A new piece of fan art shows what Dragon Ball's Piccolo could've looked like in a more faithful live-action adaptation.
The new portrait comes from an artist who is known on both Instagram and YouTube under the handle @samukarts. The talented digital artist imagined what Samuel L. Jackson would've looked like if he was cast in the role of the series' taciturn Namekian villain turned hero, Piccolo. The portrait was created as part of series that imagines a hypothetical live-action Dragon Ball movie from the 1990s and which stars from the era would've appeared in the project.
More of @samukarts' portraits can be seen on their Instagram profile and YouTube channel. In addition to their 1990s Dragon Ball project, fans can visit the the artist's Instagram to see how they imagined what Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu would've looked like in the role of Goku, or what actors they would cast in a modern day live-action reboot of Thundercats.
Unfortuantely, Samuel L. Jackson as Piccolo is something that has only happened in fan art. In the cold, uncaring reality that we actually live in, the character was officially portrayed in live-action by Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Runaways star James Marsters in the much-maligned 2009 film Dragonball Evolution. While the character shown in the film is technically King Piccolo and not the reincarnated Piccolo Jr. that most fans are more familiar with, many viewers were still disappointed that the official live-action version of the character bore little resemblance to either version of the Namekian fighter. Marsters, who says he is a big fan of the anime and would later go on to voice Zamasu in the English dub for Dragon Ball Super, has repeatedly and publicly stated his distaste for the film.
Piccolo will get another chance to shine on the big screen in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, the franchise's latest feature-length animated movie. The surly green warrior will be one of the central protagonists of the film, which focuses on his bond with Gohan, his original martial arts pupil who he helped to train and raise following Goku's first death. Piccolo will receive a new transformation in the movie, which will give him a new golden color-scheme. Super Hero will premiere in Japan on June 11, with an international release from Crunchyroll planned to folow sometime later this summer.
All of the Dragon Ball anime series, including the original 1986 TV show and the 2017 adaptation of Dragon Ball Super, are now available for streaming on the Crunchyroll. Akira Toriyama's original manga is also available in English from publisher VIZ Media.
Source: Instagram, YouTube