I'm not so sure he was there in spirit alone. Firstly, when he came to Earth he wasn't translucent so he must've been physically there, also when he touched down he made a noise so his body was present. Broly saw him ("Kakarot!") so there must've been something to see rather than sense and he didn't have a halo which means he must've been alive - ressurected for a minute just to lend his energy to the Kamehameha.
Regardless. Goku(Dead) returned to Earth 3 or 4 times to help his friends. This was against the rules, according to King Kai & King Yemma, and only more so flaunted Goku's stupendous, overrated character. I can be somewhat of the Anti-Goku sometimes, sue me.
Just for the record.. Vegeta is always in character... Vegeta is a coward who only fights the fights he thinks he can win. That's why he stays away from Freeza until he thinks he is a super-saiyan and why he only fights back after he had become stronger then the henchmen.
Vegeta doesn't fight Brolly because he knows that he stands no chance in hell of even hurting him. The reason why Vegeta fights Buu is because he isn't fighting for himself anymore he's fighting for Bulma and Trunks. On Planet Vegeta he doesn't need to worry about them so he only has to care about himself.
Vegeta is a coward, he is always in character. Let it go.
Define
coward. Because on a large scale, what you've just explained doesn't sound like Vegeta. Earlier on, Vegeta appeared as somewhat of a spineless coward when pitted against those far more powerful than him, such as Frieza, who he ran from on a number of occasions, but, in retrospect, it became obvious Toriyama's attention was primarily on Goku & Gohan, so Vegeta's character may not have developed the way he wanted it to. Who knows. And... a coward will run from death, Vegeta's defeats angered him, but he accepted them & continued to strive for the greatest which is commendable, in my opinion. Don't dwarf Vegeta with miniscule bits of information about his character, it's condescending to his fans.
Also, Vegeta was somewhat out-of-character during the first Broly movie, but only because Broly was introduced as the "Legendary Super
Saiyan"--Vegeta learned about Super Saiyans from his Father & and also found out Frieza feared them. Think of it like this, Vegeta is royalty, and his knowledge of the Saiyans & Frieza's Empire far exceeds any of the other fighters'. Vegeta was powerful in Movie 8, but he lacked the ability put his knowledge behind him and battle with pride--he was shocked by Broly's abilities, so he used something called 'common sense', and it was. Piccolo, Goku, Gohan, Trunks & Vegeta would've all been killed by Broly if Vegeta hadn't taken a step out of the battle field to regain strength, which was then later used to kill Broly, using Goku's body.
