This article contains SPOILERS for Dragon Ball Super #87
Dragon Ball Super criticizes its own franchise with a subtle comment on a villain's gruesome fate. Witnessing the degeneration of Gas, who is reduced to a zombie-like state by his own incredible power, Vegeta comments that the villain is a victim of his wish of becoming "the strongest in the universe", which could be applied to himself and all other major Dragon Ball characters.
Gas is the main villain of the Granolah the Survivor Arc, the youngest member of the Heeters, a family of space criminals who act as intermediaries for Frieza, helping him in conquering and selling planets. After acquiring intel on the Dragon Balls, the family's leader, Elec, manages to gather them on Planet Cereal and expresses the wish to make Gas "the strongest warrior in the universe", making him almost unbeatable but at the expense of shortening his lifespan. Goku, Vegeta, and their new ally Granolah, barely manage to beat Gas, exhausting all their resources and risking their lives many times. However, they do not kill him, which proves to be a mistake.
In Dragon Ball Super #87, by Toyotarou and Akira Toriyama, Gas makes an unexpected comeback, despite Granolah using all of his strength to put the Dragon Ball villain down. His appearance, however, has changed again, as he is quickly burning his own life force to become even stronger. The villain looks and acts like a zombie, with no concern for his body or wellbeing, hitting himself with his own energy blasts or ignoring the fact that one of his arms is almost ripped off. Seeing this, Vegeta comments that it looks like a curse, and Gas is "cursed to be the universe's strongest". Shortly after, Gas learns that making him so powerful means that his life is running out, and he will die soon.
Gas' gruesome fate is used in the manga to highlight how little Elec cares for his brother and that great power never comes for free. Elec's wish had a price to pay, even if Gas did not realize it until this chapter, when he looks in the mirror and sees his monstrous appearance. However, Vegeta's comment could also have a deeper meaning. Just like Gas is consumed by his desire to become the strongest, and forced to fight even while his body falls to pieces and his life runs out, so the heroes of the series, including Goku and Vegeta, have forced themselves to fight countless battles. In theory, they fight to protect Earth and the Universe, however the series established many times that Goku and the other Saiyan are obsessed with battle and strength. The stronger they become, the stronger are the enemies and dangers they attract.
The "heroes" of the series are trapped in an endless cycle of fighting, training to get stronger, then fighting again, unable to live a peaceful life even if they had a chance to do so. By showing the sad destiny of Gas, the manga delivered a powerful metaphor of the dark side of battle shonen manga, including Dragon Ball itself.