Dragon Ball is widely seen as Goku’s journey from childhood to the later years of his life, but there’s no denying the colossal outpour of support that was shown after the first appearance of Future Trunks.
Even though Future Trunks amounts to a supporting character at best that enters the scene and then exits once he’s served his purpose, it’s incredible to see how popular the character has become.
Future Trunks has the perfect combination of the best traits from both Goku and Vegeta, but on top of that, he battles with an impressive sword, too.
Because of this, when Dragon Ball Super was first announced, fans were hoping that this official Dragon Ball continuation would also somehow extend the story of Future Trunks in some way.
Trunk's younger present timeline counterpart has also made quite the strong impression on viewers.
He might not have the same swagger as his time travelling older version, but he makes a strong case for how children can be just as powerful as adults in the series. Not to mention, the older version of Trunks is one of the few brighter spots in Dragon Ball GT.
Fans know that Trunks can wield a sword and has very anime-friendly hair, but there’s much more to the character than what most people assume.
The fighter has quite the complex set of strengths and disadvantages in battle,
Accordingly, here are the 19 Powers Only True Dragon Ball Fans Know Trunks Has (And 7 Weaknesses)!
Power: President Of Capsule Corporation
Dragon Ball GT makes some questionable choices about the future of some of the series’ most beloved characters. However, what's exciting about the series is that it also gets to show an older version of the cast.
There are some interesting revelations about this older take of Trunks, for instance.
In Dragon Ball GT, Trunks is the current president of the Capsule Corporation.
This may not seem like that big a deal, but it’s essentially the biggest and most revered company in the Dragon Ball universe.
This means that it provides Trunks with a lot of wealth and power, and it’s even the reason why he’s able to go on such a lavish adventure in the series.
Power: Advanced Fusion Skills
Many characters throughout the various Dragon Ball properties have proven themselves to be receptive candidates for the technique of fusion.
What at one point was an extremely niche ability or a last ditch effort has slowly become a more popular, flashy trend in the series.
Plenty of characters have experienced this powerful transformation, but few have such a knack for it as both the present and future versions of Trunks.
Not only does Trunks know the fusion dance and is capable of handling the important Potara earrings, but in various video games, he’s also able to perform EX Fusions and the impressive five-way Ultra Fusion, too.
Weakness: Emotional Attachments
This entry is a bit of a double-edged sword because, while emotional attachments can be a disadvantage in battle, they’re also the very things that humanize characters.
It’s pointless to be the strongest character if you don’t have anyone with you to share that victory with.
There’s a middle ground to be found here - emotional attachments are important, but not to the point that they’re putting others in danger during a fight.
However, most of this goes over Future Trunks' head.
Future Trunks exhibits strong emotional attachments to Future Gohan, Future Mai, and his family in general, all of which hold him back in certain way, as he often blindly rushes into battle to help them.
Power: Defending The Earth From Future Frieza Force
One of the most creative aspects of the MMO title, Dragon Ball Online, is that it’s set nearly 100 years after the latest events of the Dragon Ball series.
It’s a great way to have fun with the rich universe while also distancing the game far enough from the source material’s canon.
In Dragon Ball Online’s distant future, there are still remnants of the Frieza Force out there that are determined to take over and exact vengeance on Earth.
During one attack, it’s none other than Trunks and his Sword School that help defend Earth from this invasion.
Clearly Trunks takes it a little personally when it comes to all things Frieza.
Power: Knowing The Hypnotic Para Para Boogie
The tone of Dragon Ball GT harkens back a lot more to the light-hearted antics of the original Dragon Ball than it does its action-heavy sequel series.
Much like the series’ title advertises, this “Grand Tour” features plenty of comedic planets and pit stops along the heroes’ quest for Dragon Balls.
One of the more ridiculous quests that Trunks, Goku, and company find themselves on involves the rhythm happy Para Para Brothers.
The Para Para gang perform a series of dance moves that hypnotize their audience and make them easy to manipulate.
As a defense tactic, Trunks (as well as Pan and Goku) pick up the steps along the way, too.
Weakness: Being Gullible
There’s no question that Future Trunks is one of the coolest characters to come out of the Dragon Ball universe. Not only does the character have an awesome design, but he also makes a memorable first appearance and continually gets to flaunt his cool weapon and supreme skills.
However, while Future Trunks may looks ultra slick, he has some serious problems when it comes to trusting people.
Dragon Ball Heroes’ “Prison Planet Saga” revolves entirely around Future Trunks getting kidnapped due to his gullible nature.
No one would be in this mess if not for him. He's also made many other mistakes, such as confusing Goku with Goku Black in Dragon Ball Super, which proved his gullibility.
Power: Extinguishing The Neo Ginyu Force
It’s exciting to live in a time where there is actually an excess of original Dragon Ball content. A few years back when this wasn’t the case, Dragon Ball video games had to get a little more creative when it came to their original stories.
The result saw many games like Dragon Ball Xenoverse turn into extravagant “What If?” scenarios that featured fan-favorite heroes and villains alike.
One such situation saw a rejuvenated version of the Ginyu Force, with Nappa as their leader, escape the afterlife and try to wreak havoc.
However, Trunks (with some help along the way) is the one who can handle the surprise attack.
Power: Extreme Survival Skills
This may seem a tad bit redundant, but Future Trunks either has some extreme survival skills, the best luck in the Dragon Ball universe, or some combination of the two.
In some ways, he could be considered Dragon Ball’s cockroach of sorts, since he is always able to survive a disaster.
Future Trunks comes from a fractured, decimated timeline where there are not only barely any survivors, but most of the Earth’s strongest fighters - like Goku - are no more.
That being said, Trunks survives the Androids' landing and manages to live when they devastate his timeline.
He also survives again when Goku Black does the same thing years later.
Weakness: A Fear Of Dogs
When vengeful Gods of Destruction and trigger-happy alien tyrants are out there causing problems, it’s hard to look at something like a dog as a major obstacle, but everybody has their quirks.
Granted, Trunks has faced up against some terrifying threats and has thus seen his life in utter danger, but in spite of that, dogs are a big phobia for the hero.
The first real evidence of this occurs in the 11th Dragon Ball Z movie, Bio-Broly, where both Trunks and Goten find themselves up against a mutated canine that’s particularly rabid.
This fear may not seem like a big deal, but it’s possible that this aversion could become a greater disadvantage depending on Trunks’ opponent.
Power: Good Machine Mutant Candidate
When the Androids hit the scene in Dragon Ball Z, many viewers pointed out the glaring similarities between this arc and the movie The Terminator.
While there are plenty of similarities between the two, Dragon Ball GT leans into the Terminator analogy even harder.
Dragon Ball GT throws many interesting characters at Trunks and company, but Dr. Myuu is a particular pain.
He commands an army of machine mutants that are basically robot-like organisms. These mutants can transform into whatever shape they like.
Myuu views Trunks as an ideal machine mutant candidate and attempts to poach his body, choosing it over Goku’s, which is significant.
Power: Advanced Swordsmanship Skills
It takes a lot more than speed and a cool appearance to be able to handle a sword, and even though Future Trunks’ weapon of choice perfectly fits him, that doesn’t mean that he hasn’t put in the proper amount of effort.
Some characters have fancy weapons that look cool but are never put to use, but Future Trunks constantly uses his sword in battle.
Trunks’ true skill with his weapon become clear in Dragon Ball Online, where it’s revealed that Trunks goes on to open up a swordsmanship school with Goten, called the Kikoukenjutsu Sword School.
For what it’s worth, Krillin and Tien also establish schools as well.
Weakness: Being Prone To Infection
Dragon Ball is a series that keeps its allegiances in a constant grey area. It’s surprising to see how many of Goku’s allies originally started as enemies who wanted to destroy the world.
Piccolo, Vegeta, and even Krillin and Beerus to some degree started off as antagonists. Now, even Frieza fights alongside the good guys.
However, perhaps the opposite can happen too. In fact, Trunks has found himself squaring off against his friends a number of times because of his weak defences.
Trunks becomes possessed and infected by Baby's Tuffle Parasite and Demigra's Dark Magic in Xenoverse, too.
There are a lot of instances where he’s susceptible to being taken over.
Power: Many Varied Schools Of Training
There are plenty of characters from Dragon Ball who just want to be strong, but it takes a special fighter who wants knowledge.
It’s one thing to train on your own, and some characters have made tremendous progress that way in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
However, sometimes what’s really important is the person who's training the individual and the styles that can be picked up from them.
Future Trunks lucky since he was trained by many different pros, such as Future Gohan, Vegeta, and even the Supreme Kai.
Not only does he adopt their various approaches, but he also has abilities that come from each of specific abilities, like Gohan’s Masenko and Vegeta’s Galick Gun.
Power: Being Member Of The Time Patrol
Whether he likes it or not, time travel sort of becomes Future Trunks’ shtick after he pulls off the maneuver multiple times to save the heroes.
Though Trunks’ time travel missions are highly frowned upon, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s become a bit of an expert on the topic.
He’s even able to debate the science of it with Beerus and come out correct.
Future Trunks’ skills eventually land him on the prestigious Time Patrol in Dragon Ball Heroes, which gets develop further in Xenoverse where he adopts the moniker, Trunks: Xeno, and works as the assistant for Chronoa, the Supreme Kai of Time.
Power: Sword Regeneration
There are plenty of aspects of the Dragon Ball series that don’t make sense, like how dinosaurs are still alive.
However, in spite of all of the series’ weirdness, one of the stranger things to happen in Dragon Ball Super is when Future Trunks inexplicably wills his broken sword to repair itself.
Somehow, perhaps through the sheer will of being on a roll at the moment, Future Trunks can regenerate his shattered sword after he goes all berserker and accesses his Anger Super Saiyan form.
This is more so an indication of how powerful he’s become, but there’s still no reason why he couldn’t use this quasi-alchemy to a more important effect in the future.
Weakness: Imperfect Fusions
The fusion process may be one of Trunks’ assets in battle, but that doesn’t mean that certain aspects of it also can’t be one of his greatest weaknesses, too.
Though Trunks has become good at fusing, something like combining two people into one is highly temperamental and there’s a lot that can go wrong.
A successful Gotenks fusion is likely to wipe the floor with any enemy, but what about if things don’t go according to plan?
During Trunks and Goten’s learning curve with the fusion dance, both a Skinny and Fat version of Gotenks occur before Trunks can master the concept.
They’re real sights, but not big helps.
Power: Super Saiyan 3
The Super Saiyan tradition started as an extremely rare honor that was reserved for only the most dedicated of characters.
In recent years, the power up has not only become super popular, but it feels like every Saiyan gets the chance to experience it now.
While the form’s base level has become commonplace, the longhaired Super Saiyan 3 remains a rarity amongst the Saiyan race. Everyone is aware of Goku’s ability to hit this stage, but most don’t know that Future Trunks also gets there.
Time Patrol Future Trunks reaches Super Saiyan 3 in Dragon Ball Heroes, which is rather intimidating, but he also gains the ability to hit Super Saiyan Blue in Dragon Ball Fusions.
Power: Time Travel And Altering The Flow Of Time
It’s one thing to offhandedly travel through time and be completely useless in the process, but it’s even worse when those who travel through time actually cause more damage due to the fickle ripple of how time operates.
This understandably makes time travel quite the risky mission, but Future Trunks is someone who cannot only handle such a stressful challenge, but can actually make the world better in the process, too.
Future Trunks is able to impressively crack the code behind time travel itself, but he also uses these skills to help prevent two separate apocalypses.
He’s the only non-god character who’s able to do such a thing.
Power: Super Saiyan Anger
The Goku Black and Zamasu arc is the most satisfying saga from Dragon Ball Super’s run for many fans.
It may contain plenty of twists and many satisfying battles, but it also positions Future Trunks as its de facto leader and even gives him the fancy new transformation that helps save the day.
Sure, Goku and Vegeta resort to Vegito to keep Fused Zamasu at bay, but Future Trunks’ new tricks are arguably even more exciting.
After Future Trunks gets pushed to the extreme limit, he unlocks the rage-fueled Super Saiyan Anger level.
It’s basically his own Super Saiyan Blue equivalent (complete with blue aura) that doesn’t undermine Goku and Vegeta’s hard work in the process.
Weakness: Spending time with His "Present Self" & creating Time Paradoxes
Future Trunks holds the honor of being one of the few characters within Dragon Ball who is able to travel through time. Most of the characters that bypass the rules of time and space are god-tier entities that know what they’re doing.
Future Trunks is considerably more mortal and therefore his time travel is frowned upon.
Not only does it give Trunks unwanted attention, but it also invites the risk of time paradoxes.
Furthermore, Future Trunks spends a lot of time with his present timeline counterpart, which seems like a major conflict of interest.
No one else disrespects timelines in such a way and who knows how it could backfire on him later on.