Dragon Ball Super Teases Ultimate Gohan's Return

Dragon Ball Super is teasing Ultimate Gohan's return in the upcoming movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. A new preview of some Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero merchandise includes character models and bios for the line of characters from the Super Hero film line – including Gohan. Gohan's bio reads as follows: "First we have Ulitmate Gohan, who we saw in the new movie's key visual! Just what kind of enemy will he be going up against in this, his most powerful form?!" 

Ultimate Gohan first appeared in Dragon Ball Z's Buu Saga, when Elder Kaioshin unlocked Gohan's latent potential power. Dragon Ball Super saw Gohan's Ultimate form get an upgrade in order for him to join Universe 7's team in the Tournament of Power. Gohan's performance in the tournament differed depending on the anime or manga version of the story, but it was made clear that at this point in the franchise, Ultimate Gohan is at least as (more?) powerful as Super Saiyan Blue, or the fused Super Saiyan Kefla. 

Of course, since the Tournament of Power went down, both Goku and Vegeta have made significant strides in their powers. Goku has mastered the angelic power of Ultra Instinct, which allows him to fight faster than the speed of conscious thought. Vegeta traveled to the planet Yardrat (home of Goku's Instant Transmission technique) and learned an entire new system of energy manipulation (Spirit Control). Vegeta has taken things a step further, opting to rival Goku's Ultra Instinct mastery by developing his own God of Destruction powers. Gohan showed off some increased Ultimate power during Moro's attack on Earth, but nothing too remarkable. 

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is now the best opportunity the franchise has for getting Gohan up to the next level of power so that he's once again on par with Goku and Vegeta – if not more powerful. It's been something of a  lingering gap in the franchise lore that's been bugging a lot of fans; after all, Gohan was the seeming true "chosen one" main character of Dragon Ball Z, who was destined to surpass his father. Dragon Ball Super has taken a hard left turn away from that story arc, to focus almost solely on Goku and Vegeta – and not every fan is happy about that. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero has been looking more and more like it could be the franchise finally responding to fans' concerns on that front – and this latest promo is another strong indicator that the film will indeed make Gohan fans extremely happy.