WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Flash #87, by Joshua Williamson, Christian Duce, Luis Guerrero and Steve Wands, on sale now.

At the end of The Flash #86, Barry Allen unlocked a new form when taking on Leonard Snart/Captain Cold that saw him turning entirely gold, which some likened to the Dragon Ball franchise's Super Saiyan transformation. However, in The Flash #87, Barry going gold is actually referred to as "Super Saiyan," which means Dragon Ball Z and its related series do actually exist in the DC Universe, at least in some form.

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After nearly killing Captain Cold, The Flash voluntarily turned himself over to police, believing his inability to control his powers following his confrontation with Hunter Zolomon and Black Flash could result in a lot more destruction. Due to the damage done to Central City's Iron Heights, Flash and Captain Cold are instead sent to Gotham City's Arkham Asylum.

While they're en route, the now free Meena works with Wally West/Kid Flash, Iris West and Avery Ho/The Flash of China to figure out just what's wrong with the Speed Force. This leads Iris to enlist the help of Hartley Rathaway/Pied Piper, who meets Flash at Arkham Asylum.

Unable to reject an opportunity to help his former enemy, Piper uses a sound gun to resynchronize Barry with the Speed Force and his iteration of the DC Universe. This allows the hero to once again use his powers, though the solution is not a permanent one. As Piper explains, Barry will have to not "overuse the Speed Force," adding, "Any time you do, you run the risk of going 'Super Saiyan.'"

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Piper's reference is clearly to the Dragon Ball manga/anime franchise, which remains incredibly popular to this day. Created by Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball aired from 1989 until 1996 and was a sequel to the popular Dragon Ball. The continuation revealed protagonist Goku as being a member of a race of powerful aliens called the Saiyans. During a fight with antagonist Frieza, Goku tapped into his rage and unlocked the powerful Super Saiyan form. Since then, the series and its various continuations have introduced different versions of Super Saiyan, each more powerful than the original version that Goku unlocked.

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As Flash unlocking his golden form was the result of his anger at Captain Cold's threats, the choice to call the form his version of Super Saiyan is certainly fitting. However, this does definitely raise some questions about the DC Universe's version of Dragon Ball Z. It's not totally clear just what the DCU's version of the beloved anime/manga would look like, as when your world has real superheroes capable of incredible feats, that's certainly going to change your media. Still, this reference probably isn't meant to be taken too seriously, so don't expect Superman to debate whether or not he can defeat Goku anytime soon.

Flash #88 releases Feb. 12 from DC Comics.

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