War of the Worlds Features a Subtle Dragon Ball Easter Egg

One of the lesser points within the Shonen world of Dragon Ball, according to many fans, is the live-action Western take on Akira Toriyama’s franchise, Dragon Ball Evolution, with the film, and the series itself, recently having been discovered with an Easter Egg that was spotted in the 2005 science-fiction feature, War of the Worlds. Though the movie starred Tom Cruise, another of his co-stars had a big connection to the popular anime franchise, and apparently had a sneaky reference to one of the earliest characters of the anime series that isn’t quite as powerful as the Saiyans.

Tom Cruise’s son in the film was played by Justin Chatwin, who would eventually become the leading man in Dragon Ball Evolution, playing the live-action version of Son Goku. Ironically enough, this isn’t even the Easter Egg that was discovered by a Dragon Ball fan, who was able to catch the fact that Chatwin’s character had a figurine of the villain Pilaf in his room during the runtime of the film. While Pilaf himself didn’t have a role in the live-action adaptation, with the main antagonist of the film being Piccolo, he would eventually return in Dragon Ball Super as a comical side character who would hang out with Trunks and his underlings at Capsule Corporation.

Reddit User Harpoon Torpedo was able to capture the scene in 2005 War of the Worlds that sees a figure of Pilaf in Justin Chatwin’s character’s room, perhaps hinting at his upcoming role in the live-action adaptation of Akira Toriyama’s franchise:

Pilaf’s last big starring role in the Dragon Ball franchise was during the Goku Black Arc, where Mai specifically discovered that her future self was in something of a relationship with Future Trunks, who was dealing with the alternate version of Zamasu. While Pilaf and his underlings have taken a back seat in the recent arcs of Dragon Ball Super, including the Tournament of Power, Moro, and Granolah The Survivor respectively, we’re sure that Toriyama’s love of the characters will have them returning as the comic relief at some point.

What do you think of this meeting of the worlds with this Dragon Ball Easter Egg in War of the Worlds? Would you want to see another live-action take on Goku be attempted at some point in the future? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Dragon Ball.