What's wrong? Oh wait, don't tell me. I think I know what you need. A nice trip to the afterlife. One way, of course.
~ Nappa

General Nappa is an antagonist in the manga and anime series Dragon Ball Z (as well as the anime's redux Dragon Ball Z Kai). He is the secondary antagonist of the Saiyan Saga and one of the main characters of Dragon Ball FighterZ. He later appears as a brief villain in GT during the Super 17 Saga.

He was voiced by Phil Parsons.


Despite his appearance of being in his early 30s, Nappa is actually roughly 50. He is one of the larger characters in terms of muscle mass. When younger, he had black hair, but he has since gone bald. Nappa is an arrogant, heartless, manipulative, obstreperous, egotistical, cocky, and violent brute who loves beating up anyone weaker than him. He is capable of being friendly, but like most other Saiyans, he is also very supercilious, persuasive, and hotheaded, with Raditz as a prime example. Despite this, he was the most honorable of the three before Vegeta reformed.

It is shown that Nappa can be loyal, generous, and trustworthy to other Saiyans. He was extremely dependable to Vegeta, and though he did not personally like Raditz, he still suggested bringing him back to life. Also, in an anime-only filler, Nappa was very depressed about the death of the many Saiyans. He was likewise shocked to hear that Vegeta mentioned that every Saiyan deserved to die just for not being half as psychically strong as himself. Both Nappa (and Raditz of all people) were also disgusted to hear that Vegeta was willing to serve Freeza after killing his father. On top of this, he was shocked that Vegeta would kill the Saibaman for losing to Tien; even saying it was still alive.

When faced with the prospect of losing to someone he considers a weakling, Nappa will let blind rage overwhelm his thought processing. With Vegeta having to regularly remind (or in extreme cases order) him to calm down.


Dragon Ball Z

Young Nappa

A younger Nappa with hair.

Nappa was a member of the Saiyan race, and formerly served as commander-in-chief of the Saiyan army before the planet was destroyed. He accompanied Vegeta when he went to Earth. He is not as strong as Vegeta, but he is still strong enough to take on many of the heroes, even Son Goku at one point.

Upon hearing from Raditz about the Dragon Balls, Nappa and Vegeta decided to go to Earth to use the Dragon Balls to wish for immortality. Along the way, they stopped at Planet Arlia, where Nappa killed many of the wicked King Moai's guards, as well as his pet, the fearsome monster Yetti (Vegeta killed the king and blew up the planet).


Nappa channeling his energy.

When they arrived on Earth, Nappa destroyed a city with little effort. The two head toward the strongest energy they could sense, and thus ran into Piccolo and Son Gohan. After a short wait, everybody showed up for battle.

Nappa planted six seeds to grow into Saibamen to fight Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Chaozu, Kuririn, Gohan, and Piccolo. One Saibaman was capable of killing Yamcha, who was unaware of their secret ability of exploding. Kuririn, angry with Yamcha's death, kills most of them, with Piccolo killing the last one, so Nappa stepped up to fight. During the battle, Nappa showed himself to be vicious, sadistic and practically unbeatable. He cut off Tenshinhan's hand with a punch. Chaozu believed that the only way to defeat Nappa was to sacrifice himself, so he grabbed Nappa's back and self-destructed in a vain attempt to kill him, but Nappa survived, practically uninjured. As Tenshinhan attacked Nappa in revenge, Piccolo devised a plan to stop him. This failed, as Gohan froze with fear when it was his turn to attack and give the finishing blow. This causes Piccolo to scold Gohan, but it is later shown that this attack had an unlikely chance of succeeding anyway.


Nappa prepares to challenge Kuririn's Kienzan.

After Piccolo and Kuririn's Tri-Form was unsuccessful at beating Nappa, Tenshinhan used all his lifeforce energy for a Kikoho as a final attack, which did no damage to Nappa but damaged his armor. After Tenshinhan died from using up all his energy, Vegeta ordered him to stop, as he was interested in seeing Kakarot (Son Goku) fight, and gave Kuririn, Piccolo, and Gohan three hours for Goku to show up. Nappa spent the time going on a rampage by destroying cities, boats, and planes (in the manga and in Kai, he destroys a camp set up to film the event, as well as a few jet planes. Nothing more). After three hours, Goku did not show up, however, so Nappa removed his broken armor and resumed the attack, promising to enjoy bullying them all for much longer.


Nappa proves to be immune to having his tail grabbed.

Piccolo devised a plan to grab Nappa's tail, however this failed, as Nappa and Vegeta had become immune to having their tails squeezed, and Nappa hammered Piccolo. He nearly caught Kuririn's Kienzan (and would have been killed by it), but Vegeta warned him at the last second and he avoided it, but his face was scratched. This caused Nappa to lose all sense of restraint and put more effort into killing Kuririn. When Vegeta realized Goku was coming, he ordered Nappa to kill all three of them - even Piccolo, whom he had previously told to spare so he could ask him about the Dragon Balls. Nappa attacked Gohan, bullying him, sitting on him while face up, and threatening him with fart jokes. After getting up, he continuously mocking the boy's father, leading Gohan to attack him back with a powerful kick. This kick, however, had practically no effect, other than angering Nappa. Nappa beats Gohan tremendously, and prepares to kill him with a Deluxe Bomber. Piccolo, who had grown a good relationship with Goku's son, jumped in front of him, sacrificing himself to save him. This sacrifice was nearly in vain, and now, nothing could stop Nappa from killing Gohan. Fortunately, Goku showed up and saved his son with the Kinto'un.

Nappa going Insane

Nappa nearly loses his sanity while fighting Goku.

Goku fought and found himself evenly matched with Nappa, due to Kaio's training. Originally, the fight seemed in Goku's favor, however, Nappa calmed down and focused his power, allowing him to fight on and even get in a few hits. Soon, Vegeta told Nappa to stop, realizing that his partner could not beat Goku without getting seriously injured. An infuriated Nappa then decided to go after Gohan and Kuririn, leaving Goku as their only hope. Goku could not catch up with Nappa, so he had to power up and reveal his new technique, the Kaio-ken, at x5. With this, he caught up with and crippled Nappa, being the first to take the mighty brute down.

When Nappa&#039;s killed by Vegeta etcwiki

Nappa's death.

Despite the heartfelt moment in which Nappa, who could not move his body, begged for Vegeta's help, the Saiyan prince threw him into the air and killed him with a Galaxy Buster, believing that Nappa has proven himself as no longer useful.

Dragonball GT

Super 17 Saga

Nappa (DBGT)

Nappa returns in Dragonball GT.

Nappa briefly returns in Dragonball GT. He, along with nearly all the Dragon Ball villains were revived and escaped Hell. He managed to destroy an entire city (just like when he first landed on Earth, but with even less effort). This shows that, like all Saiyans, Nappa's power and strength has grown tremendously as a result of being resurrected. Vegeta appears and the two seemingly "catch-up." Vegeta shows some signs of apology for mistreating Nappa, though the former Saiyan commander-in-chief is still enraged at being killed. Vegeta warns Nappa to cease his destruction, but his former partner attacks him immediately, so Vegeta effortlessly kills him again with an energy blast. He is later seen in Hell trying to attack Piccolo along with several Red Robbin Army members and is defeated yet again off screen.


  • Vegeta (Former ally and boss)
  • Yamcha
  • Krillin
  • Goku
  • Gohan
  • Tien
  • Piccolo
  • Chiaotzu
  • Android 21

Powers and Abilities

Like all Saiyans (and most characters in the franchise), Nappa is superhumanly strong, fast, durable, and can manipulate Ki Energy in the form of devastating attacks. Like other Saiyans, Nappa can gain Zenkais when he receives life threatening and deathly injuries; these amplify his strength and attributes. The more severe the injury, the stronger he will become. He can also transform into a Oozaru (more commonly known as a Great Ape or Great Monkey) when he is exposed to massive quantities of Blutz Waves; amplifying his power 10x greater and cause much greater damage. However, Nappa has attributes unlike most Saiyans of his time. Nappa is completely immune to having his tail grabbed (a notorious weakness of other Saiyans). He is also implied to (aside the Saiyan royal family) have been the strongest Saiyan alive at the time of Planet Vegeta's destruction.

Nappa, despite relying on brute force,  Nappa is also a skilled fighter. While he isn't as skilled as Vegata, he does briefly hold his own against Goku despite the latter outclassing him; possibly because of his superior experience. This, alone with his will power, let him continue fighting until Vegeta made him step down. Even then, he put of a great fight given how outclassed he was.


Arm Smasher

A punch that amputates it's victim's arm. Nappa rushes at the opponent with a white aura to perform it. This is how he punched Tien's arm off in canon.

Power Blast

More commonly known as Bomber DX or Impact Bomb. It is a fierce pulsating white energy sphere that is charged in his hand and flung towards Nappa's target. He can charge more energy into the bomb to make it stronger.

Nappa's Rampage

Nappa delivers a straight arm punch and if it connects he follows up with an uppercut that knocks the opponent into the air and finishes them off with his Eye Lasers. It is exclusive to Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butōden.

Nappa Cannon

Nappa powers up and opens his mouth to charge a energy sphere. Then, he fires the energy sphere in the form of an energy wave at the opponent, inflicting a huge amount of damage. It is similar to a Mouth Energy Wave used by Oozarus and is extremely powerful.


Nappa unleashes a powerful barrage of punches and kicks at an extremely fast rate, before ending with a powerful kick to the face, launching the opponent backwards and inflicting a large amount of damage.

Giant Attack

Nappa kicks the opponent up into the air. Then, he punches them and kicks them back down again. It is exclusive to the Budokai game series.

Megaton Throw

Nappa grabs the opponent and yells "Gotcha!" Then he jumps into the air and plummets back down, spinning the opponent in midair. When he lands, the opponent hits the ground headfirst, causing serious damage. It is another Budokai exclusive move.

Earthquake Slam

Nappa leaps into the air. Then, he gathers up strength in midair before flying back down and kicks the opponent into the ground, crushing them large damage and causing a tremendous shockwave. It is exclusive to Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu. .

Giant Buster

Nappa grabs the opponent and uppercuts them into the air. Then, he teleports and piledrives the opponent into the ground. Finally, he stomps his foot onto the opponent's stomach, inflicting a great deal of damage. It is exclusive to Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butōden.

Hyper Guard

Nappa goes into a fighting stance as an electrical aura surrounds him. He is seeming invulnerable while in this state.

Giant Storm

Nappa's signature Exploding Wave technique. Nappa raises his right hand with his index and middle fingers up, releasing a white Exploding Wave. The radius is large enough to encompass an entire city.

Blazing Storm

Another Exploding Wave technique used by Nappa. Nappa raises his fingers similar to a Giant Storm and fires a small light Ki Ball that creates an explosion where it lands.

Break Cannon

Nappa can focus his Ki and then let it spill out with exhaled breath, leading to what appears as a massive energy blast coming from his mouth. Though Nappa was less than half the strength of Goku at the time he was encountered Goku states that if he had not evaded the blast he might have been done for.

Lightning Aura

While charging up, Nappa's Ki manifests electrically as an aura of lightning all around him. The Ki collects his powers for the next move while also discouraging melee range in opponents.



Great ape nappa

Oozaru Nappa

Nappa possess the ability to transform into an Oozaru ape since he has a tail. He can transform by absorbing Blutz Waves from the moon, a planet, or a Power Ball. He never uses it in the anime or the manga due to Piccolo having blown up Earth's moon, though it appears in Budokai Tenkaichi 3. It's unknown whether this form could have given him more of an advantage against Goku, but its highly unlikely as Goku when using the Kaio Ken Times Four, outclassed Vegeta who was twice as strong as Goku when he fought Nappa.

Super Saiyan


While Nappa never uses this form, he mentions it as a "what-if" in Budokai Tenkaichi 3. It is possible he attained it at some point during his time on Earth after he was revived. Since he is bald, only his mustache and eyebrows turn blonde in this form. It's anyone's guess what he would look like in the Super Saiyan 3 form, as most who achieve it grow very long hair.

Dragon Ball Abridged

Main article: Nappa (Team Four Star)

In TeamFourStar's comedy parody, Dragon Ball Abridged, Nappa is portrayed as an incredibly annoying man-child who gets on Vegeta's last nerve. He whines about how long it takes to get to Earth for a whole year, repeating "Are we there yet?" He serves as the main comedy relief for the Saiyan Saga, until Vegeta kills him due to being annoyed by him. But Nappa continues to haunt Vegeta as a ghost after he leaves Earth, giving him useless advice and trolling him throughout the Namek Saga.

When everyone killed by Frieza and his men were wished back to life with the dragon balls, Nappa was also brought back, though he was no longer involved with Vegeta or the Z Fighters, presumably leaving to live his life in peace as a producer in Hollywood, becoming Mr. Satan's manager. He didn't reappear again until Cell announced the Cell Games, and Nappa called on Mr. Satan to participate.



  • Unlike other forms of it, Nappa's Ki takes the form of lightning/electricity.
  • While Nappa's Scouter is violet in the anime, original manga illustrations shown it as green.


           Dragon Ball Z Logo Villains

Saiyan Army
Vegeta | Nappa | Raditz | Saibamen

Galactic Frieza Army
Frieza | King Cold
King Cold's Elites

Garlic Jr.'s Clan
Garlic Jr. | Garlic

Red Ribbon Androids

Babidi's Majins
Babidi | Dabura | Pui Pui | Yakon | Yamu | Spopovich

Majin Buu's Forms
Fat Buu | Super Buu | Kid Buu


Video Game Exclusive
