Dragon Ball Super Could Have Avoided Its 'Super Hero' Arc Entirely

Dragon Ball Super confused a lot of fans over the course of the last year, following the breakout box office success of the movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero in the summer of 2022. The Super Hero movie seemed to take some much-needed time and focus to advance the storyline of Earth heroes Gohan and Piccolo (two of the most powerful fighters from Dragon Ball Z) while the Dragon Ball Super manga continued to push Goku and Vegeta through new evolutions of power while fighting terrible new threats out in the galaxy. 

It looked like the two halves of the franchise were finally set to converge in the next set of manga arcs and/or movies following Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero – but that's not at all what we got. Instead, the Dragon Ball Super manga decided to take a trip back through the events of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero – only in much longer form, and from the primary POV of Goten and Trunks, rather than Gohan and PIccolo. 

While it was clear what the intention was: giving Goten and Trunks the same kind of attention and development that Dragon Ball Super has been lacking, at this point it's also clear that Dragon Ball Super could've avoided this "Super Hero" manga arc entirely. 

First of all, let's talk about precedence: Dragon Ball Super has released two movies, both of them hits at the international box office: Dragon Ball Super: Broly, and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. Broly didn't seem to need anything more than a big two-page splash panel in the manga to recap its events, before the story moved on into the Moro and Granolah arcs – two of the most pivotal and transformative storylines for both Goku and Vegeta, since Dragon Ball Z. While a lot of fans have wanted to see more Dragon Ball Super anime content, the manga has admittedly been keeping the franchise fires burning bright, sparking big headlines and renewed interest even from casual fans, who have been enticed by the new power breaks and transformations that Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo and even Frieza have all achieved. 

The "Super Hero" manga arc has arguably sacrificed the forward momentum that the manga built, in favor of promoting two characters (Goten and Trunks) who don't feel that much more "cool" or "exciting" after getting more focus and power – thankfully, the arc seems to be nearing its end with the climatic battle against Cell Max. 

Hopefully, the next Dragon Ball Super manga arc will bring the series and its characters back together for an exciting new battle (against Black Frieza?). But even if that new storyline is one that is overwhelmingly loved and embraced by fans, if it doesn't feature key roles for Goten and Trunks, that will only make it more apparent that "Super Hero" was a filler arc that could've been cut out entirely. 

Dragon Ball Super releases new manga chapters online.