Dragon Ball Super: Is It Time for Gohan to Find a New Teacher?

Dragon Ball Super has finally come around to bringing Gohan back into the mix, after leaving him sidelined for years after Dragon Ball Z. Gohan made the jump to Dragon Ball Super power levels in the recent movie/manga arc Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, which saw him unlock a radical new form called “Beast” when fighting a rematch against the Red Ribbon Army’s Cell Max android. 

Since Gohan’s Beast form made its debut, the Dragon Ball fandom has been in heavy debate about how Gohan’s power level now compares to his father Goku, or his “uncle” Vegeta. Both of the elder Saiyans have spent the time of Dragon Ball Super’s run unlocking revolutionary new forms that go beyond Saiyan pride to touch divine powers only held by the likes of angels (Ultra Instinct) or Gods of Destruction (Ultra Ego). 

In Chapter 102 of the Dragon Ball Super manga, Goku transports from Lord Beerus’s planet back to Earth, after sensing the power output of Gohan’s Beast form across the galaxy. Goku invites Gohan for a friendly sparring match to test out Beast – but Earth simply isn’t viable. Goku ends up transporting himself, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, and the last of the Red Ribbon’s leaders, Carmine, to Beerus’s planet. After Gohan warms up sparring with Goten and Trunks, he and Goku have a first-round match, pitting Ultra Instinct against Beast – with father and son ending up pretty evenly matched. 

However, during Gohan’s sparring matches, the topic of his teachers is brought up. Gohan confirms that it was Goku who originally inspired the concept of a sudden and exponential jump in his power level, as Goku taught Gohan to always “be ready to fight at a moment’s notice, and I finally got the message.”

However, Gohan makes sure to let his “dad” know that it was Piccolo who taught him the actual method of control for harnessing it. Dragon Ball fans get the meta humor at that moment, as the debate of whether Goku or Piccolo has been more of a father and/or mentor to Gohan may never be settled. 

But now that he’s reached Beast, there’s a big looming question…

Does Gohan Need A New Teacher? 

The truth is, no one who has mentored Gohan to this point truly understands the full scope of his abilities, or how to harness them. Gohan’s latent abilities and his “Ultimate Mode” (official name) are embodiments of the limits on his growth: Old Kai unlocked Gohan’s potential in Dragon Ball Z’s Buu Saga, while Goku and Piccolo have helped re-access it (before the Tournament of Power) and harness it. 

However, it’s clear from the wild aura it generates that Beast is still a version of Gohan wrestling with more power than he can control or fully apply – its raw power like Broly, just housed in a more mindful person, as Gohan is as intelligent as he is strong. 

If Goku and Vegeta can reach literal godly levels of power, Gohan – who has been clearly positioned as stronger but less trained than them – can too. More to the point: Gohan could have power that threatens a god, which is even more reason that someone from the ranks of gods and angels would come to him as a teacher – if only to ensure that power gets aimed the right way. 

That’s all to say: it seems pretty clear that Gohan’s next arc in Dragon Ball needs to be following in Goku and Vegeta’s recent paths – namely, going off on his own and seeking his own unique form of training from a new instructor. It would be truly exciting to see what Beast evolves to after that.