By Mark Rodriguez
Everyone is excited about the new DragonBall Super movie coming later this year that will bring Brolly into official canon in the world of Super Saiyan Blue and Golden Freeza. There were rumors saying that when the Dragonball Super anime ended, all focus would go onto the upcoming movie and there might possibly be another series afterwards. My question is where can they possibly go from here? To get a better idea of what I'm talking about, let's take a look at how Goku's power escalated over the years.
I do have to say, this article might have some spoilers if you haven't seen all of Dragonball Super yet since the Universe Survival Arc just started airing the dub version. Honestly though, seeing Freeza in the new Brolly movie trailer is already a bit of a spoiler, but still, be warned of spoilers.
Dragonball started as a comedy adventure series in which Goku, Bulma and their friends would travel the world to collect the magical Dragonballs, magical orbs that release a dragon that can grant wishes if you collect all 7. However as the series went on, it became more about getting stronger and facing more and more powerful opponents, sometimes with the world at stake.
This came to a head near the end of the Freeza saga where the main villain killed Krillin, Goku's lifelong friend. This enraged him past his limits which, along with already breaking the limits of a normal Saiyan's strength, transformed him into the Legendary Super Saiyan. It was in this new form that Goku was able to outclass and defeat Freeza. However that introduced the idea of transformations, for the heroes anyway, as bad guys have been using them before.
While most of the series involved Goku training with different martial arts masters, new techniques and eventually under increasing levels of gravity pressure, none of that meant anything to Freeza. The only way to beat him was to transform into a powerful new state, and at the time the Super Saiyan was the most powerful being out there. It's been rumored Dragonball Z was to end with Goku and Freeza blowing up on planet Namek, but of course the story didn't end there.
With a new saga came new enemies and of course to make them pose any kind of a challenge, the Super Saiyan would have to be taken down. Despite Trunks and Vegeta showing they could also turn Super Saiyan, the new villains Android 17 and 18 defeated them with ease. Vegeta and Trunks achieved a more muscular and powerful form of the Super Saiyan, but the new main villain, Perfect Cell defeated them as well. In the end the entire saga ended with Gohan reaching a powerful new form beyond that of a regular Super Saiyan to defeat Cell once and for all. A new form that would eventually be called Super Saiyan 2.
The Buu saga took it a step farther and introduced Super Saiyan 3, though it takes a huge toll on Goku's body. Other than the rematch between Goku and Vegeta, Super Saiyan 2 was pretty much forgotten about when the focus moved to Super Saiyan 3, the concept of Fusion and Gohan's new mystic form.
Dragonball Super had Beerus turn the Super Saiyan 3 into a joke and introduced the concept of Super Saiyan God. Despite all the build up to have Goku finally achieve this form to give Beerus a decent challenge, it was almost completely forgotten about in the next arc based on Resurrection F.
Goku and Vegeta achieve the forms that would basically become the mainstay of Dragonball Super, the Super Saiyan Blue.
The Tournament of Power would introduce Jiren, who is the most powerful mortal character on the show so far, and to him, Super Saiyan Blue is nothing. Goku achieved the new Ultra Instinct form by accidentally absorbing his own Genki Dama (Spirit Bomb) which made him put up a bit of a fight against Jiren.
Dragonball Super ended with Goku having yet another new form which is the mastered form of Ultra Instinct. Vegeta on the other hand achieved a more powerful form of Super Saiyan Blue.
So what can we expect from Brolly? Back when the first movie came out, the question was whether or not Brolly could take Perfect Cell. Now it's 'can Brolly take Jiren'? And on top of that, will Brolly be able to turn Super Saiyan Blue??? And if he does, will Goku have to turn Mastered Ultra Instinct to take him down? And if so.... where does Dragonball as a series go from here?
In case you think I'm purposely skipping GT, I do want to say they also went the route of having Super Saiyan 3 mean nothing to new enemies so Goku had to discover Super Saiyan 4. This was a very weird and different way of obtaining a new transformation. First Goku, as a child due to GT's plot, regrew his tail. For some reason, staring at the moon (in this case it was the Earth because it basically became the moon of the new planet the villain Bebi created) turned him into a Golden Ohzaru rather than a normal one.
Goku had always been out of control as an Ohzaru (while other Saiyans like Vegeta would maintain their personality when transformed), and the Golden version was no different. Somehow regaining his consciousness thanks to his granddaughter Pan, Goku was able to transform into the Super Saiyan 4.
Even though later enemies would outclass Super Saiyan 4, GT solved this by having both Goku and Vegeta fuse into the Super Saiyan 4 version of Gogeta. With only 64 episodes, there weren't enough sagas or new threats that would warrant a Super Saiyan 5 or anything else. I'm sure if Super was just as short we would have ended things with Super Saiyan Blue.
As for a potential new series... there are some slight possibilities as to what new challenges Goku and his friends can face. For those that have seen the Tournament of Power when it originally aired, you would notice the tournament only has the weakest universes take part. This means there are still two universes (1 and 12) who we never got to see participate who would have opponents way more powerful than Goku and Jiren. We might get the possibility to see fighters from these two universes eventually. Let's not forget that Dragonball also tends to make new enemies or opponents put the previous enemies or opponents to shame. In Super, Hit was the most powerful opponent in the first tournament arc, and he was nothing compared to Jiren. It would not surprise me if some new threat made Jiren look weak in comparison where he might even have to team up with Goku to take it down.
The problem doesn't lie with new enemies and challenges, but with the transformations needed to overcome them. Once the door to Super Saiyan and beyond was opened, there is no turning back. What is next after Mastered Ultra Instinct? Mastered Ultra Instinct 2? Super Mastered Ultra Instinct? Some other new form altogether that will also have a second and third form? Just how many more colors can Goku's hair turn into? At some point it'll just become too ridiculous for even the most hardcore Dragonball fan to take seriously. I love Dragonball and don't want to be stuck saying 'I loved Dragonball back when it was cool and Goku only had 5 transformations' someday.
Time will tell as we prepare to see the new movie. How much more power can a Saiyan ultimately obtain?
Everyone is excited about the new DragonBall Super movie coming later this year that will bring Brolly into official canon in the world of Super Saiyan Blue and Golden Freeza. There were rumors saying that when the Dragonball Super anime ended, all focus would go onto the upcoming movie and there might possibly be another series afterwards. My question is where can they possibly go from here? To get a better idea of what I'm talking about, let's take a look at how Goku's power escalated over the years.
I do have to say, this article might have some spoilers if you haven't seen all of Dragonball Super yet since the Universe Survival Arc just started airing the dub version. Honestly though, seeing Freeza in the new Brolly movie trailer is already a bit of a spoiler, but still, be warned of spoilers.
Dragonball started as a comedy adventure series in which Goku, Bulma and their friends would travel the world to collect the magical Dragonballs, magical orbs that release a dragon that can grant wishes if you collect all 7. However as the series went on, it became more about getting stronger and facing more and more powerful opponents, sometimes with the world at stake.
This came to a head near the end of the Freeza saga where the main villain killed Krillin, Goku's lifelong friend. This enraged him past his limits which, along with already breaking the limits of a normal Saiyan's strength, transformed him into the Legendary Super Saiyan. It was in this new form that Goku was able to outclass and defeat Freeza. However that introduced the idea of transformations, for the heroes anyway, as bad guys have been using them before.
While most of the series involved Goku training with different martial arts masters, new techniques and eventually under increasing levels of gravity pressure, none of that meant anything to Freeza. The only way to beat him was to transform into a powerful new state, and at the time the Super Saiyan was the most powerful being out there. It's been rumored Dragonball Z was to end with Goku and Freeza blowing up on planet Namek, but of course the story didn't end there.
With a new saga came new enemies and of course to make them pose any kind of a challenge, the Super Saiyan would have to be taken down. Despite Trunks and Vegeta showing they could also turn Super Saiyan, the new villains Android 17 and 18 defeated them with ease. Vegeta and Trunks achieved a more muscular and powerful form of the Super Saiyan, but the new main villain, Perfect Cell defeated them as well. In the end the entire saga ended with Gohan reaching a powerful new form beyond that of a regular Super Saiyan to defeat Cell once and for all. A new form that would eventually be called Super Saiyan 2.
The Buu saga took it a step farther and introduced Super Saiyan 3, though it takes a huge toll on Goku's body. Other than the rematch between Goku and Vegeta, Super Saiyan 2 was pretty much forgotten about when the focus moved to Super Saiyan 3, the concept of Fusion and Gohan's new mystic form.
Dragonball Super had Beerus turn the Super Saiyan 3 into a joke and introduced the concept of Super Saiyan God. Despite all the build up to have Goku finally achieve this form to give Beerus a decent challenge, it was almost completely forgotten about in the next arc based on Resurrection F.
Goku and Vegeta achieve the forms that would basically become the mainstay of Dragonball Super, the Super Saiyan Blue.
The Tournament of Power would introduce Jiren, who is the most powerful mortal character on the show so far, and to him, Super Saiyan Blue is nothing. Goku achieved the new Ultra Instinct form by accidentally absorbing his own Genki Dama (Spirit Bomb) which made him put up a bit of a fight against Jiren.
Dragonball Super ended with Goku having yet another new form which is the mastered form of Ultra Instinct. Vegeta on the other hand achieved a more powerful form of Super Saiyan Blue.
So what can we expect from Brolly? Back when the first movie came out, the question was whether or not Brolly could take Perfect Cell. Now it's 'can Brolly take Jiren'? And on top of that, will Brolly be able to turn Super Saiyan Blue??? And if he does, will Goku have to turn Mastered Ultra Instinct to take him down? And if so.... where does Dragonball as a series go from here?
In case you think I'm purposely skipping GT, I do want to say they also went the route of having Super Saiyan 3 mean nothing to new enemies so Goku had to discover Super Saiyan 4. This was a very weird and different way of obtaining a new transformation. First Goku, as a child due to GT's plot, regrew his tail. For some reason, staring at the moon (in this case it was the Earth because it basically became the moon of the new planet the villain Bebi created) turned him into a Golden Ohzaru rather than a normal one.
Goku had always been out of control as an Ohzaru (while other Saiyans like Vegeta would maintain their personality when transformed), and the Golden version was no different. Somehow regaining his consciousness thanks to his granddaughter Pan, Goku was able to transform into the Super Saiyan 4.
Even though later enemies would outclass Super Saiyan 4, GT solved this by having both Goku and Vegeta fuse into the Super Saiyan 4 version of Gogeta. With only 64 episodes, there weren't enough sagas or new threats that would warrant a Super Saiyan 5 or anything else. I'm sure if Super was just as short we would have ended things with Super Saiyan Blue.
As for a potential new series... there are some slight possibilities as to what new challenges Goku and his friends can face. For those that have seen the Tournament of Power when it originally aired, you would notice the tournament only has the weakest universes take part. This means there are still two universes (1 and 12) who we never got to see participate who would have opponents way more powerful than Goku and Jiren. We might get the possibility to see fighters from these two universes eventually. Let's not forget that Dragonball also tends to make new enemies or opponents put the previous enemies or opponents to shame. In Super, Hit was the most powerful opponent in the first tournament arc, and he was nothing compared to Jiren. It would not surprise me if some new threat made Jiren look weak in comparison where he might even have to team up with Goku to take it down.
The problem doesn't lie with new enemies and challenges, but with the transformations needed to overcome them. Once the door to Super Saiyan and beyond was opened, there is no turning back. What is next after Mastered Ultra Instinct? Mastered Ultra Instinct 2? Super Mastered Ultra Instinct? Some other new form altogether that will also have a second and third form? Just how many more colors can Goku's hair turn into? At some point it'll just become too ridiculous for even the most hardcore Dragonball fan to take seriously. I love Dragonball and don't want to be stuck saying 'I loved Dragonball back when it was cool and Goku only had 5 transformations' someday.
Time will tell as we prepare to see the new movie. How much more power can a Saiyan ultimately obtain?
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