The biggest no-brainer question in the world is probably: “Who is the strongest Dragon Ball character?” In fact, some otakus might even hunt you down if the answer is anything but Goku. Yet, what if I said that Akira Toriyama himself planned to usurp Goku’s power within Dragon Ball with none other than his own son?
Yes, the person in question is Gohan, the son of Goku and Chi Chi who has achieved many feats of strength in the Dragon Ball franchise. While he is a well-known character, Goku and Vegeta still reign supreme over hearts. But the power equation might topple once Gohan grows older.
Gohan’s Unique Beast Form in Dragon Ball
Gohan first achieved his Beast state in the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie. Gohan Beast is an evolved form of the Ultimate State, and it is also his current strongest transformation. In the movie, Gohan manages to defeat the weakened Cell Max through his Beast form.
While Gohan’s Beast form is super powerful and cool, the issue arises when we compare it to Goku and Vegeta’s capabilities. During the film’s promotion, Toriyama claimed that Gohan was “stronger than anyone… or so it is said.” In fact, even Bulma admits that Gohan’s Beast form might make him stronger than Goku and Vegeta.
During the match between Gohan Beast and Perfected Ultra Instinct Goku, the two seemed evenly matched, and Gohan even managed to temporarily knock Goku out of his Ultra Instinct mode. Whis even suggested Gohan as a candidate for God of Destruction. But Beerus declined the notion as he claimed Gohan did not have the personality for the job.
It should be noted that Beerus never doubted Gohan’s skill and only denied him because he has a soft temperament, unlike the typical battle-hungry God.
Why can Goku and Vegeta never achieve Gohan’s Beast form in Dragon Ball?
Gohan’s Beast form is a power unique to him which can never be achieved by Goku and Vegeta. The Beast form can only be used by Gohan because he is a human-saiyan hybrid. Goku and Vegeta being pure-bred saiyans can never access this form.
In chapter 39 of Dragon Ball Super., Gohan commented:
“I choose to keep evolving as a human, not a Saiyan. I’m not relying on my Saiyan blood anymore.”
His decision could pave the way for finally outclassing Goku. Maybe his decision to focus on his human identity will bring out more evolutions like the Beast form and make him stronger than Goku, who is a Saiyan. Vegeta also had a similar notion in chapter 204 of the manga and claimed that the mixture of human and Saiyan genes could create an even stronger breed.
Gohan is no doubt stronger than Goku at his age, and if he trained as long as his father, he would surely surpass the latter. Akira Toriyama himself confessed that he wanted to make Gohan the new hero of Dragon Ball, but it has just never come to fruition.
Even when Goku was playing around in a forest as a toddler, Gohan was undergoing training under his guardian’s watchful eyes. One could say that Goku skipped out on proper training during the first few years of his life.
So will Akira Toriyama sowly replace Goku with Gohan? We are yet to see any conscious progress that topic, but let’s hope that our hero can peacefully spend his days in retirement by handing over his responsibilities to his son.
You can read the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Super manga on Viz Media and watch the anime on Crunchyroll.
