Since their first meeting, Vegeta has been determined to prove his superiority over Goku as the most dominant Saiyan warrior in the universe, but in Dragon Ball Super, it becomes clear that his pride is holding him back as it has time and again impacted his battle performance–proving that he will never be as good as Goku.

Goku and Vegeta first crossed paths in Dragon Ball Z’s “Vegeta Saga” which showed the Saiyan Prince invade planet Earth with his fellow warrior, Nappa. While the villainous Saiyans were able to easily defeat the rest of the Z Fighters, Goku proved to be much more of a challenge. It was during this first encounter that Vegeta utters the now legendary line, “It’s over 9000!” which is referring to Goku’s power level. Vegeta became so enraged by the reading on Goku’s power level that he actually crushed his scouter, and that same level of envious energy is pretty much consistent with Vegeta’s character throughout Dragon Ball as his desire to be better than Goku only increases from there.

In Dragon Ball Super Chapter 22 by Akira Toriyama and Toyotarou, Vegeta and Goku are taken to an alternate future where the villainous Zamasu and Goku Black (who is another version of Zamasu possessing the body of an alternate Goku) have decimated the world. While the two heroes weren’t a match for the villains at first, they quickly learned how to better conserve and release their power which nearly led them to victory. As Vegeta is gearing up to deliver the killing blow against Goku Black, he pauses to gloat about his superiority and how even though Zamasu was in a Saiyan’s body, he would never be a true Saiyan warrior like he is. However, while wasting time bragging about his supposed victory, Zamasu and Goku Black merge into one being, making them virtually unstoppable.

This chapter wasn’t the first time Vegeta paused before finishing his opponent just for the sake of rubbing his victory in their faces before he actually won. In Dragon Ball Super’s “Resurrection ‘F’ Saga”, Frieza is brought back to life and travels to Earth to destroy it along with the Saiyan’s responsible for his demise in Dragon Ball Z. While Frieza increased his power level, he wasn’t a match for Vegeta in his Super Saiyan Blue form. However, as Vegeta gloated about his victory over Frieza, the villain destroyed the entire planet, killing everyone including Vegeta in the process.

In his fight with Goku Black and with Frieza, Vegeta proved his superiority just by being able to beat them, but that isn’t enough for the Saiyan Prince. Vegeta has to let his enemy know that he bested them before finishing them off for good, but that only allows them extra time to come up with a detrimental counterattack. Goku doesn’t hesitate to finish off his opponent when it is necessary as shown with Buu, King Piccolo, and even Frieza himself after Vegeta fails to do so in Resurrection ‘F’ after Whis turns back time–which is why Goku is responsible for most of the Z Fighters’ victories while Vegeta continues to play catch up. Dragon Ball Super proves that, unless Vegeta can give up his pride, he will never surpass Goku.