Goku Was Originally as Cruel as Vegeta (Before DBZ Made Him A Hero)
Across the assorted Dragon Ball franchises, Goku is generally portrayed as a friendly and helpful person just trying to be the best fighter in the universe, but he was not always that way. In his earliest years, he even rivaled Vegeta for brutality and cruelty.
As the saying goes, Goku has mellowed with age. His laid-back cheerfulness as an adult is most obviously illustrated by his knack for befriending his enemies and turning them into his most die-hard supporters. Moreover, despite being commonly despised by his opponents, it's rare to observe Goku giving them the same hate back.
According to Dragon Ball Z, as a child Goku was downright Vegeta-like in his ruthlessness and brutality. Indeed, considering his youth, the friendliness that Goku exhibits as an adult is perhaps less the reduction of his having a pure heart, and more of a side-effect of his quest to be the best. That is, Goku helps and is friendly with others because it is in some way helpful to his goal to become the ultimate fighter.
Related: Dragon Ball's Most Mysterious Villain Combines Cell and Majin Buu
The main source of his youthful savageness is the fact that his whole reason for coming to the Earth is to infiltrate it, kill all its inhabitants, and sell off what was left. Moreover, he was sent to do this on his own as a three-year old child. This fate was only avoided by the head injury Goku suffered when his ship crashed. That head injury damaged his memory and his ability to recall his mission, and dampened his inherent super-savage side. But that mission is an ever-constant element that will always have to potential to make him less friendly, even as an adult.
Despite the head injury, kid Goku still proved to be an aggressive, destructive, and
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