Dragon Ball Heroes Reveals New Look at Ultra Instinct Goku in Action

Dragon Ball is known for its catalogue of Saiyan transformations and power-ups, and the current fan-obsession is Ultra Instinct, the powerful battle state that Goku achieved in Dragon Ball Super. While Ultra Instinct has yet to reappear in that series after the Tournament of Power, the Super Dragon Ball Heroes promo anime has been paving a (non-canon) way into Ultra Instinct’s future.

The current “Universal Conflict” arc in Super Dragon Ball Heroes saw Goku reach the next stage of mastering Ultra Instinct’s Omen form, thanks to the tutelage of Grand Priest. However, the promo anime’s latest episode sees Goku once again manifest Ultra Instinct in its complete form, for a major battle with the Core Area Warriors villain team!

Super Dragon Ball Heroes episode 15 picks up with Goku in his Ultra Instinct Omen form, locked into a fight with Kamioren, the fused form evil androids Kamin and Oren. Kamioren received a major power (and size) boost from the power of the galactic weapon known as the Universe Seed, and although Goku threw the giant fused android a major beatdown, his Ultra Instinct Omen form wasn’t enough to finish the beast off for good. Kamioren catches Goku off-guard with a massive throat blast; instead of being vaporized, however, Goku emerges from the blast revealing his full Ultra Instinct form.

With the entirety of Ultra Instinct at his disposal, Goku makes quick work of Kamioren. With the rest of the Z-Fighters jumping in the attack, Kamioren is taken out for good by Goku’s Ultra Instinct Kamehameha blast, and a super-punch to the chest.

At this point, it’s hard to say whether Ultra Instinct is being wheeled out as a gimmick, or if Super Dragon Ball Heroes truly plans to develop a deeper mythos about the technique. Even though there was a (brief) storyline about Goku’s training with Grand Priest, it only served as a way to set Goku up to battle the Core Area Warriors in a more powerful form. So far, Goku’s return to fully-mastered Ultra Instinct seems to be much the same – and arguably for a opponent that didn’t warrant it (though the Core Area Warriors did defeat Jiren and his Pride Trooper teammates). At the end of the day though, this is a promo anime whose primary purpose is fan-service, so what’s the harm?

Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonamiprogramming block on Saturday evenings, and is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese-language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on FunimationNOW and Crunchyroll. The manga has chapters that can currently be read for free thanks to Viz Media, and Dragon Ball Super’s big movie, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.