Stardust Breaker: why didn't Gogeta's move finish Broly?

The Stardust Breaker, also known as the Soul Punisher, is Gogeta's most famous maneuver. It first appeared in Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn (1995), where it finished off Janemba, and it made a great return in Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018). In theory, the move isn't necessarily meant to damage the opponent, and the prevailing theory among the fandom is that it's a cleansing technique. Its use against Broly, though, leaves two competing theories about what it can really do.

Gogeta's signature move has several official names from the games

The move goes by several names: Soul Punisher, Soul Striker and, of course, Stardust Breaker. Interestingly enough, these names are all official, and they come from the games. That's because in neither of the technique's two appearances, in Fusion Reborn or in Dragon Ball Super: Broly, does Gogeta ever say what the move is called. He performs it in silence.

How Gogeta used the Stardust Breaker to finish Janemba in Fusion Reborn

The first appearance came in Dragon Ball Z movie 12, Fukkatsu no Fusion!! Goku to Vegeta, which translates to Revival of Fusion Goku and Vegeta. It's more commonly known as Fusion Reborn, a fairly similar translation whichever way you say it. The villain of the film is Janemba, and once Goku and Vegeta perfected the fusion pose and became Gogeta, it was curtains for him.

After pummeling Janemba for several seconds, Gogeta finished him off with the Stardust Breaker, which at the time had no name. When you first look at it, he appears to create a small handful of energy particles, like small shiny stars, inside the palm of his hand. He flings them into Janemba's chest, and we see the back of Janemba completely explode.

Why the move looks like Goku's finisher against Metal Cooler

On the surface, this may look like an attack that would simply destroy whoever it hits. I think the reason is that it looks remarkably like a move Goku used in the past. In Dragon Ball Z movie 6, during the final battle with Metal Cooler, Goku raised his hand in the air and did a very similar move that completely obliterated Metal Cooler.

In Fusion Reborn, however, there appears to be a side effect, and in fact it is a different technique, even though it looks like the one from movie 6. When I was a kid, I thought they were the same technique, just a variation of it. That turned out to be wrong.

The Soul Punisher as a cleansing technique for Janemba

I say in theory, because it's never explained in the film itself, but essentially this move isn't necessarily meant to damage the opponent. Janemba obviously feels pain from it, and that's because Janemba is a being of pure evil. At the start of the film, Janemba is the embodiment of pure evil from the soul cleansing machine, and that evil happens to possess an Oni.

By the end of the film, it appears the Stardust Breaker is more of a cleansing technique, meant to rid the Oni of the evil and bring him back to his original, benevolent state. That's the prevailing theory among the fandom, and it does seem to make the most sense based on the film. Still, the move does damage evil, because we see Janemba screaming in pain. So it's like a grenade either way, but a grenade that also seems to work as a cleansing mechanism at the same time.

If you choose Gogeta in the games and he has the move, you're going to hurt whoever you hit with it, good or evil. That's only because it's a game, though. When we talk about what the move does in the film, we have to put that aside.

Why the Stardust Breaker shows up in Dragon Ball Super: Broly

Dragon Ball Super: Broly was written by Akira Toriyama in script, but Toriyama didn't animate the film or work on any storyboards. So, presumably speaking, Toriyama didn't write the Stardust Breaker into the fight with Broly. Presumably it was the staff at Toei who put it in, as an easter egg. From all the times I saw the film in theaters, I can tell you it got a huge reaction. People loved it, because it's a throwback to the old Z movie.

During the fight, when things get very intense, we have Gogeta Blue, who is significantly more powerful than the Dragon Ball Z version of Gogeta could ever be in theory. That's because Goku and Vegeta have evolved, not only in power but also in transformations, with Super Saiyan Blue being beyond anything in Z. Gogeta hits Broly with the technique, and it doesn't finish him off. Instead, Broly powers up in rage and raises his ki even more, and Gogeta smiles at him. There are two different theories behind what happened.

Theory one: the Stardust Breaker wasn't strong enough to finish Broly

The first theory is a bit of a high ball of Broly's powers, but it also makes sense within the story: the Stardust Breaker simply wasn't powerful enough to kill him. Broly survived it, and although he went on to lose, he lasted a very long time against a very powerful warrior. "I've always said Broly went down fighting in this fight." You can't deny he hung in there with Gogeta for a very long time. Remember, Broly isn't a fused character and Gogeta is, so think about the incredible power Broly has to survive all of the poundings Gogeta gave him.

Under this theory, Gogeta smiles because Goku and Vegeta are from the Saiyan warrior race, and they're happy to see Broly tank the move. It tells them this guy is going to be a lot tougher than they thought, and they're having a great time fighting him. That goes along with Goku and Vegeta's characters in the series. They're having a blast fighting Broly, despite the Earth possibly being in danger if he's out of control.

Theory two: the move only cleanses evil, and Broly isn't evil

The second theory says that if the Stardust Breaker purely cleanses evil from your body, it wouldn't work on Broly, because the Broly of the Dragon Ball Super film isn't inherently evil. He's misunderstood, and he's being somewhat played by his father and by Frieza. He isn't an evil guy. He has a pure heart, and that's said several times in the film, including by Cheelai, who ends up saving him at the end. In this reading, Gogeta's smile is him realizing Broly isn't a bad guy.

That makes me wonder, though. If Gogeta knew Broly was a decent guy, and that he survived the Stardust Breaker because there was no evil to cleanse out of his body, why would he try to kill Broly with a Kamehameha only a few minutes later? "That always left me scratching my head." I feel Gogeta would have tried something else to beat him without killing him, maybe knocking him out. It's clear that Kamehameha was meant to take Broly out. Then again, it could be possible that Gogeta didn't even know how strong he was as a fused character with that final Kamehameha.

I've seen more fans side with the cleansing theory

I think either theory works. Personally, though, I've seen more fans side with the second than the first. Many people seem to think the Stardust Breaker is purely a cleansing technique, and if you think that, you won't get an argument from me, because we've seen it work that way in the past. So why wouldn't it work that way here?

Why didn't Gogeta use the Stardust Breaker on Omega Shenron in Dragon Ball GT?

Either way, the move is a signature Gogeta technique. It does make you wonder why he didn't use it against Omega Shenron in Dragon Ball GT. We know Omega Shenron is pure evil, so why wouldn't Gogeta try to wipe him out with this move? Would it have even worked? That's always been a head scratcher for me.

It actually lends credence to the theory that the move is more power based than anything else. Maybe if somebody is evil, but their body is so powerful that it can block the effect of the move, that would make sense. But Gogeta didn't even try it against Omega Shenron in GT.