‘Dragon Ball Super’ Teases Whether Gohan Could Really Beat Goku

The latest chapter of the Dragon Ball Super manga actually gave Gohan something he severely lacked in the anime: a major spotlight in the Tournament of Power. Gohan stepped up to battle the fused female Saiyan warrior Kefla, and that battle revealed some very interesting new elements of Gohan’s character into Dragon Ball canon.

During his fight with Kefla, Gohan unveiled a new kind of power-up that makes him as powerful as a Super Saiyan, without having to actually make the transformation out his base form. According to Gohan, that power is a result of him embracing his human side over his Saiyan side, and after seeing how powerful that Saiyan-human hybrid is, Krillin had to ask the question we were all wondering:

“Whoa… talk about innate talent… makes you wonder if he could get stronger than Goku if he quit his day job and devoted himself to training!!“

The suggestion of quitting day jobs is immediately shut down by Android 18, but Krillin’s question is one that will be hanging around Dragon Ball Super discussion threads for the foreseeable future, now that the manga has made Gohan’s new power a more legitimate development than what the anime presented.

Indeed, the question of how Gohan’s Saiyan-human power potential compares to Goku, is one that goes back all the way to the beginning of Dragon Ball Z. That series largely centred around the question of Gohan and his hidden power; it developed slowly during the Vegeta and Freeza sagas, before becoming a central focus of the Cell Saga, and a pivotal (if not wasted) element of the Majin Buu saga. There’s been a lot of fan criticism over the fact that the evolution of Gohan’s power was largely ignored in the Dragon Ball Super anime, so the manga is tapping into a story vein that a lot of fans want to see flowing again.

As for the question itself: Gohan’s relationship to Goku’s power has always been a lot like Vegeta and Goku power race: Goku pushes himself to new limits and transformations first, but when Gohan (or Vegeta) reach the same type of form, they typically have much greater power than Goku initially did. What makes Gohan especially unique is his ability to evolve his powers suddenly and exponentially – such as making the first unprecedented jump to Super Saiyan 2 while battling Cell, or having his hidden power unlocked by Old Kai in order to battle Buu. When combining the manga and the anime versions of the ToP, it’s clear that Gohan is depicted defeating Kefla using “human power” in his base form – a feat that Goku had to use several Super Saiyan forms and an Ultra Instinct manifestation to accomplish.

Do you think the manga is setting the stage for Goku and Gohan to one day have to see which of them is the most powerful of all? Who do you think would win in that fight? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Dragon Ball Super: Broly will hit Japanese theaters in December, and is expected to arrive in the U.S. around mid-January 2019. Dragon Ball Super is currently airing 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 Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on Funimation, VRV, and Crunchyroll.