Ahead of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, Goku could master Ultra Instinct off-screen. Currently the most powerful state in the anime, Ultra Instinct has been accessed a total of three times by Goku. However, only once has he managed to make use of the complete version of the form.
Though this wasn’t made clear at the time, it’s known now that Goku completing Ultra Instinct isn’t the same as mastering it. During his first fight with Jiren and his showdown with Kefla, he was only able to access a portion of the power. It wasn’t until the final minutes of the Tournament of Power that he finally completed it, as indicated by his hair turning silver. When utilizing this state, he was so powerful that even Jiren was no match for him. Later, Goku briefly tried to use Ultra Instinct against the Legendary Super Saiyan in Dragon Ball Super: Broly, but it didn’t work. His failure to access it in the movie revealed that Goku still hasn’t progressed to a level where he can use Ultra Instinct at will.
While some may expect Goku to attain this goal in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, the movie may actually skip that moment. First of all, the show’s manga continuation has already covered it. The Saiyan developed full control over Ultra Instinct during the conflict with Moro, which took place within the same year as the Tournament of Power. The manga is typically counted as canon, but even if the movie decides to retcon it, he should still have mastered it by this point regardless. The artwork for Super Hero showed Pan in a Kindergarten uniform, which means that three or four years will have gone by before the Z-Warriors return to the big screen in Super Hero.
With a few years to train, Goku should have more than enough time to learn the ins-and-outs of the new ability he picked up in the Tournament of Power. It seemed that not much time at all had passed between Dragon Ball Super’s ending and the first movie, so it makes sense that he just hadn’t grown accustomed to how it works yet when he was fighting Broly. Things should be different in Super Hero though, assuming that Goku is still getting chances to train with Whis and Vegeta on Beerus’ planet.
If so, Goku may comfortably use Ultra Instinct on command in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, which is actually a good thing for the story. Goku already spent a few episodes getting adjusted to it, so it doesn’t seem necessary for the anime to devote even more screen-time to that. Also, going in this direction would let the movie focus less on a preestablished ability and more on new ideas and whatever the next step is in Goku’s journey. While it may be too soon for Goku to get another transformation, he could at least begin working towards the next level.