Dragon Ball Super came as a shock to many fans when it followed Resurrection 'F', but Battle of Gods already teased a new story on the horizon with the revelation that there were other universes, all with their own powerful fighters and gods. This opened the door to an infinite number of stories for Goku and his friends, but just as quickly as it came, it went. Since Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Dragon Ball's canon anime has been put on pause.
If anything, Dragon Ball Super: Broly proved that the Dragon Ball community was just as alive as ever, so another season of Dragon Ball Super makes sense– especially from a business standpoint– but it's almost been two years since Dragon Ball Super: Broly first hit theatres in Japan. It's not a question of if Dragon Ball Super will return, but when, and by the time it does, fans will have already had high expectations of what to look out for.
10 When Will Dragon Ball Super Return?
While Dragon Ball Super's manga has continued to crank out chapters month after month since the anime concluded, fans are left wondering when they can see Goku and the other warriors of Universe 7 animated in full-color.
So far, Toei hasn't made any official announcements, but many have speculated that Winter 2020 will mark Dragon Ball Super's return, two years after Dragon Ball Super: Broly premiered in Japan, although it may be more like Spring 2021 given how volatile things are in the world of animation as the world struggles to return to some resemblance of normalcy due to the ongoing pandemic.
9 Familiar Animation
Toei Animation has handled Dragon Ball's animation since the very beginning, so there's no reason to think they'd suddenly drop Dragon Ball Super in the near future. Given the fact that they've had more time to work on episodes given this long hiatus, and they aren't forced to create a new episode just about every week, fans can expect more frames that will leave them speechless and less animation flubs that the earlier episodes of Dragon Ball Super were filled with.
8 Broly's Inevitable Return
Dragon Ball Super included a lot of fanservice, giving fans the long-anticipated returns of Frieza, Vegetto, and Future Trunks, not to mention the fact that it gave fans the first canon female Super Saiyans, something many had craved since the transformation debuted on Namek. Dragon Ball Super: Broly took this fanservice to the next level by making one of the most iconic Dragon Ball villains canon.
Unlike the original Broly, he wasn't just an evil villain, but a misunderstood powerhouse, and lived through his battle with Goku and Vegeta. When Dragon Ball Super's anime makes its return, fans can expect Broly to make a series debut against a major villain that only someone with his amount of power can put down.
7 Innovative Villains
With every new Dragon Ball saga, fans are always left asking one question: who's the next major villain? Every villain has to be stronger than the next in order to push Goku and the rest of the Dragon Team past their limits.
When Dragon Ball Super's anime makes its return, fans can rest assured that the next villain, Moro, is not only unique in his motivations, but possesses powers unlike anything other villains before him possessed. Moro is sure to give Goku and Vegeta a fair amount of trouble that punching and kicking won't be able to solve.
6 More Ultra Instinct Action
There's still not much known about Ultra Instinct, given the fact that it hasn't been around for long.
Goku still has far to go before he can master the technique and tap into it at will, and if the next major villain presents more of a challenge than Jiren did, it's almost a guarantee that Goku will have to rely on Ultra Instinct to take him down.
5 Gohan's Comeback
Many fans were disappointed with Gohan's depiction in Dragon Ball Super. For most of the series, he was content with his role as a scholar, and though he stepped in to fight against Frieza's forces, his power level was a joke compared to what it used to be.
It wasn't until the Tournament of Power that he became the warrior he used to be, and after reawakening his slumbering potential, it's hard to imagine that he'd allow himself to devolve back into a tracksuit-wearing bookworm. A new season of Dragon Ball Super will definitely take advantage of Gohan's newfound strength, and would be a refreshing change of pace from the previous season that revolved mostly around Goku and Vegeta's battles.
4 Callbacks To Past Dragon Ball Sagas
If Dragon Ball Super's manga is any indication as to what fans can expect from the anime, more casual fans of Dragon Ball might have to brush up on past episodes so they won't find themselves completely lost when the show makes its return.
Characters that haven't really been spoken about for years will make grand reappearances, and since the struggle against Moro will take the Dragon Team to different planets across Universe 7, there will definitely be cameos by some familiar alien races.
3 How Closely The Anime Will Follow The Manga
It's no secret now that Dragon Ball Super's anime and manga follow two different storylines. While they all hit the same important beats (for example, Goku and Frieza teamed up to stop Jiren in both, and Future Trunks was the one to slice Fused Zamasu in half in both as well), how they get to them varies. Just because manga readers know the identity of the next major villain, as well as his powers, doesn't mean that they can spoil everything for anime-only fans, since things can happen in an entirely different manner when the anime drops.
When Dragon Ball Super returns, it will be interesting to see just how closely the anime chooses to adapt the manga's story. This is the first time that the manga has had such a significant lead on the anime, so perhaps the anime might even choose to follow the manga's story completely.
2 The Manga's Continuation
The newest saga in Dragon Ball Super's manga is coming to its conclusion (seemingly), but the story can only continue from this point on with so much untapped potential after the Tournament of Power introduced fans to dozens of characters from different universes. When the anime returns, the manga could potentially be two or three more sagas ahead, giving fans a good idea where the anime is headed and when it could possibly end.
1 Game Release?
Often times, when a popular anime series gets an additional season, there's tons of merchandise and fancy boxed sets to accompany it. For a franchise as popular as Dragon Ball Super, there's usually video games, or even DLC for existing video games, released after a new arc is introduced. When Battle of Gods first dropped, Battle of Z was released, enabling players to take control of some of the brand new characters they'd seen in the movie.
Likewise, Dragon Ball Xenoverse featured Super Saiyan Blue Goku and Vegeta, as well as Golden Frieza, as DLC to entice players to spend more money on the game after seeing how powerful these characters were in the film. Even Xenoverse 2 has added characters from the Tournament of Power, like Jiren, Ultra Instinct Goku, Ribrianne, and Kefla to its roster as DLC characters after they first appeared onscreen.
It's likely that around the time Dragon Ball Super's anime showcases the full abilities of Moro, Merus, and some of the other new characters that have yet to make an onscreen appearance, they'll be featured as DLC for an existing Dragon Ball game in order to draw more fans of the anime to these already popular video game franchises.