‘Dragon Ball Super’ Explains Who Goku Black Is

The Future Trunks arc has been a fan favorite of Dragon Ball Super fans because of the debut of a mysterious and villainous Goku. While fans who have been watching along with the series’ release in Japan already know this Goku’s true identity, fans of the English dub have yet to be clued in on it.

But the latest episode cleared everything up, and subsequently made everything more confusing.

Goku Black is indeed Goku, but not Goku at the same time. In Future Trunks’ future, Trunks manages to defeat Babidi and Dabura before they revive Majin Buu but soon his world is ravaged by Goku. Goku has been killing humans all over the world, and been battling with Future Trunks for over a year (which explains the ruined state in which we see his world at the beginning of the arc).

Future Trunks and the other remaining survivors refer to the villain as Black (hence the “Goku Black” moniker), but he instead refers to himself as Goku. His voice, power, and body are all the same as Goku’s, but his personality is incredibly different. The next episode teases a clash between the present Goku and this future Goku, as Trunks and Goku spar in order to get his attention in their timeline, but Black then proved himself to be a fierce enemy.

Importantly, he’s also in possession of a Time Ring. A ring normally only used by the Gods of a universe that allows them to travel to different points in time. This specific character trait will be important later in the series, as fans of the Japanese release are already aware. This time ring is an integral clue as to figuring out the hidden layers of Goku Black.

DragonBall Super airs on Crunchyroll Saturday evenings at 7:15 p.m. CST. Adult Swim airs the English dub during its Toonami block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m, and is now available to stream on FunimationNOW and Amazon Video.

There is also currently a new Dragon Ball film in the works for 2018. The film will focus on the Saiyans, the “origins of Goku‘s power,” and potentially the story of the very first Super Saiyan God. Not only does it aim to be the best film in the series, original creator Akira Toriyama will be contributing to the film’s script and new character designs.