What Does the Future of 'Dragon Ball' Look Like?

A Much Bigger Battlefield

The end of Dragon Ball Super saw all the universes of the Tournament of Power resurrected by Android 17's Super Dragon Ball wish. Now that the Dragon Ball universes are back (with the Z-Fighters to thank for it), the next anime series will have a much bigger battlefield for Goku and Co. to fight on - one that spans the multiverse, instead of just Universe 7. With more Universes also come the possibility for more timelines and time travel stories - if the creators want to open that bag of worms again.

New Allies

With the Universes all restored, Goku, Vegeta, and the Z-Fighters don't just have new territories to battle in - they have a whole slew of new allies to battle with. Jiren is already poised to be a major addition to the Z-Fighter squad (one who can actually keep up with all the power-ups); a lot of fans are also excited to see Cabba, Kale, Caulifla, and the rest of the Universe 6 Saiyans all return to fight alongside the Z-Fighters, with Hit on the wish-list, as well. If you're a fan who's been worried that many of the Z-Fighters are becoming irrelevant (Yamcha, Krulin, Roshi, Tien, Piccolo...), the next Dragon Ball anime can easily refill the stable with some powerful replacements.

New History

The latest details about the Dragon Ball Super movie have revealed that it will be hopping through different planets, as well as different eras of history. The film is said to be chronicling the history of the Saiyan homeworld Planet Sadala, while possibly introducing us to the very first Super Saiyan God. There are already major hints that the film will bring some substantive reveals about both Goku and Dragon Ball canon - and that new history might reveal or outright change the present and future circumstances of the next series.

Power-Up Progression

When we say "power-up progression," we don't just mean a continuation of the pattern of over-powering characters, like we saw over the course of Dragon Ball Super. What we mean is that the next Dragon Ball series will hopefully lay out some better explanations, rules, and uses for the transformations we saw in the previous series. That includes fleshing out how Goku and Vegeta are now on different paths of power progression; seeing other characters like Gohan, Goten and Trunks properly powered up; as well as seeing how the Tournament of Power has helped fighters from other universes progress (Jiren, The Saiayns, Hit).

Powered Up Villains

It's the law of Dragon Ball that if the heroes get stronger, the next villains have to be even stronger than that! The ending of Dragon Ball Super brought back Freeza for a potential new reign of terror on the universe, and has even given him more universes to conquer, and even a potential partner to fuse with (Frost of Universe 6), to increase his might. And Freeza isn't the only powerful villain out there waiting in the wings:

• The unstoppable evil doer who murdered Jiren's family and friends
• The mysterious champion of another planet Goku will face in the Dragon Ball Super movie.
• New versions of Cell or Buu, this time created from an entire multiverse of powerful fighters.
• And of course, some figures from outside the official canon (Broly!)

Cross-Platform Canon

The simple fact is that, at this point, the Dragon Ball franchise has become as big and globally popular as franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Star Wars Universe. Like with Star Wars, Dragon Ball also comes with a mess of "canon vs. non-canon" character and storyline confusion. Since the franchise has blown up into a global hit now, and Toei has established an entire Dragon Ball creative division, it wouldn't be at all a surprise if fan-favorite stories and characters form the non-canon side of things were officially brought into the fold. That includes villains from the video games and non-canon films (Broly, Android 21), or some of the new Saiyan heroes, like Shallot (and his brother?) from Dragon Ball Legends.

Divine Re-Ordering

The one thing that Dragon Ball fans have been talking about since before the Tournament of Power ended, was how the events of the ToP would affect that universal divine hierarchy. Goku and Jiren showed off power that rivals the gods, angels, and (with Ultra Instinct) even the Grand Priest; it only follows that there would be fallout from mortals getting closer to divine power - much like we saw in the "Future Trunks Saga." Indeed, the first arc of the next Dragon Ball series may almost need to be centered around the divine order of the multiverse, and how Goku has shaken it up.

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What do you think we'll see in the next Dragon Ball series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Dragon Ball Legends is expected to be released sometime this summer. Dragon Ball Supercurrently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m. It is also available to stream on FunimationNOW and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on FunimationNOW, VRV, and Crunchyroll.