How Does ‘Dragon Ball Super: Broly’ Retcon Gogeta?

Dragon Ball Super: Broly is the franchise’s biggest film release to date, and it’s no doubt a result of the fact that it’s officially bringing a new version of Broly and Gogeta into the series’ lore. But with the new take naturally comes a few changes.

In order to make the formerly non-canon, fan-favorite fusion Gogeta fit into the current series, there needed to be a few adjustments. Luckily, there aren’t too many to make fans of the character’s first appearance weary.

Not counting his Super Saiyan 4 appearance in Dragon Ball GT, Gogeta’s major appearance in the main Dragon Ball Z franchise was in Fusion Reborn. In that film, the villain Janemba grows so strong, Goku has to teach Vegeta the fusion dance. The two fail at first, but soon become Super Gogeta. He then eliminates all of the negativity in Janemba with the Stardust Breaker, and wins the fight in a fast fashion. It’s essentially the same appearance in Broly with several distinct changes, however.

When Broly’s Super Saiyan rampage proves too strong for Goku and Vegeta’s Super Saiyan Blue tag-team efforts, the two teleport to a remote location and it’s there Piccolo coaches the two on the Fusion Dance. Vegeta begrudingly accepts to do so in order to protect his family (which is a slight change from why he agreed in Fusion Reborn), and rather than fail once, this time they fail twice. Both a fat and skinny Vekuare born from this, and after the third attempt they manage to become Gogeta.

In this new version of Gogeta, the two’s cocky personalities meld to the point where they spent the first moments of their fusion figuring out their name (with options like “Gokuga” thrown out immediately). It’s also different here because Gogeta initially appears in his base form. His base form is able to keep up with Super Saiyan Broly well enough, and eventually he transforms into a Super Saiyan.

Along with a visual change resulting in a black and yellow vest (rather than the blue and orange from his original appearance), this new Gogeta is much more powerful than in past incarnations. Thanks to Goku and Vegeta being essentially on the same level of gods, this new Gogeta outclasses the older one by a mile. His attack array is also much more varied considering he’s in Broly longer than the brief cameo of his first incarnation.

While still smirking from time to time, this Gogeta also takes the situation much more seriously. It’s especially notable when Gogeta goes Super Saiyan Blue. He uses a new version of the Stardust Breaker (which doesn’t have the negativity removal powers of the original attack), and unlike his Super Saiyan 4 appearance, his big attack is just an altered version of the Kamehameha Wave rather than a “Galick Kamehameha” or a “Big Bang Kamehameha.”

Most important of all the changes, however, is that he’s much, much stronger than Full Power Broly. The fight is incredibly one-sided once Gogeta goes Super Saiyan Blue, and would’ve saw the end of Broly completely had a last minute Dragon Ball wish not saved him.

So, the new Gogeta doesn’t have too many changes from his original incarnation. The only major one is how strong he is now compared to then. His personality’s slightly altered as he’s now all business when it comes to the fight, and if that wish didn’t save Broly, we might’ve seen a less merciful Gogeta. But there’s still room for more Gogeta should the series ever revisit the idea with a new project down the line.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly is now open in theaters worldwide, and has already gone on to have a bigger lifetime gross than Dragonball: Evolution. Funimation brought the film to the United States on January 16, and tickets for the film are now on sale. You can read ComicBook.com’s spoiler-free review of the film here.