It's never a good sign when a major villain's death only merits a sigh of relief followed by the word "finally." Yet, that's exactly what Babidi's death amounted to in the early days of Dragon Ball Z's Buu Saga. A narcissistic coward with no formidable power of his own, Babidi was one of DBZ's weakest excuses for a bad guy. Dabura, on the other hand, was a much more interesting character as the former King of the Demon Realm could actually match the Z Fighters blow for blow on the battlefield.
Babidi's plan to awaken Majin Buu was flawed from the ground up. If he just wanted to kill some Kai, Dabura was more than powerful enough for that, considering he obliterated Kibito Kai before even Goku or Vegeta knew what was happening. Reviving Majin Buu just to kill the already easy-to-kill Kai while just assuming he would be able to control the monster was a big swing for the tiny wizard. His motivation of getting revenge for his equally cowardly and wizardly father was also a flat, overdone revenge story.
Revenge on someone else's behalf is a plotline that's been driven into the ground by DBZ. If Dabura had been the one seeking to awaken Majin Buu, it would have spared the series from yet another revenge story. As a demon, Dabura could have been seeking to revive Buu just to revel in the chaos and destruction it would bring. It would also strengthen Dabura's death at the hands of Buu if he had been on a suicide mission just for the sake of unleashing evil, rather than what actually happened: getting killed while trying to keep his position as Babidi's favorite attack dog.
In a series about high-stakes punching, Babidi was fairly out of place with his comically weak physique. Dabura, however, was able to outlast Super Saiyan 2 Gohan in a battle that was so easy for the Demon King that he was brainstorming ways to add to Babidi's ranks while fending off the hapless Half-Saiyan. It would have been exciting to see Dabura go all out against Goku or Vegeta, considering he referred to Gohan as "trash," implying he was far from using his full power during their scuffle. Meanwhile, Babidi was getting karate chopped in half by Piccolo as the once-mighty Namekian began his own descent into irrelevance.
Perhaps if Babidi had enslaved some random demon it wouldn't have been such an eyebrow-raiser. The King of the entire Demon Realm and the most powerful being in his dimension, Dabura was completely wasted as a magically subjugated henchman of a frail old wizard who even the most annoying form of Buu found to be insufferable. Dabura's death at the hands of Majin Buu serves its narrative purpose of hinting at Buu's terrifying power, but it would have been much more impactful if Dabura had gotten more time to shine.
Dragon Ball Z eventually twisted the knife with Dabura getting sent to Other World instead of Hell, where he became a soft boi who hung out in a field of flowers with the also-dead Chi-Chi, Bulma and Videl. Relegating the Demon King to a mere henchman and then a joke was certainly a subversion of expectations, but that's not always a good thing. Dabura's potential as a character and as a villain was too rich for the hand he was dealt, but if there's any solace it's that Babidi was right behind him on Majin Buu's hitlist.
