New 'Dragon Ball Super' Artwork Teases A Big Broly Throwback

The promotional artwork for Dragon Ball Super: Broly suggests at least one major throwback in the [...]

By Michael Hein

The promotional artwork for Dragon Ball Super: Broly suggests at least one major throwback in the re-imagined story.

The upcoming Dragon Ball Super movie brings Broly into the series' canon. The manic Saiyan juggernaut is undergoing something of a reboot, however, as he is being re-written from scratch by the series' creator, Akira Toriyama. Toriyama designed Broly, but has never written him up until this point.

Broly and Paragus designs (translated) from r/dbz

Fans are on the edge of their seats waiting to see how the new movie will differ from Broly's previous three appearances. Thanks to a translation of the promo art by Twitter user Todd Blankenship, we have one major clue.

"His father Paragus accompanies his son with a certain ambition in mind," the poster reads. "The device on his belt holds an important secret?!"

The redesigned Paragus wears a large grey compartment on the side of his belt, with a bright red square in the middle. As many fans have noted by now, it seems to match a distinctive collar fastened around Broly's neck, with a big chunk resting directly against his throat.

"Maybe a reimagining of the power-controlling device from movie 8?" wondered one fan on Twitter.

Broly wore a whole ensemble of power-controlling jewelry during his first appearance ever in Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan. In that story, matching stone adorned his arm guards, necklace and a circlet around his head. These were designed by a scientist under Paragus' employ, and allowed him to control Broly with a matching stone on his own hand.

Of course, as the battle commenced it was not long before Broly broke free of this mind control and killed his father -- crushing him to death inside of a Saiyan space pod. Based on all the art so far, it looks like this movie might borrow that plot point as well. While Broly wears the tight collar in his normal form, every depiction of him in his Legendary Super Saiyan state has the collar gone entirely.

Toriyama himself has said that the movie will borrow and combine elements from the existing Broly movies. He also said that his goal is to satisfy fans, who love Broly and want to see him entered into the official canon.

"I went ahead and watched the movies from back then, and I felt this could be quite interesting once I rearrange some things," he wrote in an accompanying note to fans. "I got right to work trying my hand at a story that incorporates him into the Dragon Ball Super Series. While keeping in mind Broly's classic image so as not to disappoint his fans, I updated him and added a new side to his character, and I think this has resulted in a more fascinating Broly."

Dragon Ball Super: Broly premieres in Japan on Dec. 14, and is expected to make its way over to the U.S. some time in January.

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