He makes his debut in Chapter #247: "Dark Clouds Swirl Over Planet Namek", first published in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on October 24, 1989,[1] as the main antagonist of his eponymous saga, depicted as a galactic tyrant feared as the most powerful being in the universe.

Therefore, he paid special attention to how Frieza spoke; because villains typically speak rudely, he gave him polite speech making for an unsettling contrast with his cruelty.

[8] Due to being diagnosed with end-stage COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and requiring a double lung transplant, Ayres was forced to step down from the role in 2018.

Frieza makes his official appearance in the story after Vegeta's defeat on Earth at Goku's hands, having traveled to Planet Namek to find the seven Namekian Dragon Balls to wish for immortality.

Enraged to find he is too late, as the Dragon Balls have become inert on Guru's death, Frieza briefly battles Vegeta, with the Saiyan Prince goading him into transforming and revealing his true power.

[16] In retaliation, Frieza critically injures Piccolo and kills Krillin, which sends Goku into a rage, consequently assuming Super Saiyan form for the first time.

[17] Goku takes the upper hand and viciously pummels Frieza, who damages the core of Namek in an act of desperation, knowing he can survive in the vacuum of space.

Over the next year, Frieza is rebuilt with cybernetic prosthetics, increasing his strength significantly, and the two immediately head for Earth to exact revenge on Goku and his friends, but they are confronted by Trunks, the son of Vegeta and Bulma, who has traveled back to their time from the future.

After learning that Goku defeated Majin Buu and fought Beerus to a stalemate, both being the two figures his father warned him never to cross, Frieza decides to undergo four months of intensive training.

Goku reveals his new Super Saiyan Blue form, although Frieza overpowers him yet lacks the stamina for a prolonged fight in his powered state.

When approached by Goku, who is arranging for him to be temporarily revived by Fortuneteller Baba for a day, Frieza accepts the offer on the condition of being fully resurrected by the Dragon Balls after the tournament.

Upon being revived, Frieza slaughters a group of assassins hired by the deities of the Ninth Universe to kill him while trapping Goku in a Destroyer-based energy attack meant for him.

[22] After eliminating Frost when he appears to commence their arrangement, Frieza eventually ends up being one of the four remaining combatants alongside Goku, Android 17, and Jiren of the Eleventh Universe.

Frieza unexpectedly teams up with Goku to force Jiren out in a triple elimination with 17 declared the winner, resurrected soon after by Whis at Beerus's behest as a reward for his efforts.

Frieza's power was so great over time, that his body could not comfortably contain it and a series of physical transformations were developed that limit his actual strength.

Despite his increased bulk, Frieza's speed is significantly higher in this form, easily outpacing Piccolo even after the Namek fighter removed his weighted training clothes.

His horns and spikes disappear with his physique becoming entirely streamlined and his skin is now a pure, solid white with purple sections on his head, shoulders, forearms, chest, and shins.

In this state, Frieza's power increases immensely, making him able to inflict damages to even Super Saiyan Goku and match him in terms of strength and speed.

[35] In Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Vegeta had foreshadowed the possibility that Frieza would take advantage of his restored life following the Tournament of Power to acquire a new form.

According to Frieza, this new transformation was achieved when he found a Room of Spirit and Time by chance on one of his conquered planets and used it to undergo a 10-year training session within 10 days.

In Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, Frieza briefly escapes from Hell with an army of villains to attack Earth, but he is swiftly defeated by Gohan.

In Dragon Ball GT, when Goku is sent to Hell by accident, Frieza and Cell confront him, their bodies having been rendered temporarily immortal due to the unbalance between the two worlds.

[37] Frieza appears in Naho Ōishi's 2011 Dragon Ball spin-off manga Episode of Bardock, but it predominately features his ancestor Chilled (チルド).

[42] In the manga Black Cat, the character Sven Vollfied is often seen using his cell phone with a wrist strap of a miniature-sized badge of Frieza's head.

[45] The Cartoon Network show Codename: Kids Next Door had a parody of their own of the climactic fight and the Frieza character, with the Delightful Children From Down the Lane portraying him as a multi-headed monstrosity.

[58] Anime News Network lamented Frieza's role as he felt that he barely gave a decent fight in the movie as the writing fails to portray him as a menacing villain with the new powers of Goku and Vegeta easily surpassing him alongside other plot devices like the healing beans.

In regards to the voice actors "Ayres’ brand of childish pompousness is a lot less threatening in a story where Frieza isn't in a position of power from the get-go.

[60] For the final arc of Dragon Ball Super, Anime News Network had mixed feelings about the second return of Frieza to have him teamed up with Universe 7.

He felt that while Frieza might be turning into a Dragon Ball cliche where most characters such as Yamcha, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, Piccolo, Vegeta and Majin Buu served as villains before becoming heroes, his actions were still ambiguous and it was satisfying to see him engage with Goku on a one-on-one to settle their rules in the Tournament of Power.

However, the fact that Frieza is not only revived but also given his own empire back left the reviewer in a dilemma in regards to the impact it might give the franchise in the future due to whether or not he will keep being evil as he kept interacting with Goku for a long time.