Did Goku Die in ‘Dragon Ball Heroes’?

The latest episode of Dragon Ball Heroes opens of the mutilverse to the threat of the “Core Area Warrirors,” a team of six powerhouse villains who escaped from the core of Fu’s Prison Planet when it was destroyed.

However, as the Core Area Warriors invade Universe 6 to begin their campaign to destroy the gods of the universe, the Dragon Ball Fighters of Earth and their Time Patrol counterparts step up to oppose them – with one notable exception: Goku is nowhere to be seen!

Dragon Ball Super‘s Vegeta, Future Trunks and Time Patrol agents Goku Xeno and Vegeta Xeno have all been continuing the fight against Cumber and the other members of the Core Area Warriors, but we haven’t actually seen the Dragon Ball Super version of Goku since his climatic Ultra Instinct battle against Evil Saiyan Cumber in episode 6. After expending his Ultra Instinct energy in one final Kamehameha, Goku was shocked by the sudden reappearance of Fused Zamasu in company of the Core Area Warriors – too distracted to notice the Prison Planet cracking and exploding before he could escape. The final shot of Goku we see is him standing and screaming as he’s engulfed in the dying planet’s magma; while the other Dragon Fighters clearly made it out, Goku is nowhere to be seen as the start of the universal war with Core Area Warriors begins.

On the one hand, Dragon Ball Heroes could easily the bait-and-switch of Goku having used instant transmission to escape the explosion – and it’s honestly kind of what we expect. On the other hand, it would be harder to explain how episode 7 could have Vegeta, Trunks and the Time Patrol warriors all on the move, without Goku being able to sense their energy and meet up with them via instant transmission. Perhaps it’s because Goku Xeno takes Vegeta and Trunks to the Supreme Kai planet of Universe 6, while Goku wound up heading back home to Universe 7. At that kind of distance, even Goku wouldn’t be able to sense Vegeta and Trunks’ energy – and he probably wouldn’t know the signatures of Goku Xeno and Vegeta Xeno.

Until we learn more from Dragon Ball Heroes episode 8, the door of possibility is open for the promo anime to actually go through with it and kill off Goku. Would you like that move? Let us know in the comments!

Dragon Ball Super: Broly is out in Japan now. Funimation will bring the film to theaters in the United States on January 16th. Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release is available to stream on FunimationNOW, VRV, and Crunchyroll.