Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.For many longtime Dragon Ball fans, the recent release of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero was a breath of fresh air. While the film presented itself in a CGI-heavy animation style, one of Super Hero's most notable accomplishments concerned its characters. Specifically, the absence of the two most notable characters in the franchise: The protagonists Goku and Vegeta. As Earth met an unexpected resurgent threat from the Red Ribbon Army, the two characters most synonymous with the name Dragon Ball were occupied light years away.
For lovers of the two Saiyan warriors, this may have felt a bit disappointing. After all, so much of Dragon Ball's multimedia empire has focused on the rival duo dating back to the landmark series Dragon Ball Z. Even in the televised run of Super's anime, while other characters occasionally had their moments, the plot still lived and died based on the actions of Goku and Vegeta. As the two reached new heights of power and faced intergalactic warriors of every stripe, Super reached its explosive conclusion in 2018. What followed was Dragon Ball Super: Broly, which saw the two square off against a re-imagined Saiyan of immense power who dated back to a standalone Dragon Ball Z film, Broly, The Legendary Super Saiyan.
However, Super Hero dared to be a little different, turning the narrative lens back on the franchise's supporting cast. Specifically, Goku's son, Gohan, his granddaughter, Pan, and the stalwart Namekian Piccolo were thrust into the limelight to battle the threat of the Red Ribbon Army and their new host of androids. Due to a mishap concerning a magical staff and a bucket of ice cream, the SOS to Goku and Vegeta never arrived when danger emerged. While watchers still managed to view a few scenes of the Saiyan duo training, that was the full extent of their screen time.
Despite this, a better decision couldn't have been made for many longtime fans of the franchise. For episodes upon episodes and films upon films, the supporting cast of the series has languished in relative obscurity compared to Goku and Vegeta. Even when the supporting characters got their screen time, it was usually quite short-lived compared to the king's share that the two primary Saiyans received. Returning the story of Super Hero to Earth brought the scale of the series back down to size somewhat, and watchers could revel in the inter-character dynamics of Gohan, Pan, and Piccolo. Not to be denied, additional characters like Bulma, Goten, Trunks, Krillin, and #18 had their place in the mix as well.
Super Hero provided a potent mix of a looming threat while still keeping the light-hearted humor that Dragon Ball is well known for. However, we saw this humor as well as its character development play out between characters who haven't had much of it in quite some time. While it's true that the surrogate father-son relationship of Gohan and Piccolo has existed for years, it hasn't had as much opportunity to expand as it could have. A new dynamic was also at play, as this is the first time since the non-canon Dragon Ball GT that watchers have been able to witness Pan again outside of her infancy.
Super Hero not only focuses on Piccolo's relationship with Gohan, pushing him to be a warrior despite his desire to live a more modest life. It also focused on the sense of family between the two, as well as Gohan's budding love and protective nature towards his daughter. It can almost seem strange to discuss this at all, as heartwarming moments such as these can often be overshadowed heavily by Goku's newest transformation or Vegeta's monologues about the pride of the Saiyan race. What could have been a film about the series' most recognizable duo became one that showed that Dragon Ball's incredibly colorful supporting cast still has so much to offer.
In the penultimate battle of the film, former foes become allies and the group of fighters remaining on Earth band together to save the day. While it would have been easy for Goku and Vegeta to step in at the end and lend their immense powers to the cause, Super Hero made the wise choice of allowing other characters to shine when it mattered most. Gohan recaptured his warrior instincts and found a new and unbelievable power. Piccolo reached beyond the limits that have plagued him for the entirety of Super's run, and Pan even learned how to fly like her fellow Z-Warriors. Bringing in additional characters to help our heroes rise above the odds was just the icing on the cake.
Super Hero showed by temporarily sidelining Goku and Vegeta that the franchise's other characters are still a huge part of what makes it so special. Each character has the potential to grow far beyond their typical roles as onlookers or as undercard fighters. Even somebody like Krillin, who will never measure up to the power levels of his counterparts, had his moments of character growth and appreciation in Super Hero. When the franchise's veritable punchline of a character is getting a little extra time to do his thing, it bodes well for the series at large.
While future Dragon Ball installments will undoubtedly gravitate back to form and focus on Goku and Vegeta's burning rivalry once again, Super Hero proves that this doesn't have to be the norm for every new entry in the franchise. Allowing the rest of the cast to grow and experience new adventures broadens the fictional world of Akira Toriyama much further than any one battle or climactic moment. Hopefully, upcoming Dragon Ball media will take this lesson from Super Hero and build upon it. There is never a shortage of villains in the franchise's massive multiverse, and Goku and Vegeta's shoulders have carried the narrative weight plenty already.
The fandom loves its iconic Saiyan duo, but they also have just as much appreciation for the characters that surround them. Give them some time and love, and the franchise can enter a new paradigm that returns to the heart of what made the original run of shows so captivating: A burgeoning family of misfits and martial artists doing their best to defeat evil and make their world a better place for everyone.