‘Dragon Ball Super’ Movie Teases Series Future

Dragon Ball fans have been on a roller-coaster ride of emotion lately, ever since it was announced that Dragon Ball Super would go on an indefinite hiatus after the Tournament of Power. In the weeks since that announcement, we’ve gotten a flood of news that has changed the game entirely!

Aside from learning that we’re getting a new Dragon Ball movie in 2018, we learned that the movie would actually be the very first Dragon Ball Super movie, and that it would actually pick up the story from where the DBS anime series left off. Details of the movie’s storyline are now coming to light, and they give a big hint at how Dragon Ball Super will continue after the movie.

The final Tournament of Power spoilers have revealed that the competition will end with drastic surprise: Goku will be knocked out of the ring by a fully-powered Jiren, but Universe 7 won’t be eliminated… yet. Just when all seems lost, Freeza will reveal himself as the final Universe 7 combatant! While we don’t know where the fight goes from there in episode 131, we (and many fans) have long speculated that Freeza could end up making a wish with the Super Dragon Balls – one that could lead right into the events of the Dragon Ball Super movie.

The latest Dragon Ball Super movie details have confirmed that Freeza will be a big part of the film, and that the storyline will involve the history of Freeza and the Saiyans, which has been referenced ever since Dragon Ball Z, but never fully depicted onscreen. All of this is being used to help explain the true source of Goku’s immense power, and set up the series’ newest villain, which could all be setup for the next story arc in Dragon Ball Super.

Check out the tease from Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama:

“The Dragon Ball Super movie this time will be the next story in the series currently airing on TV. It will be an episode after catching our breath from the climax of the Tournament of Power with the universe’s existence on the line; with content that will give a little better understanding about Freeza and the Saiyans, which I hadn’t properly depicted up till now; and leading to a mighty foe saved for the occasion, which I think has it shaping up to be a really enjoyable story.”

So what will the next Dragon Ball Super story arc be about? Well, we’ve already dropped several theories about where Dragon Ball is headed after the Tournament of Power, but the one that seems more and more likely is some sort of “Divine War” story arc, which would see the Tournament of Power and the massive power-ups of Goku and Jiren signaling a massive change to the cosmos. This new villain could easily be the greater cosmic threat that Tournament of Power was meant to prepare for – possibly a villain that ties the histories of the ToP’s final trio (Goku, Jiren, and Freeza) together? That’s all speculation, but it would be an exciting twist to tie a lot of loose threads in the series together.

What do you think? What’s the next Dragon Ball Super story arc going to be about, and how will the movie tie into it? Let us know your best theories in the comments!

Dragon Ball Super airs on Crunchyroll Saturday evenings at 7:15 p.m. CST. Adult Swim airs the English dub during its Toonami block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m, and is now available to stream on FunimationNOW and Amazon Video.