Highlights
- The Dragon Ball Super manga and film adaptation, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, have significant differences in the Super Hero Arc storyline, including the introduction of the characters Goten and Trunks as Saiyaman X-1 and X-2.
- The manga provides more background and development for Goten and Trunks, their abilities, and their involvement in the creation of the Gamma line of Androids, which is not explored in the film.
- The manga includes additional surveillance and investigation by Krillin and the police force in relation to the Red Ribbon Army, while the film focuses on the Dragon Fighters’ learning of the emerging threat after Piccolo’s encounter with Gamma 2.
The following contains spoilers for the Dragon Ball Super manga, available to read on VIZ Media’s manga platform, and spoilers for the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie, available on Crunchyroll.
Recent chapters of the Dragon Ball Super manga have delved into the plot of the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero film which was released internationally in August last year. However, as the comparison between anime and manga has been made in the past, there are several notable differences between the events of the manga, and the film.
Some have been significant changes to the Super Hero Arc, while others are almost dismissable – whatever the case may be, the Dragon Ball Super series’ unique development through anime and subsequent adaptation into manga continues to see the story told in either medium continue to diverge. How does Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero differ from its counterpart in the manga?
RELATED: Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Review
The Influence of Goten and Trunks
The film begins with Dr Hedo’s release from prison and subsequent recruitment by Magenta and Carmine of the Red Ribbon Army, while the manga takes a while to establish the same set of events while briefly centering an aged-up Goten and Trunks. We are slowly eased into the Super Hero arc through the introduction of Dr Hedo prior to his arrest. Like Gero, who turned former humans #17 and #18 into Androids, Hedo was using the deceased to create his Alpha and Beta line of Androids. Goten and Trunks assume the superhero identities Saiyaman X-1 and X-2, and wind up unraveling a strange case involving stolen corpses, and various reports claiming that those deceased were seen walking about, leading them to a short series of encounters with Dr Hedo’s creations. Trunks also discovers a data disc containing confidential information and schematics on the creation and development of Cell. Their interference makes Goten and Trunks (as Saiyaman X-1 and X-2) enemies of Hedo, who created the Beta line to infiltrate their high school and retrieve the disc.
The manga uses the entire introductory portion of the arc from chapters 88 through 90 to give us an understanding of Trunks and Goten’s current abilities, personalities, their lives at school, and most importantly, the immense dedication to science, and obsession with superheroes that characterizes Dr Hedo. After his Beta #1’s last encounter with Goten and Trunks, Hedo is actually inspired to create a third line of Android far greater than the previous, specifically citing their costumes and the red cape worn by Goten as X-2 as inspiration for what would become the Gamma line. In the film, Goten and Trunks are only part of the encounter against Cell Max before their failed fusion, and do not assume the forms of Saiyaman X-1 and X-2; presumably because that wasn’t a concept when the film was in production. The manga attempts to connect the activities of Goten and Trunks to the very conception of the Gamma Androids, and during their fight against the rampaging Cell Max, the four enjoy a brief spotlight as their combination combat deals some damage.
The Sting
Dr Hedo’s superhero obsession leads him to go to Trunks and Goten’s high school, where Krillin intercepts him, leading to a pursuit. While trying to catch up to Hedo, Krillin explains his connection to Dr Gero, to Cell, and how Hedo had been using his Androids to work to raise money for his research. What the police force is trying to prevent is Hedo’s recruitment into the revivified Red Ribbon Army. Chapter 91 of the Dragon Ball Super manga is where the events start matching up to what we’re shown in the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie. Beyond the exploits of Goten and Trunks as new generation Saiyamen, the manga also has Krillin and the police force involved through their own investigation of the Red Ribbon Army and the prospect of his recruitment back into the organization for which his grandfather conceived many horrors.
In the film, there is no such surveillance evident, and how the Dragon Fighters come to learn of the emerging threat is after Piccolo is accosted by Gamma 2. When Hedo introduces his surveillance drone Hachimaru in the manga, Krillin is shown to be watching the entire interaction between Magenta and Hedo, and silently tailing them so that the cops can learn the location of the new Red Ribbon base and raid them. Hedo also notices Krillin listening in on his conversation with Magenta, but he doesn’t tell the criminal that they’re being watched, better illustrating his alignment to his own interests rather than evil or world domination specifically. Hachimaru engages Krillin in combat and somehow manages to defeat him, keeping the location of the Red Ribbon Army base secret despite the police’s awareness of the developing situation. In the manga adaptation, Krillin’s presence in the final fight is not because Bulma summoned him alongside the Earth’s strongest warriors, but because he and the police had been keeping tabs on the situation in the first place.
Pan’s Flight
When Pan’s life is threatened by Cell Max’s devastating wide-scale attack, in the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero film, she learns to fly as the beams destroy the very ground beneath her feet, with much encouragement from Krillin. In the manga, Krillin gets Pan to safety in the nick of time.
Instead, Pan’s moment to shine comes through another botched attempt from Piccolo to give Gohan a Senzu, which, like the first, seemed to be headed towards the abyss when Pan put her life on the line to retrieve it. She discovers flight and delivers the bean to her father, who is able to power up once more.
Gohan’s Trigger
Given that Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero was filled with nostalgia-inducing Easter eggs from the franchise’s past, including homages to classic moments in the series the most notable of which was Gohan’s transformation into his newfound Beast form. With it heavily referencing his achievement of Super Saiyan 2 against Cell, the one sight that pushed Gohan over the edge in the film was seeing Cell Max holding an unconscious Piccolo above his head in a way that was reminiscent of how Goku held Nappa over his own head after defeating him during the Saiyan Saga.
With Gohan and Piccolo’s relationship being so special, and Piccolo’s own growth being intimately tied to Gohan, the scene communicated a reflection on Piccolo’s constant sacrifices for Gohan starting with the fight against Nappa; the contrasting position of Piccolo being the one to hold the enemy in place while a Special Beam Cannon was prepared; and Gohan’s main trigger of vicarious anger all coming together to bring forth the Beast. In the manga, Cell Max does not hold Piccolo above his head like that, which loses the reference to the Nappa fight, and its associated subtextual importance when it comes to the master-student relationship of Gohan and Piccolo. That being said, it retains some similarity to the film with how Piccolo’s suffering becomes the final nail in the coffin.
Leave a Reply