[4] In addition, he did not initially plan for the character to be able to transform, but gave him this ability after his then-current editor Yū Kondō described Cell as "ugly.

[10] Thanks to being genetically created with the DNA of several of the Z-Fighters (specifically Goku, Vegeta, and Piccolo), as well as the villain Frieza and his father King Cold, being spliced together; Cell has the superhuman abilities of all the aforementioned collective.

What makes him distinct from other Android models is the ability to generate, manipulate, and strengthen himself with a life energy called ki very similar to most naturally-born organic users of it.

Cell is specifically designed to continuously evolve by absorbing Androids 17 and 18 to achieve his final and most powerful stage, with each form gaining monstrous boosts in overall physical strength, durability, and speed.

Cell is an artificial life form (referred to as a "Bio-Android") created by Doctor Gero's supercomputer from the cell sample of the universe's strongest warriors, possessing the genetic information of Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, King Cold, and Frieza in an underground complex beneath Gero's secret laboratory.

The Cell that appears as the primary antagonist of his titular arc is from the future, awakening after his development is complete to find that the Androids have been destroyed by Trunks.

After he kills Trunks, Cell uses his time machine while regressing into an egg to travel back four years, to before the androids appeared, arriving in the present timeline.

Cell quickly dispatches #16, but he is unable to absorb #18 thanks to the intervention of Tien Shinhan, who holds him back at the cost of his life force[13] before being rescued by Goku, along with a surviving Piccolo.

[14] At the brink of defeat, Cell talks Vegeta into letting him absorb Android 18 so he can give him a better fight, and upon doing so, he assumes his final form, which is much more human-like.

He spawns Cell Juniors (セルジュニア, Seru Junia), miniature versions of himself who begin to fight the heroes, causing Gohan's rage to slowly swell.

[22] However, Cell can survive thanks to his unique physiology, which allows him to regenerate from a special nucleus in his head and grow more powerful whenever he has almost been killed, returning to his Perfect form even stronger than before.

Upon being resurrected by the Dragon Balls and returning to the future, Trunks destroys Androids #17 and #18, though realizes from his time travel that Cell is likely to emerge soon.

Not long after, Bulma is revealed to have retained the Time Capsule that Cell had stolen from Trunks to return to the present timeline.

Serving as the film's final antagonist, he was activated by a desperate Magenta before his mind was fully developed, coming across as a mindless, rampaging monster.

In Dragon Ball GT, after Goku is sent to Hell by accident, he confronts both Cell and Frieza, whose bodies have been rendered temporarily immortal due to the upset in the balance between the two worlds.

In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, Cell has a nightmare where he accidentally absorbs Krillin and becomes Cellin (セルリン, Serurin), with the form leaving him weaker.

[43] When an empowered Android #17 fights Piccolo, Trunks warns the player Cell that succeeding in absorbing him would mean an even larger power boost than in the main timeline.

[56] In 2004, fans of the series voted Cell the fourteenth most popular character for a poll in the book Dragon Ball Forever.

[61] Michael Zupan assessed Cell as the Dragon Ball villain with the most buildup, writing, "The Z Fighters throw everything they have at this character, and just when you think he's beat... he transforms into something more powerful.

D. F. Smith of IGN criticized Cell's decision to hold a fighting tournament instead of destroying Earth as a sign that the author has run out of ideas.

[65] Reviewer Josh Begley had disapproval toward the tournament as he believed it would feature "endless fighting and no real plot progression.

"[66] Luke Ryan Baldock took issue with the tournament based season for its lack of plot and high amount of action.