Dragon Ball Super: Goku Needs to Pay a Heavy Price For His Foolish Mercy

Dragon Ball has pushed things too far. In the latest chapter of the Dragon Ball Super manga, Goku faces off against the new series villain Moro in the climactic battle of the "Galactic Patrol Prisoner" arc. After Moro tore across the universe sucking the life out of entire planets, he came to Earth and beat Goku, Vegeta, and the rest of the Z-Fighters within an inch of their lives. Goku got a (literal) miracle save from a couple of angels, which allowed him to finally achieve Perfect Ultra Instinct. However, Goku blew that advantage - and now he should have to pay for it!

Warning: Dragon Ball Super Manga SPOILERS Follow!

It isn't just the fact that Goku blew his advantage over Moro - he blew his advantage no less than three times! First, Goku gave Moro Senzu Bean to restore his strength, which Moro used to renew his attack. When Goku beat Moro down again using Ultra Instinct, he allowed the villain enough time and mercy to steal the power of Ultra Instinct himself! Goku failed to finish Moro off before the villain became a living bomb of unstable divine energy. Now Moro has somehow fused with the Earth itself, leaving Goku with a horrible choice:

1. He can destroy Moro, and Earth along with him.
2. He can do nothing and Moro will inevitably explode with so much energy.

The story has some potential built-in caveats to get Goku out of this jam - most notably Vegeta's new Spirit Fission power. However, even though Akira Toriyama and Toyotaro have an easy path to take, they shouldn't give Goku an easy way out, not again. Goku should actually have to pay some kind of significant price for his foolish mercy, for once in Dragon Ball's run.

There are several great forms that Goku's penance could take, for not listening to Vegeta, Beerus, or the Galactic Patrol about finishing Moro off when he had the chance:

• Goku could actually have to destroy Earth. The ramifications of having to do that would be significant both psychologically for Goku, and for everyone around him - even if Earth was resurrected by the Namekian Dragon Balls.
• Goku refuses to destroy the Earth, and the Gods (Beerus) step in. Goku falls out of their favor as the gods reconsider mortals toying with divine power.
• Dragon Ball Super shocks fans by actually forcing Goku to sacrifice himself, in order to stop Moro. We've seen it happen in Dragon Ball Z - as that series kept some real life-or-death stakes for its characters.

Whatever the case may be, this latest ridiculous example of Goku's battle errors needs to result in some kind of consequence. Otherwise, Dragon Ball Super is going to disappoint by once again falling into an overly-rote formula.

Dragon Ball anime is still on hiatus. You can read new manga chapters free online HERE.