Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Spoiler Review: Piccolo Carries It, Gohan Gets Rebuilt and Cell Max Divides

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is a Piccolo and Gohan movie, and although there are things about it I don't like, I had a good time with it overall. I saw the film with my own eyes, and this is my spoiler review, so it covers the specific plot points and lines I could not get into in my spoiler free review, including my nitpicks, along with the things I did like.

I have already done a full spoiler synopsis, so this piece is about my actual thoughts on seeing the movie. Further down I also get to Cell Max, which to me is the most controversial thing about the film.

Super Hero borrows heavily from the MCU, and I am not mad about it

In my spoiler free review I talked about how much this film borrowed from the MCU, and I was surprised by how far it went. When I was covering the leaks, I was told that the Red Ribbon Army had two bases, but I didn't really understand what that meant until I saw the movie. The Red Ribbon base is hidden by some kind of technology so it cannot be seen from the outside, and you have to go through a specific gate to see it. That is Wakanda, right out of Infinity War.

On top of that, when Gamma 2 dies at the end of the movie, the way they did the effect, with him being dusted, was literally the snap. I could not believe they did it like that. Besides the soundtrack, which I really enjoyed, the other comic book style moment was the fight on top of the train, which really came off like a scene from Spider-Man 2.

Again, I am not mad about this. It is kind of cool that these people saw the Marvel movies and decided to capitalize on that while throwing homages to them. Add the wrestling moves, a DDT and a drop kick, and that was awesome. I also liked Gamma 1 and 2 as characters. We have seen characters like them before, but they were kind of mirroring the Great Saiyaman, and I thought that was a really cool little thing to throw into this film.

Piccolo is the backbone, and the film is really about rebuilding Gohan

One of the things I enjoyed was how much screen time Piccolo got. Piccolo was a lot of fun in this movie, and he was the centerpiece and the backbone of the film. Although Gohan was the lead, Piccolo was probably the most important character, because he had the most lines and the most screen time. We found out that Toriyama actually wanted to make it just a Piccolo story, but Akio Iyoku convinced him to have Gohan there too.

Iyoku has definitely done his research on Gohan fans and how they wanted him to get a break. This movie could have been called Dragon Ball Super: Rebuilding Gohan, because that is precisely what it did. Early in the movie, Piccolo tells Gohan to take his training seriously, because his father and Vegeta will not always be there to protect him, and by the end of the film Gohan realizes that. To me, that is development for Gohan.

The question is whether he continues to realize it. What would be disappointing is if Dragon Ball Super continues and Gohan goes back to being a nerd who doesn't train. Gohan has a responsibility as one of the strongest, if not the strongest potential of any character in the series, to use that power for good. He is a hero, after all, the Great Saiyaman, and he has to keep training while still being a great scholar. He can do both, so I hope Gohan does that going forward.

Pan's flying arc felt like a rehash

Pan was a lot of fun in this movie. She didn't have as many lines as I thought she would, although she had a lot. However, there is the whole arc of her learning how to fly, which I talked about a couple of days before this review. She already knew how to fly as a baby in Dragon Ball Super. Either Toriyama did not watch Dragon Ball Super, which wouldn't surprise me, because he forgot the show was even called Dragon Ball Super, and that tells you he doesn't care that much anymore.

At the same time, it could be that although Pan knew how to fly as a baby, she didn't know how to control it. There is instinctual flying versus actually knowing how to fly, and she may have forgotten. So maybe it was both her and Gohan forgetting how to use ki the right way. Still, I really did not like them rehashing the idea of getting Gohan serious and getting Pan to fly. I wasn't a fan of that.

If they keep it consistent from now on, so that Gohan and Pan don't have to learn anything anymore and Goten and Trunks can actually fuse properly instead of forgetting about it, I think I will be happy. The idea here works as a metaphor for life: sometimes you get knocked off the horse and you have to climb back on. That was the story of Gohan, Pan, Goten and Trunks here. Sometimes you slack off, and maybe it is your fault, but that doesn't mean you can't be redeemed and come back to do something right, which is what Gohan did by the end of this movie.

Gohan Blanco arrives with no explanation at all

Of course, we have to talk about Gohan Blanco. There is no explanation for this whatsoever. There are no lines in the film that discuss where this power came from. It just came out of nowhere, and to me that is going to annoy a lot of people. At the time I wrote this, I had a theory of my own that I said I might cover down the road.

It is what it is. I was hoping we would get an explanation someday, but that is not a guarantee.

The 3D effects range from good CG to looking unfinished

Some of the 3D shots looked really nice, and some looked like complete trash, and that is the truth. There were about four or five scenes in this movie that looked really bad, almost unfinished if I am being honest. The scene where they are all lined up firing their blasts at Cell Max looked unfinished to me.

Some of the effects, like the ships taking off or the camera rotating, look very CG, but luckily it looked like good CG. It was almost like Spider-Verse, where it was decently done, and not like ReBoot from way back in the day. It looked well done, and I can see them someday going back and doing touch ups to make the movie look even better.

We have seen these kinds of effects before. They have been used not only in Dragon Ball movies but in Pokemon movies too. I didn't mind it as much as I thought I would. I thought I was going to hate it, but it actually wound up being better than I expected.

Gohan's entrance is pure Infinity War, but the Red Ribbon ties feel too convenient

I did like the slice of life moments, although I was expecting more, because the second half of the movie is just fighting. I really enjoyed Gohan there. When they are on their way to the Red Ribbon base, he jumps out of the ship and hits the ground, and everybody flies back. That is literally the superhero version of Thor in Infinity War when he showed up saying bring me Thanos. It was the same idea, and it was amazing. There is no question that Infinity War is all over this movie.

I also enjoyed the fights with the Gammas in the second act, and I really liked the backstory of the Red Ribbon Army. I will be honest, though: making Magenta the son of Commander Red and making Dr. Hedo the grandson, or whatever the exact relation is, of Dr. Gero felt a little too derivative. It wasn't really necessary. They had to tie it in somehow, but I feel like it didn't have to be that way, and it seemed almost too convenient.

Goku, Vegeta and Broly fans may feel left out

There are things about this movie that are going to annoy a lot of Dragon Ball fans, especially the hardcore Vegeta, Broly or Goku fans. I really liked the fight scene with Goku and Vegeta, which was a lot of fun to watch, but they don't do much beyond that. If you are only a fan of those characters, as opposed to a fan of the entire franchise, you might not like this movie, because it is not about them. Broly doesn't really do much either.

Then there is the post credits scene where Vegeta beats Goku. They are both really tired, and Vegeta gets a lucky shot. People are going to turn that into memes about Vegeta beating Goku, even though they are just training and it is not like they actually hate each other.

That takes us back to the Kanzenban ending, the second ending Toriyama came up with when he reissued the manga back in 2004, where Vegeta murmurs to himself that someday he will beat Kakarot. A lot of folks hate that ending, and this kind of renders it moot. If Vegeta did beat Kakarot here, and this takes place before the end of the manga, that could be considered a plot hole as well.

They are definitely not too concerned about plot holes. They just want you to go out and have a good time, and that seems to be the thing I have noticed about these movies. That is really what the old Z movies were. A lot of folks say they are not canon, and that is fair, but they were meant for us to enjoy more stories with our favorite characters. If you like Piccolo and Gohan, this is the movie for you. I really enjoyed the Red Ribbon base, and there are a lot of creative things in this movie.

Gohan's line about Goku and Vegeta will be blown out of proportion

Besides the Pan and Gohan thing, what I did not like was the moment at the end of the film where Gohan says he is not really sure Goku and Vegeta could have handled Cell Max. He doesn't even know how strong they have gotten. I know Gohan fans are going to make a lot of that scene, and people are going to go around saying Gohan surpassed them. Maybe he did. I am not saying he didn't.

But he has no idea what kind of training Goku and Vegeta are undergoing. Even though he may think he is stronger, Ultra Ego Vegeta and Ultra Instinct Goku after the Granolah arc, or after they finish their training with Beerus and Whis, might mop the floor with him. We don't even know yet. I am not mad about the line. It just came off like I know where this is going, because I have been in this fandom long enough to know how people react to things like that. I don't think it is that important a line, but others might make a mountain out of a molehill.

The Red Ribbon Army implodes the way it did in the original story

I did like how the Red Ribbon Army kind of imploded, with Dr. Hedo fooled into thinking Capsule Corp is the enemy. I also liked the little scene where Magenta shows Dr. Hedo the Trunks versus Mecha Frieza fight on a cell phone, from the camera angle of the spy robot. That was very funny and very creative.

If you remember the old Red Ribbon Army, Commander Red was betrayed by Black because Commander Red wanted to wish to be five inches taller, and Black thought it was a waste of a wish. In this movie, Dr. Hedo has been lied to by Magenta, there is an implosion, and Magenta ends up getting killed, which leads to the release of Cell Max.

Bulma's wishes are a joke, but Piccolo's power up is not earned

A lot of fans seem to have a problem with Bulma using the dragon balls to make her wishes, and I kind of know where they are coming from. First, in every movie Toriyama has written, Resurrection F, Broly and this one, the dragon grants a different number of wishes. It was two in the first one, which they fixed to three in the Dragon Ball Super anime version, it was one in Broly, and it was three again in this movie. In the original manga the dragon was upgraded to grant three wishes, and in this movie the dragon is upgraded again to grant more powerful wishes, which was cool.

A lot of folks have a problem with Bulma wasting wishes to make her behind bigger and her eyelashes longer. I would have a problem with it too, if the movie didn't make it into a joke. Even Piccolo himself is annoyed. Toriyama knows what he is doing when he writes Bulma that way, so he wrote Piccolo to tell her to stop abusing the wishes, because she is making a mockery of the dragon, which is there for emergencies.

Piccolo's wish to have his power unlocked is one of the bigger problems with this film: Gohan and Piccolo get power ups that aren't really earned. This is not the first time it has happened in Dragon Ball. Gohan doesn't seem to put in the same kind of work as Goku and Vegeta, and fans have made fun of him because the Old Kai unlocked his power and the Grand Elder of Namek did it too. Now Piccolo gets the easy upgrade, and that bothers a lot of people. It was a little annoying, because now anybody can wish for a power up, which we saw Granolah and Gas do in the manga arc. It didn't bother me that much, but I am cautious that the story going forward is going to do a lot more of this, and I hope it doesn't.

With that said, I really did think Orange Piccolo was cool. He was bigger, and they say he is supposed to represent the Namekian tree of life. Then he actually got big and had a kaiju fight with Cell Max, and I really enjoyed that part. I find the power up a little annoying, but it wasn't enough for me to hate the movie.

The failed Gotenks fusion scene was done just for slapstick, with his behind showing. I would have liked to see what an older teen Gotenks looks like, and they tease it near the end when Pan is flying around and they fuse, but she flies somewhere else and you never see the correct fusion. I didn't think the gag was that funny, because we have already seen it enough times with fat and skinny Gotenks, and it doesn't hit the same way it used to. They could have removed that whole scene without hurting the movie. It wasn't terrible, just unnecessary.

Cell Max looks like fan fiction, but somehow it works

Cell Max is where people are really divided, and the comments I have seen are about 50 50. Some people would have preferred a totally new villain, and I agree with that. Some would have preferred the original Cell coming back with memories of Gohan, but that would be a little too much like Resurrection F. It would be Resurrection C. Instead, they created a new Cell based on the old one, with Cell's second form look, because that is Toriyama's favorite form.

I am a little on the fence. I don't know if a mindless monster is a good idea, because Broly was kind of like that when he went berserk and lost control, so we have already seen that. It is different from a more cunning villain like Frieza or Goku Black. This was just a big monster. I did like how Cell Max had attacks reminiscent of Shin Godzilla, with his whole body lighting up and all that energy coming out. He was really scary in a good way, and this is definitely a movie that has to be seen on the big screen to be appreciated because of how big Cell Max was.

Months before release I had said the final battle would be very different from Broly versus Gogeta, that it would not be one on one but involve a lot of different people, and that is what we got. I had no idea about Cell Max's design at the time. Gohan Blanco, Orange Piccolo and Cell Max come off like "fan fiction schlock," the kind of thing I would have written in 12th grade. But for some reason it worked. Cell Max is by no means my favorite villain, but I didn't hate him, and what they did with him was pretty creative, having everybody jump in and giving Piccolo a chance to turn giant again. There were elements of Bio Broly, Hirudegarn and Super Android 13 wrapped up in this, and that was refreshing in a way.

I knew we were getting giant Piccolo, but I wondered if they would bring back a golden Great Ape. People have been dying for Super Saiyan 4 to come back in Super, and a new Great Ape form fighting this thing would have been cool. They didn't do it. Instead, Gohan, without his glasses because his new form apparently sharpens his senses, fires a Special Beam Cannon, the first time we have seen him use that move in the anime or movies, and blasts Cell Max in the forehead, destroying him.

Not better than Broly, but way better than Resurrection F

I thought the finale was epic and huge in scale, as big as Gogeta versus Broly but probably not as good. Some people misunderstood my spoiler free review: I did not say I like this movie more than Broly. I think I like Broly a little bit more. There are things this movie did better than Broly, but overall it is a little less enjoyable in my opinion. Still, it was a lot better than I thought it would be. It is like the antithesis of Broly, giving the spotlight to everyone but Goku, Vegeta and Broly, so if you combine the two movies, they have used the whole main cast.

I also loved the idea that Magenta and Dr. Hedo had special upgraded, bulletproof skin, at least that is what was said in the version I saw. At the end, Dr. Hedo is forgiven, even though maybe he shouldn't be, I guess because he was fooled by Magenta, and he ends up working for Capsule Corp.

Overall, it is a very enjoyable movie. I wondered how I would feel about it a year on, once everybody has seen it a lot and digested it, because everybody went crazy for Resurrection F and it really wasn't that good, which took people time to realize. I think this one is way better and more satisfying than Resurrection F. I do wish they had explained some things, though. Gohan Blanco feels like it came out of nowhere, and I feel like it was done on purpose, almost as if someone sat there with a checklist: new form for Gohan, check, Cell back, check, a form for Piccolo, check, a push for Gohan, check. Maybe it wasn't just Toriyama. It might have been Toei, but it really felt like that.

Did Gohan's unexplained new form and the return of Cell as Cell Max work for you, or would you have preferred a totally new villain?