It’s hard to believe Dragon Ball began as a light parody of Journey to the West. It didn’t take long for toriyama to adopt the martial arts motif head on and drop the homage, but it did take considerably longer for him to drop the comedy altogether. The series was already dark by the King Piccolo arc, but it wouldn’t be until the start of the Freeza fight where Toriyama would drop all pretenses of comedy and tell a straight drama (until Mr. Satan’s introduction, that is.) GT and Super both followed the same trend, starting light and ending dark, but neither quite lived up to the darkness found in the original series. At least, not overtly.
For as lighthearted and whimsical as Dragon Ball Super can be at times, it actually has quite fair share of disturbing elements. Starting the with the Goku Black arc, but certainly not distracting the unnerving moments that came before it, Super adopted darkness head on. Zamasu was easily one of the most complex and, ironically, human villains in the entire franchise, and the Tournament of Power’s very concept involved universal genocide. Super may not be the most graceful series, but it can be downright unsettling.
25 Jiren Could Have Easily Swept The Tournament Of Power
Even though Jiren is so much stronger than everyone else in the Tournament of Power, he’s only managed to eliminate two people during its entire run. Uninterested and largely apathetic towards the whole affair, Jiren has mostly sat back and meditated. Instead of seeking out the action, he keeps to himself, allowing his fellow Pride Troopers to try their hand at survival. While he does answer the call when challenged by the likes of Goku, Hit, and Vegeta, Jiren clearly doesn’t care to fight and mostly just wants to take his guaranteed win and go home.
It’s actually quite fortunate for our heroes. If Jiren wanted to, he could have ended the ToP in its first few minutes. Just look at his initial match with Goku. Even with Ultra Instinct, Goku is knocked back by Jiren and nearly knocked out by Jiren. In a world where Jiren actually cared about eliminations, he could have easily finished Goku off for good, securing a definitive win for U11.
24 Goku Risks His Life Every Time He Interacts With Zeno
As cute as Goku’s relationship with Zeno is, their dynamic isn’t the wholesome affair fans make it out to be. They’re playful and Zeno clearly respects Goku quite a bit, but Zeno is also capable of erasing Goku at a moment’s notice. While Zeno likes his pal, he doesn’t so much as break a sweat when he thinks Goku dies during his fight with Jiren. To Zeno, Goku is just a toy. He’s cool and shiny, but he’s a temporary plaything until he finds something better.
To Zeno, Goku is just a toy.
Goku might laugh Beerus off when he’s warned about Zeno’s temperament, but Beerus clearly has a point. Goku isn’t a polite person and he isn’t formal. It’s why Zeno likes him, but one wrong word and Goku’s going to be poofed out of existence. Every joke, every laugh, is a risk taken. Beerus comes off like an overly strict father, but sometimes we need parents to keep us from getting erased by God.
23 Getting Erased Is Worse Than Dying
Death in Dragon Ball can be quite pleasant if you play your cards right. Sure, you need to be Goku levels of extraordinary to keep your body, but otherwise you’re just a soul who gets to be reincarnated. That’s if you die, though. What happens if you get erased? Well, nothing. Nothing happens at all. You fade out of existence and your consciousness simply ceases to be. You don’t get to keep your body nor do you fall into the cycle of reincarnation. It isn’t a case of your life coming to an end, either. You didn’t die, you simply don’t exist anymore. You have no connection to your past lives because your life is forfeit in the most absolute degree.
You become nothing. You are nothing.
22 Universe 6 Beat Universe 7 Fair And Square
For as casual as the Universe 6 Tournament was, there were legitimate drawbacks to Champa winning. While Beerus used his wish for his brother’s sake, Champa intended to relocate Universe 7’s Earth to U6. This is entirely inconsequential in the context of this arc, but it would completely change how the Tournament of Power played out, giving Champa access to Goku and Vegeta for his team. Universe 7 won eliminating the possibility of said scenario, but Universe 6 was the actual victor considering Goku’s forfeit.
Had Goku rubbed Hit the wrong way, Monaka would have been easily defeated
The only reason U7 wins is because of Hit’s respect towards Goku. Monaka could not have beaten him, but Hit found a kindred spirit in the Saiyan and allowed Monaka to win. Had Goku rubbed Hit the wrong way, Monaka would have been easily defeated, securing a victory for Champa. Goku and co. would be fine going into the Universe Survival arc, but Beerus would barely be able to scrounge together a team, cementing his early erasure.
21 Goku Promised To Revive Freeza
Freeza’s such a wacky guy in the Tournament of Power, isn’t he? He does his trademark plan, tortures the opposition, and even teams up with his beloved Saiyans to take out mutual foes. If you didn’t know better, you’d think he was a genuine member of the team who just so happens to have a chip on his shoulder. Thankfully, you know better. Right? While Freeza’s certainly a charming young man, and a hoot to watch, do remember he’s only playing along because Goku promised to revive him after the tournament’s end.
Such a promise might not seem like much at first glance considering how easily Goku can subdue Freeza now, especially with Ultra Instinct, but who’s to say Freeza would even stir trouble initially? This is a monster who’s spent years in Hell meditating to get stronger. If he wanted to, he could train non-stop for a year and potentially surpass even Ultra Instinct. Keeping such a natural talent alive can only lead to trouble down the road.
20 Bulma Was Taken By Her Best Friend
If there’s one person who’s had a worse life than Future Trunks, it’s his mother. Future Bulma’s suffering knows no bounds. She loses her best friend to a heart virus, her husband before they can ever reconcile their relationship, and every other person she’s ever known. After her son miraculously manages to save their timeline, she meets a very frustrating end where Zamasu, in the body of Goku, murders Bulma. The last thing she ever sees is the face of her first, and best, friend strangling the life out of her, all the while completely unaware of why he would ever do this. It’s a deeply morbid death that conceptually hits harder than any other death in the series.
19 Zeno Makes All The Rules
You know what’s scarier than Goku’s casual interactions with Zeno? Zero’s total authority over the way the multiverse works. Given his status as the Omni King, Zeno is in charge of every rule that governs the known universe. As we’ve learned from the Tournament of Power, Zeno doesn’t mind throwing out the rules so long as he’s entertained. Time and time again, he allows competitors to break the rules in his pursuit of endless amusement.
Who’s to say that stops with the Tournament of Power? If Zeno wanted to, why couldn’t he turn off gravity? Or rework the entire afterlife? Putting Zeno in charge is the economic equivalent of letting a toddler govern your country. Cute, yes, but sooner or later you’re going to war in the name of apple sauce’s superiority over all lunchtime snacks.
18 The Potara Retcon Has Unfortunate Implications
Vegetto’s fight with Buuhan at the end of the Buu saga is one of the most cathartic moments in the entire series. After wiping out the Earth and defeating every single hero left alive, Goku and Vegeta finally fuse and deliver an immensely satisfying beatdown on the Djinn. Intentionally stalling the fight so they can be absorbed by Buu and save their sons, Vegetto defuses back into Goku and Vegeta due to “bad air,” and the two move on vowing to never fuse again.
Just another second of stalling and Buu could have easily absorbed both Goku and Vegeta
With Super’s reveal that non-Kais can only stay fused for an hour, Vegetto’s triumph takes on some less than savory elements. He didn’t defuse because of “bad air,” he defused because he ran out of time. He also ran out of time as soon as he was absorbed, which means just another second of stalling and Buu could have easily absorbed both Goku and Vegeta, solidifying his complete domination of the universe.
17 Beerus Was Actually Going To Destroy Goku
At the start of the Universe Survival arc, Goku gets the brilliant idea to visit the Zenos and ask them to finally put on the multiversal tournament he was promise all the way back at the end of the Universe 6 Tournament. Beerus, utterly, rightfully terrified of Goku’s interactions with Zeno, begs him not to go. When Goku starts to make his intentions clear that he will, indeed, be going, Beerus threatens him with a Hakai, total destruction. In one moment, Beerus was more than willing to erase Goku from existence if it meant preventing him from interacting with Zeno. Given Whis’ ability to rewind time, who’s to say Beerus didn’t actually go through it?
16 Every Character From The Original Series Has Died At Least Once
At the end of Dragon Ball Z, there are only a handful of main characters who haven’t died: Mr. Satan, Fat Buu, Pan, and Uub. Come Resurrection F, however, and they’ve finally joined the wonderful roster of the deceased. While Whis does rewind time, effectively erasing their deaths from history, all those characters, along with everyone else on Earth, die when Freeza blows up the planet. It’s a rather jarring turn, especially in the anime where we get to see everyone die. As unsettling as it is watching a cast of characters that should all be dead, Dragon Ball was going to need to kill everyone off sooner or later to hype up a villain.
15 Trunks Wasn’t Strong Enough To Protect His Own Timeline
Future Trunks is one of the few characters in Dragon Ball who manages to bring with him a central theme to every arc he participates in. Representative of the optimism we should all strive to have, the knowledge that any obstacle can be overcome, Trunks is a living embodiment of hope. In the face of a seemingly impossible situation, Trunks goes back in time and finds a way to save multiple timelines. When he returns in Super, it’s easy to expect him to do it all over again which makes his inevitable failure all the more painful.
Even though Trunks represents hope, his future in Dragon Ball Super is hopeless. Mankind is virtually extinct by the time he recruits Goku’s help so, even if they did win, the timeline would still be left in a terrible situation. None of that matters, of course, because Goku and Trunks don’t save the day. Trunks’ timeline is erased and Zamasu gets what he always wanted.
14 Toppo Almost Destroyed Innocent People
For all his talk of justice, Toppo was became pretty comfortable with collateral damage once he accepted his role as Universe 11’s God of Destruction. Instead of going out of his way to protects others and uphold the laws of the universe, Toppo fires off Hakai after Hakai seemingly at random. When a stray Hakai just barely grazes the spectators, they all let out a sigh of relief as they were in very real danger. Had the Hakai connected, Toppo would have theoretically destroyed every single angel, the remaining Gods of Destruction, and the disqualified fighters.
13 Goku Black Personally Put Chichi And Goten In The Dirt
If you thought Future Bulma’s death was bad, get ready to feel uneasy when you remember that Goku Black murdered both Chichi and Goten. The act itself is uncomfortable enough, but the actual execution is downright evil. On a normal day, as normal as they can get in Dragon Ball, Goku suddenly stops farming and attacks his wife and son out of the blue, the whole time smiling as he ends their lives.
We know, as an audience, this is because Zamasu wished to swap bodies with Goku. Chichi and Goten don’t know that, though. For them, they’re just being attacked by their husband and father respectively. The last image they ever saw was Goku lunging at them, bloodlust in his eyes. Given Zamasu’s desire to wipe out all mortal, it’s also likely he took with him the rest of that timeline’s cast, ensuring no one coming back via the Dragon Balls.
12 Universe 6’s Namekians Merged Together For Nothing
As we learn from Nail when Piccolo arrives on Namek, the Namekian merging technique is a sacred, forbid ritual that assimilates one person into the body of another in order to boost their natural strength. The host body takes on some personality traits from the absorbed being, but those traits slowly fade away over time. Piccolo resembles Nail during the Freeza fight, but his influence is entirely gone by the time the Cell saga rolls around.
None of the absorbed Namekians will be able to come back should the universes be revived
When the Universe 6 Namekians merge with most of their race for the Tournament of Power, all the absorbed Namekians are forfeiting their lives for a brief chance at victory. Despite their sacrifice, Universe 6 still loses. What’s especially sad is that none of the absorbed Namekians will be able to come back should the universes be revived, effectively nullifying the need to merge in the first place.
11 Getting Rid Of A God Of Destruction Is Frighteningly Easy
For as ferociously powerful as the average God of Destruction is, they’re actually scarily simple to get rid of. Every God of Destruction’s life is tied to the Kaioshin of their universe. While the God of Destruction’s death would likely have no bearing on the Kaioshin, (not that it would matter,) a Kaioshin’s death naturally takes their God of Destruction with them. This means, should you so desire to, you can murder a God of Destruction by hunting down their Kaioshin and murdering them. It’s meant to be a contingency plan to keep the GoDs in check, but it’s a rather dumb system considering the average Kaioshin is barely stronger than Cell.
10 Trunks Is Responsible For Zamasu
There’s a good reason Toei calls the Goku Black arc the “Future Trunks arc.” It’s not just because Trunks plays a big role, it’s because Future Trunks is single handedly responsible for making Zamasu the way he is. Zamasu comes to fear and hate what humans are capable of when he sees Goku use God Ki during the Universe 6 Tournament. While this is a scenario isolated entirely around Goku, Zamasu would have never been able to come to hate Goku and later take his body had Trunks let him die as history naturally intended.
In the original, unaltered timeline, Goku would pass away from his heart virus, the Androids would wipe out humanity, and Zamasu would never been in a situation where he’d watch Goku gain God Ki. By not watching Goku’s match against Hit, Zamasu doesn’t decide to wish for a new body. Along with this, there wouldn’t be multiple time rings to give Zamasu the idea to time travel. Our world would be barren, but the multiverse would be safer.
9 Freeza Got His Revenge
There are precisely three villains who succeed in their goals throughout the course of the series: Demon King Piccolo, who regains his youth and takes over the world; Zamasu, who becomes immortal and ruin an entire multiverse; and Freeza, who blows up the Earth in Resurrection F and finally gets his revenge on Goku. After desperately wanting to make Goku suffer before dying at the hands up Trunks during the Cell arc, Freeza finally got a second chance and actually succeeded before Whis rewound time.
Whis bailed Goku out, but Freeza rightfully won.
Without Whis to save the day, Freeza would have won the events of Resurrection F. He’d be responsible for the Earth’s annihilation, stronger than Goku while also aware of his new weakness, and alive to boot. He would have only gotten stronger through training, eventually rebuilding his army and solidifying his place as the universe’s rightful ruler. Whis bailed Goku out, but Freeza rightfully won.
8 Trunks’ Timeline Was Going To Get Erased Anyways
Trunks’ timeline getting wiped out is genuinely one of the darkest moments in the entire franchise, completely eclipsing DBZ’s bad future when it comes to sad outcomes. What makes the erasure even darker, however, is the fact that Zeno was going to erase it sooner or later, anyways. When Goku visits the Zenos at the start of the Universal Survival arc, we see that they’re already erasing planets and discussing wiping out universes. In fact, they had already planned on getting rid of all but four universes.
Trunks would’ve gotten erased anyways had he managed to defeat Zamasu.
While there’s only one Zeno in Trunks’ timeline before its erasure, it does take place in the future so it’s more than likely Zeno and the Grand Priest already had been in talks about trimming the multiversal fat. For Goku’s timeline, he spared everyone the erasure by having the marked universes compete in the Tournament of Power. For Trunks’ timeline, there was no Goku to befriend Zeno, so Trunks would’ve gotten erased anyways had he managed to defeat Zamasu.
7 Beerus Was One Bad Meal Away From Ending The World
Given Beerus’ love of food, especially Earth’s food, it can be deduced that he only humored Vegeta as long as he did because he was enjoying his meals. It’s entirely likely that, had he eaten anything less than desirable, he would have deemed the Earth worthless and gotten rid of it then and there. While this is definitely a point of tension within Battle of Gods, the overall tone of the film is light enough where you never really have to process just how frightening that outcome is.
Goku is not on Earth for a good chunk of Beerus’ stay there, presumably only showing up to check in on the fighting once it starts. Had Beerus eaten a bad dish, though, the fighting never would have started and Goku would have been stranded on Kaio’s planet with no home to go to. On top of that, it just speaks volumes of Beerus’ true nature. While he spared the Earth thanks to Goku, a poor palate was all it would take for him to destroy the planet.
6 Universe 6 Could Have Easily Won The Tournament Of Power
If Universe 11 didn’t have Jiren, Universe 6 would have easily aced the Tournament of Power. Let’s look at the fact, shall we? Hit can skip time to the point where he’d be able to knock off the oppositions before they realize it; Cabba is a naturally gifted Saiyan on the cusp of triggering SSJ2; Frost is a classic trickster; Magetta and Botamo cannot take damage through conventional means; Pirina and Saonel are ridiculously overpowered on account of mass Namekian fusion; Caulifla and Kale can fuse into Kefla, Universe 6’s strongest warrior; and Dr. Rota has the amazing ability to get cut off mid-sentence. Without Jiren to keep everyone in-line, the Tournament of Power would have easily fallen in U6’s favor.
Plus, Champs has a very distracting vuvuzela.
