Is Dragon Ball Super Setting Up Its Own Cell Saga?

Is Dragon Ball Super setting up its own Cell Saga? It's a question that Dragon Ball fans have been asking ever since Super started revisiting old Dragon Ball Z storylines (Golden Freeza, Future Trunks Saga), but now there's actually some compelling evidence that the series could be headed that way. That's because the new storyline that's now begun in the manga has revealed some surprising twists in its storyline that have striking similarities with Dragon Ball Z's Android and Cell Sagas.

First, just to be clear: we're not talking about Dragon Ball Super bringing back Cell. While DBS has already planted seeds of how Cell could return, the current manga arc is building a similar story about an evil android (and some deadly android minions) that now pose a threat to the entire universe. It's a story in the same vein as the Cell saga, without being a direct sequel to it. Here are some of the interesting early parallels that Dragon Ball Super's new story is drawing with DBZ:

First, Dragon Ball Z introduced its evil androids (and the prophecy of Cell) with the Trunks/Androids Saga - a continuous storyline built directly off the Freeza Saga that proceeded it. Dragon Ball Super's new manga arc is taking a similar angle of approach, by building its storyline off of the events of the previous Moro Arc. That's a rare move for Dragon Ball Super, but it's just the first similarity to note.

Getting a bit more direct and literal, Dragon Ball Super's new arc has quickly revealed itself to be centered around a line of androids being used for evil purposes - and one special power-enhanced android called Seven-Three (OG-073i), who can copy (or "absorb") the abilities of other fighters. Even though Dragon Ball Super handled it differently (Seven-Three was already a supporting villain in the Moro Arc), it's probably the most direct DBZ parallel that Dragon Ball Super has made since the Golden Freeza Arc.

The android threat of Dragon Ball Super's new arc seems like a clear echo of DBZ - and so does the new hero the story introduces. Dragon Ball Super's new manga arc is titled "Granola The Survivor" and it's already introduced the titular Granola in much the same way that Trunk first appeared in the Android Saga. Space raider Granola storms the spaceship of an evildoer, battling the new line of androids the evildoer owns, in order to reach one target Android Seven-Three. That's all we know about the arc so far, but it's enough. Granola seems like a pretty clear parallel to Trunks, in that he's apparently the survivor of some calamity caused by Android Seven-Three.

Unless this first part of the story is filled with red herrings, it seems like Akira Toriyama and Toyotaro have bigger plans for the backstory of Android Seven-Three, and are potentially positioning it as a major bigger threat to the Dragon Ball Super universe. It might be as close as we get to actually getting a Dragon Ball Super Cell Saga.

Dragon Ball Super posts new Manga chapters FREE ONLINE. The anime is still on hiatus.