Van Zant

"Every single person on Earth is gonna die soon. Wouldn't you like to go out with a bang in the end!?"
— "I Kill No More"

Van Zant (ライフル銃の男, Raifuru Jū no Otoko, lit. "Man with Rifle") is a madman character unnamed in the Dragon Ball manga, but named in the anime Dragon Ball Z. In the Japanese version and the manga, Smitty refers to him as "young master," implying that Van Zant is from a wealthy family and that Smitty is his butler and/or servant.

Appearance

Van Zant is a long-faced, relatively well-built man with light yellow hair and a ponytail. He wears a bead necklace with a black, long-sleeved shirt, light orange gloves, black boots and beige pants held up with a black belt.

Personality

Van Zant is a deranged gunman who enjoys killing people. He justifies his desire for killing with the rationale that he wants to go out with a “bang”, since Majin Buu is going to destroy the world and kill everyone anyway. Van Zant’s motivations evolve over the course of his killing spree. He originally wanted to just enjoy the thrill of killing before Majin Buu inevitably destroyed the world, but he eventually becomes disillusioned into thinking he could kill Buu (alongside Mr. Satan) and become the new world-saving hero. To cover up his crimes, he then would claim all those he killed were killed by Buu instead.

Biography

Dragon Ball Z

Majin Buu Saga

Main article: Majin Buu Saga

Van Zant is first seen mercilessly shooting an elderly lady and then, after much convincing, he gets his friend Smitty to shoot her husband. After killing many innocents, Smitty and Van Zant decided to go to Majin Buu's house to try and kill Majin Buu, so he could kill more people (which is ironic, as his excuse for killing people in the first place was because he figured that Buu would be destroying the Earth). Van Zant and Smitty spot Mr. Satan, the famous world champion at Buu's house, which greatly surprises them. Van Zant shoots Bee, Majin Buu's puppy dog, then he and Smitty blow up Buu's house using Rocket Launchers. In anger, Mr. Satan then pummels both Van Zant and Smitty. Van Zant later returns for revenge and shoots Mr. Satan.

Though both Bee and Satan survive thanks to Majin Buu’s healing ability, Buu becomes very angry and ultimately loses control of his anger, resulting in him expelling the evil from his body and Evil Buu to appear from the steam coming out of his head. The first thing Evil Buu does is vaporize Van Zant, shooting him into nothingness using his Guilty Flash.

Dragon Ball GT

Baby Saga

Main article: Baby Saga Van Zant is briefly shown in a flashback with Smitty

Power

Van Zant is a normal human who relies primarily on firearms. As a result, he is physically weak compared to a trained martial artist like Mr. Satan, who though outclassed by the Z Fighters, is strong enough to disarm Van Zant and give a well-deserved beating, though Van Zant does later injure the Champion by shooting him, which only angers Buu. However even with his weapons, he is absolutely no match for the likes of Majin Buu or the Z Fighters as Evil Buu is able to kill him effortlessly.

Weapons and vehicles

Gun – Van Zant's gun is based on the Czech CZ-75. Used to shoot Mr. Satan and Evil Buu.
Rocket Launcher – A weapon that he and Smitty use to blow Majin Buu's house up.
Sniper rifle – A weapon based on the H&K PSG-1. Used to shoot an elderly lady.
Machine Gun – A weapon that he and Smitty use while riding around town to shoot people.
Hovercar – A sport model hovercar. The rear boot is large enough to hold multiple weapons.

Video Game Appearances

Voice Actors

Japanese: Nobuhiko Kazama (DBZ), Yūsuke Numata (DB Kai)
English:
- Ocean Group dubs: Michael Dobson
- Funimation dub: Mark Orvik

Battles

Van Zant and Smitty vs. Mr. Satan

Trivia

In the Ocean Group dubs and Funimation dub versions, he has a very strong Cockney accent.
One of the members of the Toad Warriors resembles Van Zant's appearance. Also, General White's redesign for Dragon Ball: The Path to Power bears some resemblance to Van Zant, albeit with dark hair and a longer nose.
Due to his pure evil nature and role in creating Evil Buu who absorbed Good Buu creating the more dangerous Super Buu, he was presumably among the evil people not revived by Porunga and was likely sentenced to spend eternity in Hell by King Yemma given the evil nature of his actions as well as taking into account his role in the creation of Super Buu and the destruction the evil Majin caused, as were it not for Van Zant's actions, Majin Buu would have likely stopped killing.
- In the Kai version, he was not shown killing innocent people, with it instead being implied that he merely intended to stop Majin Buu's killing. That said, he wasn't much better since he and Smitty still shot Bee and later Mr. Satan without remorse.