Gohan Surpassing Goku in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Is a Twist I Actually Like, and Here Is Why

At the end of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, Gohan unlocked a brand new form called Gohan Beast, and with it he may have surpassed Goku. I like that idea, because it gives Goku a new goal to reach. This piece covers what happens in the last part of the film, so expect spoilers, and these are my actual thoughts on it in full.

Gohan Beast defeated Cell Max, but Gohan has not seen how strong Goku and Vegeta really are

Gohan Beast is a form no one had ever seen before, and there was a line in the film suggesting Goku or Vegeta would not have been able to defeat Cell Max, and Gohan did. But a couple of other factors need to be remembered with that line.

First, Gohan presumably had not seen Goku or Vegeta, or how much progress they had made training with Whis and Beerus, in a very long time. So he might not know how strong they really are. Second, the film was written before the Granolah arc.

In a couple of interviews, Akira Toriyama said Gohan has the potential to be the strongest

On top of that, Toriyama himself did a couple of interviews leading up to the film, and even afterward, where he talked about how Gohan has the potential to be the strongest. That has never changed, right from the very beginning of Gohan's introduction as a character. We were even reminded of it in Dragon Ball Super: Gohan has always had the highest potential of any of the main characters in Dragon Ball.

When Broly was reintroduced back in 2018 and 2019, that may have changed. There has been a debate between Gohan fans and Broly fans ever since that movie came out, because Broly also seems to have the power to increase his strength at will during fights, which is a very cool thing. In Gohan's case, it appears he can increase his power through his emotions. Either way, Gohan's power now is without question higher than it has ever been.

We will not know for sure until Gohan and Goku face a similar opponent

So, from one Dragon Ball fan to another, what do I think about Gohan possibly surpassing Goku? First of all, we are not going to know for sure until we see Gohan and Goku against a similar opponent, or until Whis or Goku himself makes a statement about it. This is not a debate piece, though. I plan to cover that debate separately, discussing the different points.

This is about what happens if Gohan did truly surpass Goku. Low balling it, let's say he surpassed Ultra Instinct Goku from the Tournament of Power. High balling it, he surpassed Ultra Instinct Goku from the Granolah arc.

I want to repeat that Gohan has not really been tested in this new form. He took out Cell Max in one shot, but he had the help of Piccolo, and Gamma 2 had also weakened Cell Max. So there are different factors at play, and we have not seen Gohan use that form in an actual one on one fight beyond that one moment against Cell Max.

Power scaling aside, Goku has always had a measuring stick

For one, I do like it, and I'll tell you why. The power scaling in Dragon Ball Super has without question been questionable for many years. You could even make the argument it goes all the way back to Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F and how Frieza was able to get so strong in a very short time period. People have been very confused about scaling with these new characters. But that is not really the issue here. The issue is how I feel about Gohan surpassing Goku.

Throughout Dragon Ball, into Z and now into Super, Goku has always had someone who acts as his measuring stick, the next character he needs to surpass. There was Vegeta, then Frieza, then Cell. With Majin Buu, he never really surpassed Buu until after the Buu saga. Then Beerus was introduced into the timeline and everything broke loose after that.

The way the more recent arcs of Dragon Ball Super have portrayed things, you have Broly, who has a ton of potential but is not really a disciplined martial artist, whereas Goku is. Gohan, of course, was trained by Piccolo, another disciplined martial artist. Then there are characters like Jiren. I would say Jiren, in the Tournament of Power, was without question made to be the measuring stick for Goku. His role was to be a new mountain for Goku to climb over. After that, we had Moro and others.

Gohan only got one moment in the sun before Goku and Vegeta passed him

I like this idea because, going back to Dragon Ball Z, Goku always knew Gohan had more potential and could have been stronger. That destiny was fulfilled in the Cell saga, when Gohan tapped into Super Saiyan 2 and defeated Cell, overcoming Goku's obstacles and becoming stronger than Goku.

But after the Cell saga there was a seven year time skip until the Buu arc. The next time Goku, Vegeta and Gohan were in the same vicinity, we found out from Vegeta that Gohan was actually weaker than he had been in the Cell saga. He was not training or keeping up or focusing. As a result, Goku in the other world and Vegeta in the mortal world were both able to surpass Gohan. Not only could they use Super Saiyan 2 more effectively, Goku tapped into Super Saiyan 3, which was totally new at the time.

So Gohan got his one moment in the sun in the main Dragon Ball story, and from the Buu saga onward, with the possible exception of Ultimate Gohan, Goku was always the top fighter. In Super, there was the episode during the recruitment portion of the Tournament of Power arc where Gohan fought neck and neck with Goku in Blue. That one is up for interpretation, though, because Super's anime was written by multiple writers, not just Toriyama.

Gohan Beast gives Goku a new goal and a reason to train with his son

I like the idea of Gohan being stronger than Goku because it gives Goku a new goal to reach. I don't think Goku will be able to tap into this Beast form, but I could be wrong about that, because they could easily give it to him, "because goku gets everything", as anyone who has followed this as long as I have knows.

Beerus and Whis have been Goku's primary motivation for getting stronger. Once Goku and Vegeta discovered god ki, it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for them. But now Gohan has found a power that is not god ki. It is regular power built up from his rage. Gohan surpassing Goku would make Goku the proud dad he was during the Cell saga, and give him a new quest: to try to reach that power, or at the very least to train with his son again.

Goku has been training with Beerus and Vegeta, and with Broly in Super Hero, but when are we going to see Goku and Gohan work together again? We saw it briefly in the Tournament of Power. I want to see them work together and discover more about martial arts and what they can do. That opens the door to many possibilities, not just heading toward the end of the Z story with the introduction of Uub, but also beyond that, if Dragon Ball goes past the Tournament of Power.

I am not really the biggest Gohan fanboy, but this story gets a thumbs up from me

I'm not really the biggest Gohan fanboy. I love Gohan as a character, I also love Goku, and I love Vegeta too. I love this whole series so much that I pretty much vibe with all the characters. My personal favourite is Frieza, but as far as the good guys go, Vegeta and Gohan are probably my favourites. Goku in Dragon Ball was really likeable as well.

So I like the fact that Gohan surpassed Goku, if that is the case. The new form has not been fully tested, so that is still up in the air. But personally, I give this story a thumbs up as far as Toriyama doing it, because it made Gohan and Piccolo relevant again. At the time, Goku had not yet seen Gohan in the Beast form, and I hoped that when he finally did, he would realise there are more mortal powers he does not know about yet. I really like that.

"i'm tired of new forms", and I've said so many times, but Goku having a new goal to reach will keep the story going, and hopefully it will be good enough that we all stay invested. It all depends on taste. I hoped this would be allowed to simmer for a while before Goku even comes close, because "we never really had time to see gohan as the top guy". It was very brief. Even if Gohan is not the main character, him being the strongest gives Goku, Vegeta and Broly something new to look out for.

Do you think Goku will surpass Gohan again, or will Gohan stay on top for a while?