Why Did Gogeta Smile in His Fight with Broly? Explained

One of the most visually appealing shonen anime movies we’ve seen in recent history is Dragon Ball Super: Broly, the official canon introduction of the titular Broly character in Dragon Ball. Goku and Vegeta struggled in their fight against Broly, who was nothing short of a beast, as they were forced to do the fusion dance to become Gogeta. The fusion warrior gained the upper hand against Broly and even smiled during the fight after hitting him with a powerful attack. So, why did Gogeta smile in his fight with Broly?

Gogeta smiled in his fight with Broly because he realized he wasn’t evil after he hit him with the Stardust Breaker/Soul Punisher attack, which deals massive damage that depends on the amount of evil in the target’s soul. Broly didn’t die from the attack because he wasn’t evil.

The fact that Gogeta realized that Broly wasn’t evil made him happy that the powerful Saiyan survived what could have been a fatal attack on anyone who was evil. As such, the proud Saiyan warriors that make up Gogeta were happy enough to see that another fellow Saiyan wasn’t evil. So, with that said, let’s look at the reason why Gogeta smiled in the fight against Broly.

Did Gogeta Really Smile in the Fight Against Broly?

While Broly has always been one of the most popular characters in the storyline of Dragon Ball, it was only when he was introduced as a canon character in Dragon Ball Super: Broly that he was finally an official character in the lore. Of course, while a good part of this version of Broly was borrowed from the original non-canon Broly in the Dragon Ball Z movies, the canon version was a bit different because he has the personality of an innocent child.

However, after Frieza rescued Broly and his father from a far-off planet, he immediately took advantage of the innate power within the Saiyan warrior as he realized that Broly could be the key to finally defeating both Goku and Vegeta. So, in the fight against Goku and Vegeta, Broly quickly grew as a warrior as he was fighting Saiyans, that were vastly superior in terms of technique and experience. His potential was released as he started giving Goku and Vegeta trouble, especially after he accessed his berserk Wrathful form.

But when Goku and Vegeta used their godly powers, Broly needed an extra push. Frieza killed his father and used it to motivate the powerful Saiyan, who turned into a Super Saiyan and started overpowering the pair of Earth-based Saiyans. In his Super Saiyan form, Broly was a lot stronger than the Super Saiyan Blue forms of both Goku and Vegeta, which forced the duo to flee and practice the Fusion Dance.

After allowing berserk and uncontrollable Broly to pummel Frieza for an hour, Goku and Vegeta finally got the Fusion Dance to work as they turned into Gogeta, who made his official canon appearance in the Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie after previously making non-canon appearances in the Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn movie and in Dragon Ball GT.

In the fight against Broly, Gogeta got the upper hand due to having the combined powers of Goku and Vegeta. However, during one of the scenes of this beautifully animated fight, fans were quick to point out that Gogeta did indeed smile. It happened after he hit Broly with his Stardust Breaker/Soul Punisher attack, as Gogeta smiled after the attack landed on the berserker, who managed to survive the attack.

The truth is that this attack was meant to kill Broly, but Gogeta smiled in what appeared to be a show of relief as the massive berserker Saiyan survived the Stardust Breaker/Soul Punisher attack. And the reason why Gogeta was happy that Broly survived is due to the nature of this powerful attack.

Stardust Breaker/Soul Punisher Explained

While Gogeta was initially introduced in the Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn movie, which is non-canon, his canon counterpart in Dragon Ball Super was borrowed from his non-canon version. As such, Gogeta’s appearance and attacks were simply carried over to Super. And that means his Stardust Breaker/Soul Punisher attack is still similar to the one we saw in Fusion Reborn.

In Fusion Reborn, an evil entity in the form of Janemba was reawakened, as Goku didn’t stand a chance against it after it turned into Super Janemba. However, when Goku and Vegeta fused into Gogeta, the fusion warrior overpowered Super Janemba. He eventually finished him off with the Stardust Breaker/Soul Punisher movie, which Gogeta explained is capable of dealing extra damage depending on the amount of evil in the target’s soul.

Because Janemba was an entity that was made from pure evil energy, the attack instantly defeated him as he was basically the personification of evil. As such, Gogeta’s Stardust Breaker/Soul Punisher attack was meant to destroy characters that have massive amounts of evil in their soul.

Broly Isn’t Evil

Returning to Broly, we know that Gogeta tried to finish him off using the Stardust Breaker/Soul Punisher finishing move. However, while we know that Broly is a tough cookie, a truly evil person wouldn’t have survived that attack as it would have dealt massive damage on top of its base damage. And this is the very reason why Gogeta smiled after Broly survived the attack.

The fact that Broly survived the attack means that he isn’t an evil person, as the Stardust Breaker/Soul Punisher would have been more than enough to kill him if he were evil. Broly was just a berserker who didn’t know how to handle his own incredible power. He never had formal training after quickly growing into his potential in his fights with Goku and Vegeta. As such, the innate berserker nature of a Saiyan overcame him and forced him to go into a rampage that made him attack anyone within his sight, including both Frieza and Whis.

Nevertheless, Broly was always an innocent person with a pure heart. He had a childlike personality that resulted from his lack of friends back in Vampa, where he and his father spent decades after the destruction of Planet Vegeta. In that regard, when his incredible potential came out in his fight with Goku and Vegeta, his mind and body couldn’t keep up with the massive power buildup that easily overcame his thoughts and emotions. That was why he became a berserker that tried to destroy everything in his path, similar to how Kale’s jealousy overcame her and turned her into a berserk Super Saiyan.

As such, the fact that Gogeta realized that Broly wasn’t evil was a sigh of relief to him, as the fact that the berserker survived his Stardust Breaker/Soul Punisher was proof of Broly’s pure heart. After all, there weren’t many Saiyans left in the universe, and the Saiyan within Gogeta was happy enough to realize that the only other pure Saiyan left in Universe 7 was not such a bad guy after all. Of course, the Saiyans in Gogeta were also happy, as Goku was happy to see someone strong enough to push him to his limits. At the same time, Vegeta was happy to see that another fellow Saiyan didn’t have to die.