Bardock (バーダック, Bādakku), Burdock in Viz Media's English manga translation, is a fictional character in the Dragon Ball series. Created by Toei Animation based on series protagonist Goku's visual design by franchise creator Akira Toriyama, he appears in the television special Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku (1990), but the first time he appears in the canon Dragon Ball universe is in the 78th episode of Dragon Ball Z in a flashback of Frieza destroying planet Vegeta. Bardock has few overall manga and anime appearances within the series, though he plays a pivotal part as Goku's biological father in setting up the backstory of his son, originally known by the name Kakarot, as one of the last survivors of the Saiyan genocide by Frieza.

Bardock has been well received by commentators and viewers as a tragic figure. Toriyama himself was moved by the character's story, which led to his decision to incorporate the character into the series' canon continuity through the Jaco the Galactic Patrolman manga bonus chapter "Dragon Ball −(Minus): The Departure of the Fated Child" (2014). Bardock's popularity has led to the character appearing in a variety of franchise media, including several video games as well as a starring role in the 2011 spin-off manga Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock and its subsequent animated adaptation.

Bardock is a mercenary first introduced in the television special Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku (1990) as the leader of a platoon of Saiyan warriors. Within the series, the Saiyans are depicted as a warlike species who display a wide array of special abilities, possessing immense natural strength, ki energy manipulation, as well as superhuman agility, reflexes and senses. With the exception of their monkey-like tails, which enables the transformation of an individual in view of a full moon into a Great Ape, Saiyans have the same outward appearance as humans but with larger, more muscular builds.

Franchise creator Akira Toriyama explained in an interview published in the March 2014 issue of Saikyō Jump that Bardock and his wife Gine (ギネ) are among the rare Saiyans who are joined by an emotional bond as opposed to a practical reproductive purpose. Gine was at one point a member of a four-person team of Saiyan warriors along with Bardock where they developed feelings for each other, though Gine eventually retired from the team as she is not an effective fighter due to her gentle nature. Toriyama considers Bardock to be one of the strongest low-class warriors, but below a mid-class warrior in power. On the depiction of Bardock's bravery in the film Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018), director Tatsuya Nagamine explained in a January 2019 interview with V Jump that he considers the character to be the only Saiyan left who retains his people's pure nature, whereas the rest of the Saiyans have lost their original pride as a warrior race prior to the events of the film. Bardock's facial features are very similar to his son Kakarot, which has led to certain characters, who knew Bardock, recognizing the familial relationship between the two characters when they encounter Goku.

Bardock's signature ability is the "Final Spirit Cannon" (ファイナルスピリッツキャノン) or "Riot Javelin", an energy sphere attack. During a routine incursion on the planet Kanassa in Bardock – The Father of Goku, one of its surviving inhabitants strikes Bardock, giving him its native ability to see into the future.

Bardock's basic design was originally conceived for the Bardock – The Father of Goku special by Toei Animation production staff. Animator and character designer Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru was primarily responsible for designing Bardock and his team members during production of the special in mid-1990. His initial design of Bardock was relatively unchanged after it went through minor alterations by Toriyama, who recalled that a Toei employee approached him about their project for an original story based on the visual design of a character who has the same face as Goku, of which Toriyama had no recollection of creating. Toriyama said that he allowed Toei Animation to have creative control for the animated television special as he was too busy with the manga serialization for the Dragon Ball series at the time. He believed that he was consulted about the character designs as Toei's proposed original content impinged upon Goku's past; Bardock's face was given a scar while his cold and stern demeanour represents the brutal edge of a martial race, but is otherwise nearly identical to Goku. He is dressed in battle armor similar to Frieza's armed forces; according to Nakatsuru, the armor's specific visual design is patterned after that of Toshiro Mifune's character in Seven Samurai at the insistence of Mitsuo Hashimoto, director of the television special.

Toriyama commented that Toei's depiction of Bardock in the finished product was admirable. He said that he tends to avoid serious material in his work and he would have stuck to a lighter comedic tone had he authored Bardock's story himself, but complimented Toei's approach for giving a bit more emotional depth to the series' mythos. Toriyama noted that the character's name is "strong-sounding" and a pun on burdock, which is thematically connected to his sons' Saiyan names and to his usual practice of naming Saiyan characters after vegetables. Toriyama decided to have the character appear in the original manga. Bardock is depicted in two panels during Goku's first confrontation with Frieza, who comments that Goku looks just like the Saiyan who resisted when he destroyed planet Vegeta, and the narrator informs the reader that he was Goku's father.^[ch. 307]

Bardock is voiced in Japanese by Masako Nozawa, who also voices his son and the other male members of his family, except Raditz. Sonny Strait is Bardock's most consistent voice actor for English localizations in the series' Funimation dub as well as most media. Strait noted that he has done much more voice acting work for Bardock's appearances in video games, in comparison to his animated appearances. Bardock is voiced by Curtis "Takahata101" Arnott in Dragon Ball Z Abridged.