'Dragon Ball Z' Double-Feature Reveals U.S. Theatrical Trailer

Before Dragon Ball Super: Broly arrives to smash the box office, Toei Animation is giving fans a [...]

By Kofi Outlaw

Before Dragon Ball Super: Broly arrives to smash the box office, Toei Animation is giving fans a chance to see some of the early films that have influenced and inspired Dragon Ball's biggest cinematic event yet.

Fans will get to see both the 1990 TV special Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku and the 1995 movie Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn on the big screen, as a double-feature through Fathom Events. Now Bandai Namco has put out a trailer for the Dragon Ball Z movie double-feature, which you can watch below!

The Father of Goku reveals the (non-canon) story of Bardock, a low-level soldier in the Freeza Force. During a routine mission of destruction and conquer on a far-off planet, Bardock is given a vision of the future, in which he sees Freeza destroying the planet Vegeta. A second mission brings Bardock into contact with a dying friend, who informs him that they were betrayed and killed by Freeza. Bardock returns to Planet Vegeta with all kinds of dire warnings, but none of them are believed. His son, Kakarot is sent off to Earth, as Bardock steps up to lead a Saiyan force in a last stand against Freeza. That insurrection fails, and Bardock is killed along with all the Saiyans and Planet Vegeta - but not before getting a final vision of how his son Kakarot would one day defeat Freeza and end his evil empire.

The key connection to Dragon Ball Super: Broly is the fact that Bardock's story from the film seems to be loosely adapted (and combined with the Dragon Ball Minus manga version of his story) to form Goku's portion of the backstory that connects him to Vegeta and Broly.

Fusion Reborn was a story in which an evil supernatural monsters named Janemba breaks the wall between the realms of the living and dead, forcing Goku and Vegeta to go to Hel in order to restore balance. In order to defeat Janemba, Goku must convince a very reluctant Vegeta to do the Fusion Dance with him, and become the fused warrior Gogeta. That Gogeta form has become a very significant part of the Dragon Ball Super: Broly rumor mill, with heavy speculation that the fight against Broly will force Goku and Vegeta to fuse - possibly leading to the debut of Super Saiyan God Gogeta.

In other words: this double-feature event could have significant ties to Dragon Ball Super: Broly, for fans who want to see just how far the series' animation and approach to canon has changed.

You can catch the Dragon Ball Z Bardock - The Father of Goku and Fusion Reborn double-feature event in select theaters on November 3rd and 5th.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly will hit Japanese theaters in December, and is expected to arrive in the U.S. around mid-January 2019. Dragon Ball Super is currently airing its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m. ET. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete and available to stream on Funimation, VRV and Crunchyroll.

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