The Dragon Ball universe was always big, but it got even bigger when Dragon Ball Super introduced the lore concept of the multiverse. Filled with destroyer gods, Supreme Kais, and overseen by the immensely powerful Omni-Kings, the Dragon Ball multiverse is made up of twelve different universes, each of them vast and unique.
While this did open the door for new characters and concepts, like the Tournament of Power arc, Dragon Ball's multiverse isn't perfect and there are plenty of unanswered questions, moments of hindsight, and facts about these universes and how they function that didn't always make a lot of sense.
10 Gods Aren't Born, They're Chosen
Each of the twelve universes has their own god of destruction, who destroy whole planets and even galaxies if they choose so. Each destroyer god is unique and shares a life link to their universe's Supreme Kai, but the most interesting fact about them is that these gods aren't born, they're chosen.
It seems that anyone a current destroyer god sees fit is allowed to become one and is trained to use destructive Hakai energy. However, this raises questions of what determines an individual as capable to be a destroyer god, how the life link with that universe's Supreme Kai is transferred over to the next god, or how long the gods live since they're not actually immortal. None of these have definitive answers.
9 Who Really Oversees Time?
Dragon Ball lore does tell of a being who watches over the flow of time itself, though the true identity of that deity seems to have more than a couple of answers. The most recognizable and popular answer is Chronoa, the Supreme Kai of Time and head of the Time Patrol from the Dragon Ball Xenoverse games, but whether or not she is canon is debatable.
Mentions of a "God of Time" and "Lord of Time" also exist, though these figures have never been seen, making it hard to tell which figure is the true guardian of time outside of Xenoverse.
8 There's A Space Between Universes
Zeno's Palace is where the Omni-Kings live, outside of the twelve known universes. Surprisingly, despite being outside of existence itself, it seems that there is a sort of space with stars in the distance where the Zenos live, a space outside of space, which becomes more head-scratching the more it's thought about.
Is Zeno's Palace only a space unto itself, a sort of mini-universe perhaps, or is there more beyond the twelve universes that are unexplored and unknown to even the Supreme Kais or destroyer gods? At this time, there is no answer to that.
7 Why Did Universe 7 Have So Many Supreme Kais?
Like the destroyer gods, each universe has its own respective Supreme Kai watching over it. That being said, it would seem that Universe 7 had a bit more special treatment than the others, since the Buu Saga revealed that previously there were five different Supreme Kais at one point.
Four of them were designated as "North", "South", "East", and "West", with the final one being known as the "Grand Supreme Kai". Sadly, Majin Buu killed all but the East Supreme Kai (Shin), but the reasons why Universe 7 had so many Supreme Kais remains unclear since each universe is only supposed to have one.
6 Goku & Friends Only Exist In Universe 7
Across universes, races like the Saiyans and Namekians still exist, meaning that these races and their home planets still exist or existed at one point, with different histories between them. Despite that, it seems only certain beings among those races, such as Goku and his friends, exist as unique beings to their own universe.
This is a strange detail considering that each universe is its own reality, and while certain individuals may or may not be born within different histories, it seems like at least one alternate universe version of the Z Fighters or their friends, allies, or even enemies, should exist. However, it seems that every being across the multiverse is basically one of a kind.
5 Could Beerus Have Died During Buu's Rampage?
As mentioned previously, each universe's destroyer god has a life link with their respective Supreme Kai. This means if either one of them dies, the other will too (similar to Piccolo and Kami's relationship). This would imply that Beerus was very close to dying before and during the Buu Saga.
The current Supreme Kai, Shin, was nearly killed by Buu several times, not to mention the other Supreme Kais who were killed by Kid Buu millions of years ago. Presumably, Beerus was either asleep during these events or just didn't care, but regardless if Shin didn't survive, Universe 7 would've lost its destroyer god before Battle of Gods even happened.
4 Existence Itself Is Ruled Over By Two Infinitely Powerful Children
The rulers of the multiverse are Omni-King Zeno and his time-displaced duplicate, who are in charge of the twelve universes and existence itself. While the Zenos are infinitely powerful and supposedly wise, they act rather impulsively and immaturely. Essentially everyone's very existence hangs in the hands of a couple of children.
Considering how many universes were nearly eradicated by them during the Tournament of Power, the Omni-Kings in concept bring in some scary implications. Namely, they could just destroy multiple universes for very few reasons and the people of that universe would die before even knowing what hit them. The original Zeno supposedly did this before, throwing a tantrum and destroying six universes, reducing the multiverse to its current number.
3 Alternate Timelines Are Weird
Apparently, time and space are very separate things in Dragon Ball's multiverse, since multiple timelines of the same universe can exist, but these timelines do not create new universes unto themselves. However, as is the case with these things, this ends up creating more confusing complications.
As it happens, these timelines exist between all universes, evident by the duplicate Zeno who came from a timeline that no longer exists. However, that would imply that in a way, the multiverse has its own multiverse of possible timelines, which is somehow even more confusing.
2 Who Or What Created The Multiverse?
Despite all of Zeno's great power, he has limits and can't just create new universes. This would imply that Zeno did not create the multiverse - someone or something else did, though the answer to that question is completely up in the air.
Supposedly, the Supreme Kais are also referred to as "Gods of Creation", but the ability to create life (let alone universes) is never seen and their power is far outmatched by the destroyer gods and angels. So does this mean the multiverse was a natural occurrence and the Omni-Kings and gods just keep balance? This and many other questions about the origins and nature of the multiverse remain unclear.
1 Shouldn't There Be More Universes?
In theory, every action, event, choice, or lack thereof, has a universe that exists, one where those things happen and one where they don't. To an extent, Dragon Ball seems to follow that too, a prime example being the thriving Saiyans of Universe 6's Sadala versus the Saiyans being nearly wiped out in Universe 7.
If such possibilities create links like this, then that creates endless possibilities for other universes. It is known that there were previously eighteen universes, but it's possible there was a near-infinite amount at one point. If the Omni-King's job truly is to keep balance in the multiverse, there might be a deeper reason for it being only twelve. Whether or not that's the case is unknown.