King Cold

King Cold is a fictional character in the second half of the manga Dragon Ball, known as Dragon Ball Z in USA.

Trunks Saga
He is the father of Freeza. He appears briefly at the start of the Trunks arc along with his now cyber-organic son to destroy Earth as revenge for Freeza's near death by Son Gokū's hands. After Trunks shows up and easily dispatches Freeza, Cold offers Trunks the opportunity take his son's place. Trunks unabashedly declines, which doesn't worry King Cold as he believes the boy only succeeded in killing Freeza by use of his sword. With Trunks' sword in his hand, Cold strikes at the mysterious youth, but to his great horror the blade is effortlessly caught. Trunks begins to overpower King Cold, and with his other hand, shoots a ki blast which goes right through Cold's chest, sending him flying. Begging now, Cold's pleas for mercy fall on deaf ears, as Trunks quickly finishes him off.

Alternate timeline
The same as in the Trunks Saga, only without Trunks, Cold and Freeza journey to Earth to destroy it as revenge on Goku, but Goku intervenes via Instant Transmission, and kills Cold along with Freeza. It was at this point that King Cold and Freeza had their DNA sampled by Dr. Gero's spy robots. This is Cell's Time line.

Great Saiyaman Saga
Just after the Cell Games Saga, King Cold, along with Freeza and the four deceased members of the Ginyu Force (Recoome, Jeice, Burter and Guldo) strikes up a friendship with Cell, and aids him in his quest to find a way back to Earth from the HFIL, via torturing the ogre guardians. He is punished when Goku and Pikkon show up and defeat Cell and the Ginyu members. Before he can know what's happening, Cold is knocked out along with Freeza when Pikkon elbows him in the stomach.

Along with his friends, Cold is sent to the Afterlife Prison, where he complains about not being allowed a shower.

Kid Buu Saga
Sometime after Cold is released from Prison, he, along with Cell, Freeza, the Ginyu members, Dr. Gero, Babidi and the ogres, watches the final battle between Goku and Kid Buu via a crystal ball. He also laughs at one point where Goku refuses to throw the spirit bomb with Vegeta in the way, but his smile fades away when he sees Mr. Satan take Vegeta's injured body aside, leaving Goku to vanquish Buu with the spirit bomb.

Appearance and abilities
Cold appears in a form reminiscent of his son's second after initially transforming, but it's unknown whether he too possessed the ability to change shape. He ranks among the tallest villains in the DBZ universe, albeit not being able to do anything to showcase his power. Cold may be best known for his idle complaints of how long it takes his son to start and finish a fight.

He is instantly killed in his brief appearance in DBZ, so his strength and ability to transform are unknown, nor or any of his attacks seen. It is debated among fans whether or not he can transform at all, like both of his sons and grandson. King Cold may be even stronger than Freeza based on comments on the ki of Freeza "and one greater" in the original manga (Dragon Ball #329).

Appearances in other media
King Cold has not appeared anywhere besides the Dragon Ball Z anime, including video games and parodies. However, he has been rumoured to appear as a playable character in the upcoming Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2. (However he hasn't even been verbally confirmed by the developers, let alone visually confirmed.)