Gohan needs to have a big role in the upcoming Dragon Ball Super movie. Although the manga continues the story of the series far beyond where the anime came to an end, the anime franchise will soon be continuing with a brand new movie. Toei Animation confirmed that a new Dragon Ball Super movie is in the works for a release in 2022. There aren’t many concrete details about what we can expect to see, but it was confirmed that it will feature new characters, story, and even script from original series creator Akira Toriyama.
But as we have seen in some of the better moments of the Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc, there’s just so much potential still to explore with Gohan that’s been left on the table. With this new movie potentially just picking up after the events of Dragon Ball Super: Broly (as it began production before the release of the 2018 film), a good way to bridge the gap between the manga and the anime’s events is to have a big role to play for Gohan.
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One simply has to glance at Gohan’s biggest moments in the franchise to prove why centering a new movie around him would be a fun direction. When Gohan is important to the main core of the story, and the final fight against the villain, it’s a huge boon for fans. It’s why fans had been disappointed through Dragon Ball Super‘s run because he not only was not a real part of the fight until the Tournament of Power, but his lack of power and training had become what he was all about.
It was the butt of jokes rather than being a true opportunity to change his character and grow further. Seeing Gohan get his power back in a single episode (after lacking training throughout the entire series up to that point) only stung further because nothing really came about it. It wasn’t until we saw Gohan in action during the Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc that we could see him fight with all of his inner strength once more.
A way to bring Gohan’s journey full circle while presenting a different kind of climatic final fight than the previous film would be to have Gohan be the one to be the last one standing (maybe even by removing Goku and Vegeta from the equation completely). Put it all on Gohan’s shoulders once more, and push him beyond his limits. Like in the manga, he’d achieve the highest ceiling he could go as a human and it would result in a much different kind of transformation for that finale. Now, that would be unexpected right?
Gohan needs a big role simply because he’s been on the bench for so long. After being so important to Dragon Ball Z, it’s honestly been a bummer to not do anything with the fact that he’s got a family to protect (even during the new Future Trunks arc! So much missed opportunity!). The Tournament of Power scratched the surface of this older, stronger Gohan and a movie could finally give us what we’ve been waiting for all this time. A full powered Gohan victory.
But what do you think? Should Gohan get a big role in Dragon Ball Super’s new movie? Should he keep being ignored? Does Gohan even matter anymore? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or you can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!
