Warning! Spoilers ahead for Dragon Ball Super chapter 78!
The villain Gas from Vegeta, making him a more intriguing enemy than Vegeta was as Goku's nemesis back in the day.
Even before readers got to see Gas' first fight, the villain proved himself to be a more prideful warrior than Vegeta ever was when he expressed his disapproval about his family wishing for him to become the strongest fighter in the universe with the Dragon Balls in chapter 78. Gas said that he was "fine as I am" when the leader of the Heeter Force, Elec, revealed that he was about to summon the dragon Toronbo to fulfill Gas' wish.
This is a stunning divergence from Vegeta who sought the Dragon Balls to help him defeat Frieza by wishing for immortality. As Vegeta has proven throughout the franchise, especially in Dragon Ball Super, he strives to get stronger his own way, which usually involves training alone. During the Tournament of Power, Vegeta tells Jiren that he doesn't want to be taught anything, as he prefers, "The fires of solo training." He later its to Berus, the God of Destruction, that the reason why he refuses to learn Ultra Instinct is because he would rather sur Goku with a technique that the low-level Saiyan hasn't mastered. He's also expressed his disgust for cheap parlor tricks like Instant Transmission for a similar reason. Vegeta attributes all of these preferences to his Saiyan pride. And yet, he still pursued the Dragon Balls when he was a villain so he could defeat Frieza, which definitely counts as getting help from something else or resorting to cheap tricks.
Vegeta's dependency on the Dragon Balls also hints that Vegeta didn't believe he could defeat Frieza on his own. His fear and uncertainty in himself culminated in two displays of unadulterated rage, first, when he noticed that Earth's heroes had already summoned and made two of the three wishes to the dragon Porunga, and, second, when Guru died before Vegeta could make his own wish. This self-doubt is both uncharacteristic and unbefitting of the prince of Saiyans who should never exhibit such a distasteful and pathetic display (although he does again in the first and non-canon Broly film).
Gas' hesitancy to become more powerful with the help of the Dragon Balls suggests he would either prefer to gain more strength on his own instead of by a shortcut or that he is sure of his own abilities. These are traits more befitting of not only a Saiyan but a Saiyan prince. Further tainting Vegeta's legacy is a litany of other missteps he made that betray his heritage. Earlier on in Dragon Ball Super, Vegeta caved in by learning a technique from the Yardrats, the same species that taught Goku the biggest parlor trick of all, Instant Transmission. He went against his own principles again when Vegeta begged Berus to teach him his destructive power. In other words, Gas was not only a better villainous Saiyan than Vegeta was but is still a better all-around Saiyan even to this day.
