Dragon Ball Super‘s manga gave fans some big hope at a time when they sorely needed it. The anime went on hiatus at the greatest height of its popularity, leaving the manga to provide the only forward push with Dragon Ball‘s official storyline. However, even with all that weight placed on Dragon Ball Super‘s manga (and its new shepherd, Toyotaro), Dragon Ball Super managed to deliver with its “Galactic Patrol Prisoner” arc. The story introduced a fearsome new villain named Planet-Eater Moro and presented Goku and Vegeta with a challenge that their traditional power-ups couldn’t beat. However, the Moro arc has lost a lot of luster as it played out, quickly becoming another Dragon Ball Z rehash.
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Here’s how Dragon Ball Super can Improve the Moro Arc before it wraps in the manga – or perhaps when the storyline is finally adapted for the anime.
Let Vegeta Win
For the love of all that is holy: Let Vegeta have a win this time! The Saiyan Prince split ranks from Goku after Moro nearly killed them and annihilated all life on New Namek. Vegeta vowed to stop living in Goku’s shadow, and seek out his own method of achieving next-level Saiyan power. While Goku simply boosted his Ultra Instinct ability, Vegeta actually achieved something new, traveling to the Planet Yardrat to achieve a technique called “Spirit Control.” Instead of serving as a splashy new transformation, Spirit Control instead gives Vegeta access to an entire range of strategic attacks or abilities, like Instant Transmission, or the new Forced Spirit Fission technique that undoes fusions and absorptions. This major upgrade in Vegeta’s power was coupled with a nice storyline of Moro’s campaign of horror on New Namek making Vegeta confront his past role as Freeza’s henchman.
However, just when Dragon Ball Super put Vegeta in the spotlight as the man who could beat Moro when Goku could not, it just as quickly screwed him over. Vegeta de-powered Moro, but the villain had a last-ditch plan to fuse with an android henchman that has boosted Moro’s power and abilities to an unstoppable degree. Now Vegeta has been taken down, and the story has once again given Goku cause to make an exponential jump in Ultra Instinct power, to once again defeat the villain and save the day.
Dragon Ball fans were ecstatic for all of a second there that Vegeta was finally getting his due – so why deny them that?
Different Moro Transformation
As stated, Moro avoided by destroyed by Vegeta’s new Spirit Control Powers by fusing with his android henchman, Seven-Three. Seven-Three had the unique power to copy any fighter’s abilities, including the power of Moro himself. By fusing, Moro gained back all of his own might and magic, as well as the power-copying ability and all stolen powers that came with it. This “perfect” Moro basically confirmed that Moro was simply a Cell rehash. It was a real shame, as “Planet-Eater” Moro was a pretty cool departure from most Dragon Ball foes; he looked like a decrepit old goat-man but was still a formidable fighter and sorcerer. As Moro consumes lifeforce, he undergoes a Benjamin Button-style process of de-aging and getting more vigorous and powerful – which again was.both a cool spin on vampire lore, and a departure from the usual Dragon Ball villain.
However, an all-powerful fusion has been done so many times by various opponents and villains (Cell, Majin Buu, Zamasu, Kefla) that it’s hard to see Moro as distinct anymore. It may be too late, but if Dragon Ball Super gave Moro one final form that’s something we haven’t seen before, it would go a long way.
Let The Villain Win
Planet-Eater Moro has quickly risen to the status of being one of Dragon Ball‘s most powerful – if not THE most powerful – villain the series has ever seen. And while he is definitely malevolent and sadistic, Moro isn’t quite the same kind of evil we’ve seen before in the series. Moro doesn’t want to the universe or destroy it: he simply feeds on the lifeforce of living beings and worlds to prolong his own life, vitality, and power. He’s basically a vampire.
Like modern vampire stories, Moro is a figure that could quickly be turned into something much greater than Dragon Ball villain rehash. Moro could be the first Dragon Ball villain to actually walk away with a big win – even if he loses. Moro’s power is on par with that of the gods, and his hunger to consume life could conceivably be put to good use as, say, a God of Destruction. Imagine the shake-up if Goku, Vegeta, and co. are forced to see a villain that has hurt them badly, protected, and even promoted by the gods. It would be a great way to set up the Saiyan vs. Gods arc that many Dragon Ball Super fans think the series has been building to.
Make A Significant Change
At the end of the day, the Moro Arc should accomplish one main goal, which is making a significant change to the world and mythos of Dragon Ball. That’s not a view born of pure opinion – the Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc has actually been planting seeds of big change all along. Goku is about to achieve a level godly power; Vegeta has set his own path, and backup squads like the Z-Fighters and Galactic Patrol have had to face just how underpowered they’ve become relatively-speaking. Dragon Ball must evolve soon or die off in popularity, and the Moro Arc seems like the perfect place to maybe introduce those big developments, and maybe set the series up for a fresh start.
Dragon Ball anime is still on hiatus. You can read new manga chapters free online HERE.
