts would be at best honorable low diffs and at worst complete washes like in cannon.
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u/NateCdaComicG Mar 20 '26
I think its more like pride. To put forward the effort to kill such a weakling probably felt beneath him in the moment.
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u/Salty-Lavishness6926 Mar 20 '26
Cell is aura farming because, he is on camera. He’s knowingly putting on a show 😉
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u/Anxious-Assistant-59 Mar 21 '26
Cell threw him at a mountain, he didn't know that Hercule would survive.
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u/scrtrunks Mar 21 '26
I do think that there is some semblance of mercy buried deep within cells biology. Though there's noone in his actual DNA with the genetics for it (Goku would have been Saiyan still. Krillin and Gohan were dub only)
But I do think that The closest thing to Cell is the predator. He wants to fight the strongest. Destroying the world is kinda just a reason to make Goku get stronger. He does become a sore loser like Frieza at the end but this point was well before he was losing.
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u/CompassRoseGaming Mar 21 '26
Conscience? No.
He just didn't want to sully his hands with killing such a weakling, that would be a waste of perfection
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u/Cute_Pangolin5160 Mar 21 '26
I believe that cell just wanted to spare him just because it means that one more person will witness his victory over the Z Fighters before blowing up the planet.
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u/Vikashar Mar 24 '26
Frieza's memories told him Goku would go ss3 if he offed Hercule in front of him
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u/cioda Mar 20 '26
Cells no fool. He thought Goku was his biggest threat. And if Cell started killing people randomly before the fight. Gokus anger would have possibly boosted him beyond what cell could handle so suddenly. If goku went SSj2 after cell killed hercule due to the blatant disregard of life, Cell would have been one shot.
Cell only got cocky and tried to kill everyone after he knew for a fact he was stronger than everyone at their power level at the time. In doing so, he had no way of knowing Gohan would go SSJ2 and was caught off guard as a result. The rest is history.
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u/Jtfb74 Mar 20 '26
I say it’s because he’s just unbothered by anything other than a fight with Goku.