When Does Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Take Place? Explained
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero has just been available in select international theaters all over the world, and this has gotten fans wondering about the entire timeline of the Dragon Ball storyline and whether or not Super Hero is even canon to the timeline. Of course, there are numerous things you might be wondering about this movie, and we’ll try to talk about them. Still, when does Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero take place?
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero takes place roughly around four months after the events of Dragon Ball Super: Broly. This was hinted at by the fact that Whis said that Beerus had been napping for around four months and that Broly was on Whis’s planet observing the fight between Goku and Vegeta.
Of course, considering that Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero was written by Akira Toriyama, it goes without saying that this movie is canon to the Dragon Ball timeline. As such, everything that happened in the movie falls within the larger scope of the timeline of the entire Dragon Ball Super storyline. But, to make things easier to understand, let’s go over when Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero takes place.
When Does Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Take Place?
It has been more than four months since the last episode of Dragon Ball Super aired, and we are still waiting for the continuation of the storyline in the anime. Of course, we all know that the story is still being continued in the manga, as the storyline has already gotten a very far point from where the anime left off. Nevertheless, ever since episode 131 of Dragon Ball Super aired, we did see the story continuing on screen through the two movies that were released.
We all know that Dragon Ball Super: Broly a few months after episode 131. However, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero has just been released in select theaters all over the world just two months after it was released in Japan. And since hardcore fans of Dragon Ball Super know that Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero was not in the manga before its novelization was released, people are now wondering when this movie takes place in the greater timeline.
Of course, the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero wasn’t too direct in telling us when the events of the movie take place, but there are some clues that only those who kept their eyes peeled would be able to see. And most of the clues were given out during the early scene when Goku and Vegeta were training on Whis’s planet.
As the movie revealed early on, Goku and Vegeta, the mightiest warriors of Earth, were not on the planet to keep it safe from threats. According to Bulma, when Piccolo called, the Saiyans had been on Whis’s planet for three weeks already. And while Bulma tried to contact them, she was never able to reach them because of how Whis was too busy watching Goku and Vegeta, while Beerus wasn’t even paying attention at all the entire time he was eating ice cream.
But the placement of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero in the Dragon Ball Super timeline could be made out in the events on Whis’s planet when Goku and Vegeta were training. Of course, the first clue is the fact that Broly was on the same planet as well.
Broly was there to learn from Goku and Vegeta, who were also trying to become stronger so that they could reach Broly’s level. We all know that Dragon Ball Super: Broly took place after the events of the Tournament of Power because it was the conclusion of the tournament that led to Frieza’s resurrection from the dead. As such, considering that Broly is on Whis’s planet during the early portion of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, it means that the movie takes place after the Broly movie.
Of course, the next clue could be seen from when Beerus woke up from a nap. He said that he had been napping for a while already, as this was confirmed by Whis. The God of Destruction asked his Angel attendant how long he was out, and Whis said that he had been asleep for four months already.
If you can remember, Beerus was there during the events of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, but he never met Broly because he didn’t accompany Goku, Vegeta, and Whis to where Frieza’s spaceship landed. Still, he was there in the Broly movie, and that could mean that he probably took a nap right after the events of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, considering that he didn’t even know who Broly was when he woke up from his nap.
This could mean that Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero took place at least four months from the events of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, especially if Beerus took a nap right after the events of that film. Nevertheless, it could also be longer than that because both Trunks and Goten were already quite big when they appeared during the confrontation against Cell Max. During the events of the Dragon Ball Super anime, both Trunks and Goten were still quite small.
Gohan, however, explained that Saiyans tend to stay small for a very long time before they hit growth spurts that rapidly increase their size. So, if Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero happened four months after Dragon Ball: Broly, the rapid growth that both Trunks and Goten experienced could be explained by what Gohan said about the growth spurt that Saiyans tend to experience.
Whatever the case may be, we do know that this is the next storyline after the events of Dragon Ball Super: Broly. And, of course, the movie’s timeline takes place after the Tournament of Power, considering that Gohan was capable of accessing his potential unleashed state.
Is Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Canon To The Timeline?
In the past, the Dragon Ball Z movies were somewhat difficult to fit into the entire timeline of the Dragon Ball Z storyline because they happened during odd periods. Of course, the main reason why none of the DBZ movies were able to fit the timeline well enough was the fact that Akira Toriyama never worked on them and that they were never canon. As such, it was immaterial for those films to fit into the entire timeline because, as far as the DBZ storyline was concerned, they never happened.
However, things changed in Dragon Ball Super because Akira Toriyama took an active role in writing and directing the Dragon Ball Super movies. This is why the two movies that were branded as Dragon Ball Super movies are actually canon. Of course, this includes Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, which was written by Toriyama himself.
Considering that Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is indeed canon, that means that it can be placed somewhere within the timeline of Dragon Ball Super. And we do believe that it happens right after Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
Does Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Take Place Before The Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga?
Now, after the Tournament of Power, we know for a fact that the anime took a long hiatus that is still ongoing as of this writing. Nevertheless, the manga continued to release chapters, as the storyline continued in the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga, which takes place after Dragon Ball Super: Broly, as far as the timeline is concerned. So, with that said, does Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero take place before the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga?
As far as we can tell, it does seem like Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero takes place before the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga due to the simple fact that it doesn’t look like Goku is yet to master Perfected Ultra Instinct during the events of Super Hero.
Also, there was a part where Goku was telling Vegeta that they needed to train hard to catch up to the likes of Jiren and Broly. But he never mentioned Moro, who is the main villain of the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga. As such, Goku and Vegeta are yet to meet and defeat Moro during the events of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero because the timeline of this movie falls before the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga. And it is quite possible that the next arc happens right after the events of Super Hero.
