RELATED: Dragon Ball: How Bad A Father Is Vegeta, Really? In a media landscape dominated by chosen ones, Dragon Ball stands out with a lead hero who is refreshingly no more or less himself. There’s no destiny mandating Goku’s life, he simply chooses to train to better himself, meet strong opponents, and protect his loved ones.
It was only through random happenstance that his original fate was averted, and he would grow up to become the hero Dragon Ball fans know and love today.ĭespite being a lower class Saiyan sent to a backwater planet, through hard work and determination Goku triumphs against pure-blooded nobles and tyrannical space emperors. Many have pointed out parallels between Goku and Superman’s origin stories, but the key difference was always that Goku was never meant to become Earth’s mightiest protector. It’s clear that series creator Akira Toriyama sees Gohan willingly embracing the scholarly lifestyle and settling down with his family to be a happy ending for the character.Īnd then, of course, there’s Goku, sent to Earth as its destroyer only to wind up with amnesia through a freak accident and forgetting his original purpose. Just because Gohan was born with the potential to be the strongest character in the series doesn’t mean he should have to use that power to become a carbon copy of his dad. The Buu Saga is infamous among fans for refusing to pay off the Cell Saga's setup of Gohan as Goku’s successor, but even this is in keeping with the series’ rejection of destiny. Vegeta remained insistent in embracing his birthright as the bloodthirsty Prince of the Saiyans until the connections he made on Earth finally persuaded him that he could be so much more than that. Beings such as Piccolo and Majin Buu, conjured via magic for the express purpose of inflicting evil, eventually discover empathy and compassion and get to join the main cast as heroes.
If there’s one thing Dragon Ball is definitively about – beyond buff dudes from space punching each other really, really hard – it’s a firm rejection that our fates are written for us at birth. WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Dragon Ball Super Chapter 77, "Bardock, Father of Goku," by Akira Toriyama, Toyotarou, Caleb Cook and Brandon Bovia, available now in English through Viz Media.
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