Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, the latest installment in the Dragon Ball franchise, organically fixes some old Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super mistakes. The first Dragon Ball movie to be made mainly with CG animation, Super Hero is set in the Dragon Ball Super timeline, and it takes place a few months after Dragon Ball Super: Broly. Unlike a significant portion of the Dragon Ball movies, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is a canon adventure that is already having major implications for the saga.
After previous Dragon Ball Super movies saw the Z warriors facing gods and mysterious Saiyans, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero went back to basics and feature the Red Ribbon Army – a group of villains that has been causing trouble for Goku ever since Dragon Ball. Working with the Red Ribbon Army is Dr. Hero, Dr. Gero’s grandson, who believes he is creating the next generation of superheroes with the androids Gamma 1 and Gamma 2. Given it contains so many callbacks to Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero feels very familiar – but it also adds a lot to the Dragon Ball Super story.
With Goku and Vegeta training with Broly on Beerus’ planet and thus out of the picture, it was up to Gohan and Piccolo to protect Earth. By focusing on different characters other than Goku and Vegeta, Super Hero managed to correct some long-lasting mistakes that originated in Dragon Ball Z. From Dragon Ball Super canon inconsistencies like Trunks and Goten’s age to Gohan’s character arc, here’s how Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero improves Dragon Ball.
Goten & Trunks Have Finally Grow Up (And It Made Sense!)
The non-canon Dragon Ball GT took place around 12 years after Pan was born, and it featured adult versions of Goten and Trunks. Dragon Ball Super, on the other hand, picked up right where Dragon Ball Z’s Majin Buu Saga ended – which means Gohan and Trunks were still kids. However, Dragon Ball Z’s Peaceful World Saga, which took place a few years after the Majin Buu Saga and is considered canon, featured a toddler Pan and teenager versions of Goku and Trunks. Dragon Ball Super is supposed to take place before the Peaceful World Saga, but considering that the show was already featuring a toddler Pan, then Gohan and Trunks should have been teenagers by now. Having Pan already being born while Gohan and Trunks still looked exactly like they did in the Majin Buu Saga was a significant inconsistency that was becoming worse by each arc, and it seemed like Dragon Ball Super would have to retcon the end of Dragon Ball Z.
Fortunately, not only does Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero fixes that problem, but it also avoids a Dragon Ball Z retcon. Pan is still a toddler in Super Hero, although she is now closer to her Peaceful World Saga age, and Gohan and Trunks are now teenagers. To explain Gohan and Trunks’ abrupt aging, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero established that Saiyans stay young for a long time, then hit a sudden grown spurt. While that detail on Saiyans’ physiology had never been brought up until Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, it makes a lot of sense considering how fast Goku aged in the final episodes of the original Dragon Ball series.
Super Hero Makes Piccolo Relevant Again
Piccolo has been one of the pillars of Dragon Ball ever since the original series, but after Dragon Ball Z’s Cell Saga, the character seems to have become an afterthought. Piccolo did not have a significant role in the Majin Buu Saga other than briefly training Goten and Trunks, followed by having no role at all in most of Dragon Ball GT. Dragon Ball Super offered the opportunity to fix the Dragon Ball GT mistakes and bring the Z warriors back into the spotlight, but Piccolo remained behind names like Goku and Vegeta in terms of character development and strength. Dragon Ball Super’s Piccolo was stronger than he was in Dragon Ball Z, but he never received any significant power upgrade as the Saiyans did. An argument can be made that Dragon Ball Super Piccolo was as strong as Super Saiyan 3 Goku, but Goku and Vegeta were now far beyond that level.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero fixes the Piccolo problem, both by increasing Piccolo’s powers with a new transformation and by making him the main character again. Super Hero is a Piccolo and Gohan movie, with Piccolo receiving more screen time than any of the Saiyans. Piccolo’s comedic side, his affection towards Gohan, and his warrior spirit were all remembered in Super Hero in a way that had not been done for a while. In terms of the power scale, Super Hero gives Piccolo a new transformation, Orange Piccolo, that makes Piccolo almost as strong as Goku.
Super Hero Fixes Dragon Ball Z & Dragon Ball Super’s Gohan Crime
How Dragon Ball Z’s Majin Buu Saga and later Dragon Ball Super treated Gohan is the most significant example of a wasted Dragon Ball character arc. Gohan had been set up to become incredibly powerful and a lead character ever since Dragon Ball Z’s first episode, a journey that culminated in Gohan becoming the first Saiyan to achieve Super Saiyan 2 and destroying Cell at the end of the Cell Games. With Goku dead and Gohan being the strongest warrior on the planet after the Cell Saga, Dragon Ball Z was ready for Gohan to become the new protagonist – which ended up not happening. Akira Toriyama confirmed that the plan was for Gohan to become Dragon Ball Z’s new main character after the Cell Saga, but he eventually changed his mind and decide to bring Goku back. Therefore, Gohan’s power level had to be significantly downplayed during the Majin Buu Saga so that Goku could once again be the hero who saves the day. That problem was carried onto Dragon Ball Super, and while Gohan continued to get stronger, he never reclaimed his true potential.
Surprisingly, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero acknowledged the Gohan problem. In fact, Super Hero’s entire story was about how Gohan was wasting his potential. With the Red Ribbon Army returning and a descendant of Dr. Gero working on new androids, including a new Cell, Gohan had to step up to protect Pan and the entire world. Gohan’s fight against Cell Max in Super Hero was nowhere near as impactful as his fight against the original Cell, but it was enough to give Gohan a new transformation. Thanks to the Beast Gohan form, it seems like Gohan has finally caught up with Goku once again.
Super Hero Does Vegeta Justice (Without Retconning Dragon Ball’s Power Scale)
While Goku and Vegeta’s rivalry will go on forever, having Vegeta, the proud Saiyan prince, constantly lose to Goku was a disservice to the character. Vegeta was occasionally stronger than Goku during a couple of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super arcs, but still, Vegeta had never properly beat Goku in a fair and square fight. Vegeta feeling that he is behind Goku and that he always has to get better is part of the character, but after so much time, Vegeta deserved a clean win against Goku. Now, Vegeta finally beat Goku in the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero post-credits scene. Given how the Goku vs. Vegeta fight in Super Hero was fought without either of them using Ki or any transformation, the fact that Vegeta beat Goku does not change Dragon Ball Super’s power scale. In other words, Goku remains stronger than Vegeta despite the latter having won the fight.