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The evil wizard Babidi fromDragon Ball Zwas a unique villain in that he didn’t use brute force, speed, or a unique fighting style to beat his opponents, opting to use trickery and magic instead. One of his most potent spells is the ability to turn anyone with any evil in their heart into his slave. He did it withthe previous Demon King, Dabura, and even Vegeta, who had started to turn a new leaf, was vulnerable to his control. However, for some reason, Babidi didn’t use his mind control power on the most obvious target: Majin Buu, whose disobedience led to his death.
Majin Buu is practically the embodiment of evil inDragon Ball Z; so you’d think that he absolutely has evil in his heart for Babidi to control. For those wondering whether or not Babidi has already tried it, only for Majin Buu to break free of his control, he most likely hasn’t attempted it at all. InDragon Ball Zepisode 229, “Vegeta’s Pride”, when Babidi saw thatMajin Vegeta was refusing his orderto kill the Supreme Kai, he said that he’d never experienced anyone rebelling under his control before. Babidi’s claim means that he hasn’t failed to control Buu before. But is it because he simply hasn’t thought about trying or because he already knew it wouldn’t work?
“But- but this has never happened to me before! Since when can the possessed say no to the possessor?” - Babidi when Majin Vegeta refused his orders
Possible Reasons Why Babidi Never Controlled Majin Buu’s Mind
Majin Buu Might’ve Simply Been Too Chaotic
Admittedly,the manga and animenever directly addressed why Babidi and Bibidi couldn’t or never tried to use mind control on Buu. However, there are a couple of clues you may pick up from the rest of theDragon Ballfranchise to form some theories.
One theory is that Majin Buu is a being of pure chaos, so perhaps a mind control spell couldn’t affect someone like him. EvenMarba, Majin Buu’s creator, said inDragon Ball Daimathat she couldn’t control him. She even considers Majin Buu a failure of a creation because of his chaotic nature.
Fat Buu in Particular, Might Not Actually Be Evil
A couple of signs point to Fat Buu specifically, being a bad target for Babidi’s mind control. Fat Buu is the result of Kid Buu absorbingthe Grand Supreme Kai. The deity’s purity turned Buu into an innocent, carefree being. He’s still incredibly strong, but no longer evil incarnate basically. Some could argue that absorbing the Grand Supreme Kai removed Buu’s evil altogether, which is why Babidi’s spell wouldn’t work on him. When Mister Satan confronted Buu and asked him why he kept killing people, Buu asked him if that was a bad thing. Fat Buu genuinely didn’t know that what he was doing was evil and was simply following Babidi’s orders.
Admittedly, this theory has a flaw. It implies that Kid Buu,whoispure evil, could’ve been controlled by Bibidi, but that clearly wasn’t the case either.
Babidi Might Have Thought the Magic Ball Seal Was Enough of a Deterrent
Despite not having used his mind control powers on Buu, it’s not like Babidi had no way of taming him. Babidi’sbiggest tool against Buuwas the Magic Ball Seal that Bibidi developed. Whenever Buu got too rowdy or started disobeying orders, Babidi would seal him in a Magic Ball, and sometimes, the threat of being sealed itself could make Buu think twice.
Dragon Ball Has a History of Ignoring Hax or “Instant Win” Powers
As Long as the Opponent They’re Using It on Is Strong Enough
The biggest possible reason as to why Babidi can’t use mind control on Majin Buu is that Buu is just too strong.Dragon Ball’s power systemis unique in that even if a character has a power that’s conceptually incredibly broken, overall power still matters more. If the character with a busted ability faces an opponent whose power level is far above them, the power simply won’t work against them. If Vegeta could break free and disobey Babidi, then Majin Buu, who is stronger, almost certainly would’ve done it too, and with way less effort.
Another big example of this phenomenon happening was during the battle between Hit and Jiren duringthe Tournament of Power. InDragon Ball Superepisode 111, “An Extra-Dimensional Ultimate Battle! Hit vs. Jiren!”, Hit revealed his secret weapon, an evolved form of his Time Skip: Time Prison. This new ability completely restricts a target’s movement by suspending them in time. However, Jiren broke free from it by simply being “too strong”. Yes, Jiren managed to be immune to being suspended in time by using raw force. It makes next to no sense logically, but that’s just how the laws ofDragon Ballwork.
This technically also happened withSuper Buu VS Vegito. During their battle, Super Buu turned Vegito into a piece of chocolate with his Candy Beam, and to be fair, itdidwork. However, even as a piece of candy, Vegito still had full agency over his being and could still move and fight. Super Buu had so much trouble fighting the tiny chocolate ball that he turned Vegito back to normal.
