Top 10 Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Easter Eggs
#10: A Crown for a Demon King
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At the time of their introduction, calling Piccolo and his son demons made sense. But, to keep up with the series’ intergalactic developments, “Z” retconned their origins to be a part of the alien Namekian race. Ever since, the series has been reluctant to acknowledge this lore hiccup. That is, until Gamma 2 arrived on the scene with some outdated info. It’s basically a throwaway line, but hearing him call Piccolo a Demon King is still a welcome wink at a seemingly-forgotten corner of the franchise. After all, just because Piccolo’s an alien doesn’t mean he can’t be a demon on the battlefield, too.
#9: Vegeta’s Fashion Sense
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When the Saiyan Prince decided to take refuge at the Capsule Corporation, the free room and board came with a few stipulations. Courtesy of Bulma, Vegeta endured a mandatory change in uniform to a pink button-down. Worse, it has the apt words “badman” written on the back. Watching Vegeta fly off into battle in this getup makes it obvious why this has become one of the series’ biggest memes. It caught the Red Ribbon Army’s attention, too, since its legacy continues into the new film. When the organization is breaking down their biggest threats, they hilariously pull up a pic of Vegeta sporting this iconic look. That’ll definitely hurt the old Saiyan pride.
#8: Red Rainbow Army
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Despite the Red Ribbon Army’s title, their high-ranking officials have names from all colors of the rainbow. In fact, there’s almost as many of them as there are Saiyan hairdos nowadays. From blue to silver, Goku took them all down in the original series, but that hasn’t stopped their remnants from reemerging in “Super Hero.” They’ve innovated upon almost every part of their group, except for the naming scheme. Their new predictably-named leader Magenta singlehandedly ensures that these guys are just as comically incompetent as they were back in “Dragon Ball.” If Goku and his sons keep up their track record, these villains may soon run out of colors to name themselves.
#7: Tinker, Tailor, Namekian, Spy
Just because the Z-Warriors are as strong as deities doesn’t mean their powers don’t have any use outside of combat. Just look at Piccolo, who mercifully decides to spare the clothing market despite his ability to manifest outfits at will. Onscreen, he’s only ever done it for Gohan, and then seemingly retired from the tailoring profession after the Cell Games. At least, until he decides to put Gohan back into the shoes of his younger self by, well, literally doing just that. This is more than a callback to a forgotten Namekian ability, though. It’s a welcome visual reminder of a relationship that had been growing since the very first episodes of “Z.”
#6: Catch, Gohan
Goku’s son has undeniably had some of “Dragon Ball’s” most iconic moments. But, unfortunately, he’s also had his share of embarrassing blunders. Like, when he somehow couldn’t catch the Potara earring in the fight against Buu. Apparently, moving at the speed of light doesn’t help with coordination. At least the new film pokes fun at Gohan’s gaffe by making it a gag about his glasses. Even so, it’s downright ridiculous to see him fumble to grab a mere senzu bean. We get that Gohan’s always been into his studies, but maybe that’s because Goku clearly didn’t play catch with him enough as a kid.
#5: Raditz Recreated
The Special Beam Cannon has a near-perfect track record of taking down villains, and that trend doesn’t stop with “Super Hero.” But, for the first time, it’s not from Piccolo. In its debut, it took Goku’s full-nelson to give the Namekian enough time to charge. This go-around, the roles are reversed. Piccolo’s the one who takes a good thrashing to buy time for Gohan to power-up, and then the green mentor holds Cell Max in place long enough for the beam to hit its mark. There’s a poetic full-circle quality to Piccolo’s longtime student replicating one of his most legendary moments, especially since there’s no self-sacrifice required this time.
#4: Gotenks’ Volley-Brawl
Goten and Trunks are as out of practice with fusion as they are with sports. When they were younger, Gotenks’ special technique involved turning his foes into literal volleyballs for some worthwhile spiking practice. However, they’ve grown lax as teenagers, and completely mess up the fusion dance. The bright side is that the incomplete Gotenks makes for the perfect substitute ball in a quick scrimmage. Gotenks becomes the volleyball instead of making his own, which is a twist on their signature technique that they probably never expected. This version may dent their pride a bit, but it cracked Cell Max’s skull all the same.
#3: A Giant Reminder
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When Goku first threw down with Piccolo in the original “Dragon Ball,” the supposed demon countered with a slew of tricky abilities. Chief of which, the power to grow to the size of Shenron. But, outside of filler and films, this technique was completely abandoned in “Z.” Why? Well, Piccolo finally answers that question in “Super Hero.” Apparently, he just forgot he could do it. Yeah, really. Though, staring down the rampaging Cell Max is as good a time as any to remember. It’s a tad ridiculous that Piccolo of all people doesn’t recall core parts of his moveset, but at least it doubles as the series’ own apology for forgetting about it, too.
#2: Super Saiyan 2 Redux
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Nothing may ever eclipse the sheer hype of seeing Gohan unleash his rage for the first time against Cell. Even though “Super Hero” was about bringing Goku’s son back to his peak, the movie knew it could never top Super Saiyan 2’s debut, so they did the next best thing and remade it instead. Gohan’s awakening into beast mode is almost a frame by frame recreation of that sequence, all the way down to the emotional speech, red line snap, and roaring scream. There’s no better way to cap off a film about Gohan than by reminding audiences how cool this kid could be when he cut loose.
#1: An Android Family Tree
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Two of the biggest spirit bomb-shells to come from “Super Hero” aren’t even really acknowledged. In a moment so brief it’s easy to miss, a shot of Dr. Gero’s lineage confirms Android 16 was modeled after the geezer’s son. The red-haired cyborg’s unique qualities had stirred this kind of speculation for years, but the other reveal ties into a more modern part of the franchise. Apparently, Android 21 is based on Gero’s wife. If you don’t recognize that name, that’s because she was the original character written for the story mode of the video game “Dragon Ball FighterZ.” In just about the most casual way possible, the film confirmed that the Red Ribbon Army really was a family affair.
