Dragon Ball Super: Broly has quickly become less of standalone feature from the Dragon Ball Super universe, and more of a massive franchise clean-up job, tasked with slimming Dragon Ball‘s sprawling mythos down into a much more streamlined canon. Part of that task is going to involve reframing the entire backstory of Goku, the Saiyan race, and their homeworld Planet Vegeta – and there’s been growing evidence that retcon will include a major figure from Dragon Ball lore: Bardock, Goku’s father!
As you can see in the theory above, Dragon Ball Super fans haven’t just been piecing together clues from Dragon Ball Super: Broly footage or promos – they’ve been looking at all of the film’s corresponding tie-in merchandise and events, and have cleaned some considerable clues as to what may be revealed in Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
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In the case of this Bardock theory, fans point to the fact that Toei Animation and Fathom Events seem to have picked some very specific Dragon Ball movie re-releases as a lead in to Dragon Ball Super: Broly‘s premiere – two theatrical re-releases, and the re-airing of a Dragon Ball TV movie. Here are the three projects in question:
- Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku (TV Special)
- Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan
- Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn
As stated, the connection these three films have with Dragon Ball Super: Broly isn’t random or arbitrary: each of these movies provides insight into the (non-canon) backstories of characters either confirmed or rumored to have a major role in DBS:B. The Legendary Super Saiyan will give fans the chance to see the original story of Broly, before getting this new, retconned canon version. There’s also been a steadily growing pile of evidence that DBS:B’s finale could see Goku and Vegeta fusing into Gogeta, in order to battle Broly: Gogeta was the highlight of Fusion Reborn. That leaves Father of Goku, which would give fans a chance to see the original backstory of Goku’s father and Planet Vegeta – presumably before they also get a new, retconned version of that story as well, during DBS:B.
This latest hint of Bardock appearing in the film connects back to another fan theory that has growing evidence behind it: that Dragon Ball Super: Broly will be making Goku and Bardock’s origin story from the Dragon Ball Minus manga part of official canon. Minus changed Goku’s backstory to make him a young child (instead of a baby) when he was sent off from Planet Vegeta to Earth, and actually knew both his father, Bardock, and his mother Gine. The reason for Bardock and Gine sending Goku away is that they knew Planet Vegetas’ destruction was imminent. The other side of the story involves Freeza, who gets retconned into destroying Planet Vegeta based on his scientist Kikono’s warning, about how the limitless emotion of Saiyan pride might one day unlock powers like the Super Saiyan, or Super Saiyan God. Kikono is already confirmed to be in Dragon Ball Super: Broly, adding yet another significant piece to this puzzle.
All of these elements touched upon in Dragon Ball Minus seem to be necessary key elements that Dragon Ball Super: Broly is spinning into the new franchise canon. Do you see the connections? Let us know your thoughts and theories 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. ET. 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.
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