‘Dragon Ball Super’ Reveals Why Vegeta Doesn’t Want Ultra Instinct

Dragon Ball Super’s manga is coming down to the climax of its “Tournament of Power” arc, and bringing some exciting changes to the anime along with it! This latest chapter saw Goku down and out after his sudden Ultra Instinct Omen power-up, leaving his remaining Universe 7 teammates (Vegeta, Freeza, and Android 17) to step up and fight against Universe 11.

The main event of that rivalry came when Vegeta stepped up to challenge Jiren one-on-one. It was a major event in the anime’s ToP story arc, but in this manga version, we got a definitive reason for why Dragon Ball Super fans may never Vegeta in Ultra Instinct form.

Check out what Vegeta tells Jiren, when you the Universe 11 powerhouse questions if Vegeta intends to follow in Goku’s footsteps and unlock the Ultra Instinct power:

“Utra Instinct? Hmph. I just gave up any hope of that, actually. Such a move doesn’t suit me. The notion of being taught anything by anyone, even. I had no master, and I have no memories of my father – King Vegeta – teaching me the basics. No, I’m a prodigy, forged by the fires of solo training. Just now I was close to losing sight of what makes me, me. I aim for he top playing by my own rules, so Kakarrot can have Ultra Instinct to himself for all I care.”

As we’ve previously stated, the Dragon Ball Super manga has been far superior in its characterizations. Major foes like Jiren, Kefla, or Toppo have gotten a lot more personality in the manga, while major heroes like Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan have been handed moments that draw from their respective roots in the series while also potentially opening up some exciting new doors for the series canon to explore in future manga and anime installments.

In the case of Vegeta, it’s been an important development to see Vegeta fully acknowledge that his methodology for power-ups is fundamentally different than Goku’s. Ever since the Tournament of Power arc in the anime, there’s been a large amount of fan attention focused on plotting Vegeta’s path to Ultra Instinct (and all the artwork about what that would look like). At the same time, there’s been a large sector of fans who don’t believe that Vegeta should follow the exact same path of development as Goku, and were happy when the Saiyan Prince unleashed his Beyond Super Saiyan Blue power-up as a counter to Goku’s Ultra Instinct.

The anime and manga have ultimately both proven rather vague about what Vegeta’s new power-up actually is, and we’re still waiting to learn if it will be a factor in upcoming installments of the series. There’s growing evidence that Ultra Instinct won’t be a part ot the Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie, as Goku hasn’t been able to tap into it since the ToP; however, Vegeta will be appearing in SSB form during Broly, so it would stand to reason that SSBB could too.

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.