We Need A Dragon Ball Spinoff For The Villains
Dragon Ball Super has left the franchise at an interesting crossroads. The anime is done for now, [...]
Dragon Ball Villains: It's Tradition
Giving villains their own focus may seem like an attempt to hope on a popular trend du jour, but Dragon Ball is uniquely suited for it. After all, if there's one thing that Dragon Ball is known for besides the gimmicky transformations and power-ups, it's a tradition of turning foes into close friends and/or allies. Piccolo, Vegeta, and Majin Buu are all regulars in the Dragon Ball Super heroes lineup, and all three were major villains in either the original Dragon Ball series (Piccolo) or Dragon Ball Z (Vegeta, Buu) - and all three did major dirt to Goku and Co. before finding their way to redemption.
Even Freeza, who has never once even pretended to be headed for any kind of redemption, still managed to grow into something of an interesting anti-hero while fighting side-by-side with Goku, Vegeta, and the rest of the Z-Fighters in the Tournament of Power.
That's all to say: there's absolutely no villain in Dragon Ball that isn't capable of being explored in more focus and depth, in a way fans will embrace. Here are a few ideas:
prevnextFreeza: Emperor of Evil
Freeza is a great place to start. The evil emperor's presence in the Dragon Ball mythos has only gotten that much deeper thanks to DBSand its first film Dragon Ball Super: Broly, which heavily retconned Freeza's history with the Saiyan race. Now that Freeza has been restored to life as reward for fighting in the ToP, it seems that he is on a general mission to acquire enough power to finally lay waste to his Saiyan foes. That's a wide open premise for a Freeza-focused spinoff miniseries, which would explore that quest for Freeza's next power-up, as well as inner workings of the new Freeza Force's expansion across the universe
prevnextCell Evolution
The other big Dragon Ball Z villain fans are thristy to see back is no doubt Cell. A miniseries could introduce a new version of the Dr. Gero's ultimate android from an alternate timeline, and follow the horrific series of fights and kills/absorptions that bring "Super Cell" eventually crashing into the main Dragon Ball Super continuity.
prevnextBroly: The Legendary Saiyan
Dragon Ball Super: Broly gave us a brand new version of Broly and an new canon to go with him. The movie ended with Broly and his two new allies (Freeza Force defectors Lemo and Cheelai) chose to stay on the secluded Planet Vampa where Broly was raised - but that situation can only last so long.
While not fully a "villain," the DBS Broly is still enough of a savage and unpredictable anti-hero type. A miniseries about Broly and his pals heading back out into the universe, and Broly's struggle to control his berserker powers (and possibly master Super Saiyan 4?) would be a fun story that sets up a big piece of future Dragon Ball events.
prevnextPlanet-Eater Moro
On the newer side of things: The Dragon Ball Super manga has continued with a new arc called "Galactic Patrol Prisoner" and it seems to have struck a strong chord with fans. That arc began when a powerful sorcerer named Moro broke out of Galactic Patrol prison after 10,000,000 years on lockdown. Details of Moro's rise to magical supremacy and intergalactic battle with both the Galactic Patrol and Kais of Universe 7 are the sort of prequel series content that could open big doors in the Dragon Ball saga.
prevnextSuper Dragon Ball Villains
Along with Moro's introduction in the Dragon Ball Super manga, 2019 saw a new villain mastermind and team rise to popularity in the Super Dragon Ball Heroes promo anime. While that series is seen as being fan-service filler of low quality, it is nonetheless a solid testing ground. Based on fan reactions, an official Dragon Ball series about Demon Realm future king Fu - or a miniseries following the origins of the respective members of the villainous "Core Area Warriors" coming together - would be exciting material.
prevnextNew Evildoer, With a Twist
One of the lingering mysteries from Dragon Ball Super's Tournament of Power arc is the origin of Jiren from Universe 11. Jiren's life was scarred by a mysterious evildoer who killed his family and people - and later his sensei and the clan of warriors he'd joined. It would be a nice twist to get a new Dragon Ball miniseries about what is seemingly a new villain, only to have that story eventually arc into the reveal that this story is introducing a crucial new villain - namely the one who will return to plague both Jiren and the entire DBS multiverse when the main series resumes.
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What Dragon Ball villain series would you like to see?
The Japanese-language and English dub releases of Dragon Ball Super are now complete and available to stream with FunimationNOW and Crunchyroll. Viz Media is releasing new chapters of the manga at a monthly rate that can be read entirely for free through the Shonen Jump digital library, and Dragon Ball Super's big movie, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is now available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
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