The Fusion Saga of Dragon Ball Z has a lot of big surprises dropped on the audience. These surprises primarily come in two forms. The first is the arc's central antagonist Majin Buu; between his chaotic personality, his wide array of powers, and his nigh-incomprehensible anatomy, this destroyer of worlds is a goldmine of unpredictability. The second type of twist comes from how the main cast deals with Buu; confronting this powerful being required everybody to pull out all the stops and use whatever they could think of in order to win. There are so many changes to the status quo in this arc that it nearly threatens to break Dragon Ball's otherwise-solid narrative. In order to show just how strange the Fusion Saga can get, here's a look at some of the arc's biggest plot twists.
To clarify, these are the criteria for selecting plot twists. If one twist is the direct result of another twist, then the former will be given greater priority. The Fusion Saga technically begins with Evil Buu, but this will be a look at everything between every Fusion; that means anything from Gotenks’ inception to the journey through Buu’s body is fair game. Going by these rules, a look back at the Fusion Saga brings about some wild moments.
Breaking the Z Sword and What it Accomplished
After Gohan lost his big loss against Majin Buu, it seemed like the only way to beat him was with some significant power-up. This initially came in the form of the all-powerful Z Sword. However, an unfortunate encounter with a block of Katchin snapped the Z Sword in half, thus reducing it to a Z Dagger. Not only did this suggest that the legend of the Z Sword’s invincibility was exaggerated but it also seemed to lose Gohan his one chance of defeating Buu.
However, the biggest surprise and the true value of the Z Sword was hidden within it. Apparently, the Sword was actually used to seal an ancient ancestor of the Supreme Kai. This Old Kai made up for the broken blade by unlocking Gohan’s full physical potential, which made him more than a match for Buu. Breaking that Sword turned out to be the best thing ever.
Mr. Satan Befriending Majin Buu
When Majin Buu reduces mankind to a handful, the Earth’s fate was left in the hands of its greatest champion— Hercule Satan. For those watching DBZ, it’s obvious that the World Champion is completely outmatched by the destroyer of worlds, so it seemed like he shouldn’t be able to do anything. However, Mr. Satan didn't stop Buu by fighting him. Instead, he befriended the Majin and convinced him to swear off killing. Mr. Satan may not have a high power level like the Z Fighters, but he’s better at winning hearts than most of them will ever be, even Goku.
Buu broke his promise rather quickly, but the impact of Mr. Satan’s peaceful approach still had consequences that lasted the rest of the series. It’s why the two of them got to stay friends even after the fighting ended. Despite his strength, Hercule is one of the most important characters.
Super Buu Running Rampant on the Whole Story
The Emergence of Super Buu was an unwelcome surprise for everybody. After losing a battle with his own evil incarnate, Fat Buu was consumed and the two became a far more fearsome enemy. Unlike the Majin Buu the Z Fighters had been fighting up to this point, Super Buu was more irritable, hit harder, and was far more malevolent.
It was made immediately clear that Super Buu wasn't playing by the same rules as his predecessor. While Fat Buu promised to give the Z Fighters two days to prepare his next opponent, Super Buu arrived a day early and demanded that they produce the fighter. Furthermore, rather than pick off humanity city by city, Super Buu launched a Human Extinction Attack to wipe out all but a few survivors. He even turned much of the main cast into candy and ate them. This incarnation of Majin Buu meant serious business.
Goku and Vegeta Coming Back
Goku was never really supposed to come back to life. He was content to let Gohan and the others of his generation become the new protectors of the Earth in his absence. Unfortunately, when Buu proved to be too much for Gohan, the Saiyan was forced to step in and take up the fight once more. It seems natural for Goku to become the main character again, but nobody could be faulted for believing otherwise.
The real twist, however, came when Vegeta made his return to the battlefield. Realizing what a threat Majin Buu posed to the universe, King Yenma and Baba agreed on bringing one powerful fighter back to life for a day to confront the danger. What's really great about this twist is how it builds off of previously established plot points; few could have predicted Vegeta's death or the back-for-a-day rule would come back in this way.
The Journey Inside Majin Buu
When Vegito was absorbed into Buu's body, nobody was sure what would come next. With Vegito gone, Buu had eliminated every fighter powerful enough to stop him. This should have been the end, but it wasn't.
In a surprise twist, Vegito was able to maintain his independence inside Buu's body, albeit at the cost of the Potara Fusion coming undone. Thus, Goku and Vegeta were free to explore Buu's body and, hopefully, find and free the others. To have an adventure like this in the middle of a big battle was certainly unexpected.
Crazier still was all the things inside of Buu's body. He had sentient worms, clones of himself, and, as Goku and Vegeta had hoped, pods for the people he had absorbed rather than eaten. Considering how Majin Buu is an amorphous blob who regularly gets opened up by attacks, seeing his inner workings like this was surprising.