Is Dragon Ball Super Readying for a Full Bardock Comeback?

With how many times Goku’s father Bardock has been mentioned and seen during the course of Granolah the Survivor arc, one major question then springs to mind. Is Dragon Ball Super actually preparing fans for a full Bardock comeback? Normally this would not even be something you could consider, but with the newest chapter introducing even more questions about Bardock’s past and his potential strength overall, there are a lot of mysteries that are piling up that seem like they are made to pay off with bringing the character back in full. And with a series like this one, anything is on the table until it’s not.

This is especially true with the newest chapter of the series that sees Gas and Monaito thinking back to Gas’ fight with Bardock in the past, but the series still needs to fill in the gaps of what exactly happened. This mystery is compounded by the fact that Monaito was unconscious at the time, and there’s no way Gas is just going to open up about it, so it’s leaving a potential place for Bardock to fully return to the series. That’s only a matter if the manga decides to pull the trigger on such a wild idea. 

The Granolah the Survivor arc has been filling in some elements of the Saiyans’ past as it was tied to the death of the Cerealians and the Heeters’ orchestration of the whole thing. These three races have shown some major similarities to one another, and it’s gotten so distinct that the Saiyan past has become more important than ever before. With this arc beginning from a small tie to the Galactic Patrol Prisoner events before (thanks to the quickly dropped OG-73 connection), these small Saiyan ties about the past might be the thread the series picks up with the next arc. 

This is something that a full Bardock return could pop up from, but that remains to be seen. All of these questions could also be solved with a flashback from Gas’ perspective as we eventually get the full scope of the fight. With a series like Dragon Ball, no character truly stays dead unless there’s no real use for them in the story anymore. Even the dead characters pop up from time to time, and that’s how we’re at where we’re at with Bardock currently. Speaking of, Frieza’s still floating out there and a reunion with Bardock would be pretty wild to see. 

But what do you think? Do you think Dragon Ball Super is making room for a full Bardock return? Is that something you would want to see happen? What kind of stories do you think could be told with a Bardock who is alive and well? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!