Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is finally coming to theaters here in North America. The new film is a direct sequel to the Broly film originally released in 2018 and shifts the focus away from Goku and Vegeta in favor of Gohan and Piccolo. There are new interesting tidbits, so let’s break down the ending and where it falls in the overall Dragon Ball canon.
Dragon Ball Super: The End of the Superhero Movie Explained
We have new forms! It’s always nice to see beloved characters continue to grow and we see that this time in Gohan and Piccolo. Given how much of the Dragon Ball Super series has revolved around Goku, Vegeta, and the Tournament of Power, everyone else has largely stayed out of the limelight. Now we’ve canonized the Broly movie, the return of the Red Ribbon Army and Gohan and Piccolo rising. The most exciting moment of the film is probably the first sight of Gohan Beast.
Potentially unleashed Gohan
Before that, we see Gohan in his potentially unleashed form, which we first saw in the Fusion saga. It took Gohan seeing Piccolo nearly die to push him over the edge to unlock the new form. One wonders if Piccolo planned that as well, since he tricked Gohan with the Pan shenanigans. The whole fight is reminiscent of Gohan and Cell during the Cell games, but with Piccolo in place of Goku – obviously not quite a beat-for-beat recreation, but it’s a neat remix of one of the series’ biggest fights. Anyway, it’s a very cool moment to see this new form that resembles his Super Saiyan 2 hair, albeit significantly longer with a silver sheen, with this new form being much more powerful than that.
Next, of course, we have Piccolo’s new “Super” Namekian Transform, which Piccolo calls “Orange Piccolo”. Not the most imaginative, but not wrong either. Piccolo visited Dende hoping to further unlock his potential but suggested using the Dragon Balls instead because of course they can. With Shenron’s help, Piccolo unleashed his potential and activated his new form in mid-fight. Just before the change, you can see the symbol of Namek pride glowing on his back. Much like Gohan, this is an updated version of his potentially unleashed form. It’s pretty cool to see the student and teacher both level up in similar ways considering their longstanding relationship throughout the series. Not to mention that Gohan used the Special Beam Cannon fully for the first time in his latest attack. Such an emotionally charged moment.
Speaking of the Special Beam Cannon, Cell is back… sort of – in the form of Cell Max. We’ve got new androids and a different cell. Crazy. However, this cell is very different in many ways. First off, Cell Max doesn’t appear to be able to absorb others, which caused a lot of concern back in DBZ, as fans recall. Compared to the original Cell, Cell Max seems almost wild – in his first three forms, Cell was quite talkative and prone to talking. He just walked through the gate. That could be because he wasn’t perfected, but it clearly didn’t affect his fighting skills – or stunt his growth.
Gamma 1, Dr. Hedo and the Red Ribbon Army
Then we have dr. hedo, dr Gero’s grandson who created the new androids Gamma 1 and 2 and Cell Max. We find him at the end trying to face up after the chaotic events of the final battle. Compared to his grandfather, he really seems like a good guy. His overarching goal was to create “superheroes” to stop potential threats to Earth, which he believed were being led by the Capsule Corporation. With this in mind, Bulma invites Dr. Hedo to join the Capsule Corporation to make better use of her abilities. So far we’ve made ex-villains join the good guys in back-to-back movies. After all, the bad guy becoming good guy is typical of most villains in the Dragon Ball universe. We have Cheelai, Lemo and Broly in the last film and now Dr. Hedo and we also offer Gamma 1. Though Gamma 2 sacrificed himself, we wouldn’t be surprised to see him hopeful again…although Avengers: Endgame’s particle scattering seemed pretty safe.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero post-credits scene
Last but not least we have a post credits scene in this movie showing the finale of Goku and Vegeta’s fight that took place off screen during Piccolo and Gohan’s adventure. Goku surrenders, giving Vegeta a very rare victory as they fall to the ground. If you’ve told someone that the new Dragon Ball movie ends with Vegeta defeating Goku, they might not picture it that way – but hey, it’s a nice bonus for Vegeta fans who are fed up with Goku always at the top. Meanwhile, Broly had a front row seat to all of this, so maybe he learned a few new tricks. But who knows when we’ll see him in action again – and that’s our biggest question:
The future of Dragon Ball
What’s next for Dragonball? The Broly film cleaned up at the box office and Super Hero looks set to follow suit. Could there be a new series on the horizon or does the future of the series lie in more films? There are rumors that new Dragon Ball episodes are currently in production, set after the Universe Survival arc that is rumored to return in 2023. A new DBS film set after Super Hero is also reportedly in pre-production, with Toei planning to release films every two to three years. We’ll have to wait and see if all of that materializes in the future, when Toei Animation officially confirms what’s next for the popular anime series.
What do you think of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and which movie do you think Goku and the other Z Fighters will appear in next – a new series, another movie, or both? Let us know in the comments below. And please, no manga spoilers for the anime-only viewers out there.
If you want more anime, check out our Top 10 Anime-to-Videogame Adaptations video and also our Summer 2022 Anime list in case you missed the latest batch of new series.
Best New Anime To Watch (Summer Season 2022)
