At this point, it’s become clear that Goku isn’t the main character in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. Neither he nor Vegeta appears to be at the center of Dragon Ball Super’s second movie. This development has come as a big surprise, especially since Goku is the protagonist of the Dragon Ball franchise.
Marketing for Super Hero and comments from those involved in the movie have revealed that Goku is taking a backseat to Gohan and Piccolo, who will be going up against the android creations of the Red Ribbon Army. That stands in stark contrast not only to the direction taken by the last movie, but also Dragon Ball Super as a whole. Since the beginning of the anime, the focus has been on the adventures of Goku and Vegeta, who are easily the two strongest Z-Warriors in the Dragon Ball universe. In most sagas, it was primarily up to the two of them to save the day. Based on the anime’s emphasis on the duo and Goku in general, there was originally an expectation that Super Hero would follow the same trend.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero producer Akio Iyoku recently confirmed what the second trailer already hinted at, which is that the new movie is a story about Gohan and Piccolo – not Goku [via ComicBook.com]. In the context of where the anime was headed with their story, the franchise taking this route at some point or another makes plenty of sense. Dragon Ball Z’s Cell Saga positioned Gohan to take over the role of Earth’s greatest protector when he officially surpassed Goku and saved the planet from Perfect Cell. Since then, Gohan took a disappointing turn by slacking off on his training. However, Dragon Ball Super’s Tournament of Power story put Gohan on the right track to regaining his former glory. It looks like the payoff for that is finally about to happen in Super Hero.
Additionally, shifting the focus to Gohan and Piccolo has allowed the movie to center a bit more on what’s happening on Earth. As Iyoku said, the plan was for Super Hero to look at how the people of Earth respond when the planet is threatened. At this point, Gohan and Piccolo work better for this idea than Goku and Vegeta, who have been spending less and less time on their own planet. Both are heavily invested in their training with Whis off-world. Goku fighting Broly on Beerus’ planet in the Super Hero trailer suggests that this will continue to be the case when the Z-Warriors return to the big screen.
Gohan and Piccolo, on the other hand, perfectly fit with what the franchise is going for with Super Hero. While the last movie dealt primarily with fighting Broly, the second movie is said to hinge more on the “slice of life” element of the franchise, which Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero can do by exploring Gohan’s commitment to protecting his family, Piccolo’s role in his life as a mentor both to him and Pan, and more. Both characters are major members of the Z-Warriors, so it works for them to get a turn in the spotlight. Goku playing a role in the fight against the Red Ribbon Army’s androids would seriously undermine Gohan and Piccolo’s story.
