YMMV / Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Did Magenta really believe that Capsule Corp was helping aliens take over the world or was that just a lie to get Dr. Hedo to work for him? Likewise was him activating Cell Max a last desperate attempt to defeat Gohan and Piccolo or him deciding that if he can't rule the world it shouldn't exist?
  • It's been established that Piccolo has continued his training even during peacetime but with the new super form he got in this movie that Word of God has confirmed is now on par with Goku^note whether he meant that Piccolo was on par with Super Saiyan Blue or Ultra Instinct Goku hasn't totally been sorted out yet, his mentality towards training in all this time can be called into question. Was Piccolo genuinely training the best way he knew how to get stronger? Or did he develop an inferiority complex to Goku and Vegeta, continued training because it was the only life he knew, and only trained to be just "good enough" to defeat the lower level minions and/or distract the Big Bad long enough for the adult Saiyans to save the day? Now that it's been established that Piccolo still has what it takes to be one of the most elite fighters in the series, his exact mentality Post-Cell Saga can be up for interpretation in terms of how he saw himself as a fighter.
    • While holding Cell Max in place for Gohan to finish off, Piccolo displays numerous feats that would require a significant amount of energy- maintaining his Orange form and giant size, re-growing his arm, and stretching his arms, all of which he seems to pull off with relative ease. Throughout the film, Piccolo is shown to be something of The Chessmaster, even manipulating Gohan's emotions earlier to get him to draw on his latent power. With this in mind, it's possible that Piccolo was holding back during his struggle against Cell Max and acting more seriously injured than he actually was, hoping that Gohan would push himself even further. The only evidence otherwise is Piccolo having blank white eyes after the beating he takes, which could simply be a trick of the animation and lighting.
• Ass Pull: Unlike Orange Piccolo explicitly getting a boost from Shenron to explain his new form, Gohan Beast gets nothing of the sort.^note In both the anime and manga versions of Super, Gohan mentioned wanting to evolve differently compared to the current forms, yet the fact remains that there was little build up to its appearance in-film. Also, Piccolo was injured, but not killed as was the case with other new transformations - although it may have looked otherwise to Gohan; in the dub especially, he's worried that Piccolo won't make it if he takes too many more blows - and Gohan was actively charging up, which would more often just lead to him being stronger in the form he was currently using.
• Character Rerailment:
  • After being a No-Respect Guy and a bit of a Butt-Monkey in Super's continuity (being ignored by Goku, suffering a Death by Adaptation in the Resurrection 'F' Saga, being outsmarted by a rather easy trick that he should have seen through), this is the movie where Piccolo truly gets to shine. He's shown being intelligent in how he assesses his enemy, successfully manages to throw a wrench in their plans without them knowing and avoids his Fatal Flaw of Didn't Think This Through. Many fans have considered this a huge step in the right direction. That's not even getting into how Piccolo gets to show off his strength for the first time in years.
  • For Pan, who had long been The Scrappy due to GT's habit of handing her the Damsel in Distress role and often making things worse with her Too Dumb to Live attitude. This role sees Pan properly show off her skills as a Little Miss Badass, and she's smart enough to both defend herself and go along with Piccolo's plan that helps the heroes instead of hindering them.
• Crack Pairing: People started to ship Piccolo and Pan's teacher Janet after they interacted for a few seconds with Janet showing a first-name basis and familiarity with Piccolo, this despite Piccolo being an asexual alien.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Pan's kindergarden teacher, Janet, was quite well-received by the fandom due to her cute design and her amicable relationship with Piccolo.
• Epileptic Trees: A framed photo of Colonel Violet next to the framed photo of Magenta's father has led to speculation she might be his mother.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: This movie became a smashing hit in the United States, surpassing its predecessor in box office earnings, while also being very successful in Latin America and Europe. The reason behind this is that while Japanese fans tend to prefer Goku and Vegeta to Gohan and Piccolo, the reverse is true for the West, where many western fans growing tired of Goku and Vegeta's constant spotlight hog and wish to see other characters, especially Gohan and Piccolo, be the main characters for once. While in Latin America, both Gohan and Piccolo are just as loved as Goku and Vegeta, as the region is more open to stories where other characters have the spotlight.
• Harsher in Hindsight: May also be Heartwarming in Hindsight, depending on your point of view. Akira Toriyama said several times that Piccolo was his favorite character in Dragon Ball. This movie starring Piccolo would be the last piece of Dragon Ball media that he'd have a major hand in before his passing.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Goku not knowing what meditation is,^Explanationeven though he was seen doing it as a child when training at God's Sanctuary when in the separate canon manga chapter that released later in the same month as the movie did, Goku meditated at just a slightly earlier point in the overall timeline.
  • In this movie's English Dub, Zeno Robinson voices Gamma 2, who is based off Ultraman Zero; then in April 2nd, 2023 an English Dub is announced for Ultraman Z which stars Zero's apprentice, Ultraman Z, with Haruki (who is Z's host) played by none other than Zeno.
• I Knew It!:
  • Some viewers guessed that Magenta was Commander Red's son, due to his short frame and the fact that he looks to be about Goku's age.
  • Since the Red Ribbon Army are the antagonists of this film with Gohan as the protagonist, some fans guessed that Cell would return as the third-act twist.
  • The March 1st 2022 trailer had many guessing what is in the chamber and will reveal the final villain. Ranging from the aforementioned Cell, Android 13 or 21 or even Hatchiyak. A version of Cell was in the chamber, while the human form of Android 21 is seen in a flashback.
• It's the Same, So It Sucks: While the movie has gotten a rather positive reception, some fans groaned when Gohan has, for the fourth time needed to learn the lesson that he has to keep up his training for the good of the planet. And while Gohan did somewhat keep his training up to at least turn Super Saiyan with ease, he still slacked off to the point he needed his Papa Wolf tendencies to tap into his potential once more, which has said fans growing rather fed up with the character yet again^note For these keeping count, Gohan has had to learn this lesson in the Buu saga, the anime version of the "Revenge of F", had this lesson seemingly beat into him during the Universal Survival saga, and then needed Piccolo to remind him of it in this movie.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Bulma’s ass.^ExplanationThe May 29 trailer shows appearances from various characters in the movie and one scene shows Bulma striking a pose, sticking her rear out. Many fans expressed amusement that they decided to make her rear seem so large. Turns out this was intentional as she made a wish to Shenron to make her butt bigger.
  • Gigachad Piccolo^ExplanationPiccolo's second new form in this movie, with its bulging muscles and large square jaw, has drawn comparisons to the Gigachad meme.
  • Gohan Blanco confirmado!^Explanation When the movie came out within hours the fact that Gohan's new transformation gave him white hair was posted everywhere. Immediately everyone remembered the Gohan Blanco memes that circulated when the Tournament of Power was airing.
• Narm:
  • Fans generally find the title itself this, being that the word "super" is used twice. Akira Toriyama himself notes that the ''Super'' part of the show/manga slipped his mind when naming the movie.
  • Some people have been unable to take Gohan Beast seriously for a couple of reasons. Partially for its heavy resemblance to a certain Memetic Mutation, and partially due to the fact that Gohan's hairstyle grows bigger and upwards from his head, making it severely disproportionate that especially does not translate well in CGI◊. It's telling that a lot of fan art of the form either shortens the hair or makes it slightly messy. The name itself has been noted to be a little silly as well.
  • As terrifying as Cell Max is, his boot-shaped feet can look a little goofy just for how out of place they look, and clash with an otherwise organic and intimidating design.
• Older Than They Think:
  • Gohan using the Special Beam Cannon attack is nothing new for fans of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi and even the Shin Budokai games, as his Bad Future counterpart has been able to use it as part of his skillset in those games.
  • This isn't the first time Goku and Vegeta aren't the focus of the movie, as Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming and Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly shows Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Krillin, and 18 as the focus characters in those movies. It should be noted that Gohan, Goten, Trunks, and Krillin are in Second Coming while the latter three, sans Gohan and 18, were in the other. Goku only shows up near the end of both films, but Vegeta doesn't appear in either.
• Padding: The sequence with Goku, Vegeta, Broly, and Beerus contains zero relevance to the overall plot, except to explain Bulma’s inability to contact them, and seems to exist solely so the film features them in more than just a cameo.
• Pandering to the Base: The film has drawn accusations of acting as this, especially in relation to the franchise's massive Latin American fanbase. Of specific note is the extremely prominent focus on Gohan and Piccolo, two characters extremely popular in that part of the world despite being Out of Focus for the vast majority of Super, culminating in them both receiving new power-ups that put them on level with Goku and Vegeta. Gohan's new transformation even strongly resembles the "Gohan Blanco" meme that was widely circulated in the region during the Tournament of Power, which many believe to be an intentional reference. Gohan Beast also strongly resembles his Super Saiyan 2 transformation during the Cell Games, which many fans feel was the peak of his character arc in the original manga.
• Salvaged Story: For 27 years, it was a mystery on what exactly was Gohan’s particular focus as a Scholar. The film reveals he is an Entomologist.
  • A common complaint about Videl throughout Super was that she was falling into the same pattern as Chi Chi of giving up being a martial artist in exchange for being a housewife / mother. This movie reveals that Videl still pursues martial arts and has even made her professional career as a dojo instructor.
• Signature Scene: Oddly enough, despite the movie's focus on Gohan and Piccolo, it's The Stinger at the end that most people often bring up, as Vegeta FINALLY manages to beat Goku fair and square.
• Superlative Dubbing: Some fans prefer Cell Max's English voice. In the Japanese version, he merely yelled and grunted using his regular voice. In the English dub, there's a lot more beastly sounding roars, which is fitting for his Kaiju-like design.
• Tainted by the Preview: Some fans were put off by the film being CGI instead of hand-drawn like the previous film Dragon Ball Super: Broly. Though some were won over after watching the film.
• Tear Jerker: Gamma 2's Heroic Sacrifice is this all things considered, especially considering how his attempt at Taking You with Me is foiled at the last moment, much like 16's attempt years earlier. Unlike 16 however, Gamma 2 doesn't get a moment to Face Death with Dignity, the last expression seen on his face is one of pain moments after his attack wasn't successful. Furthermore, as with 16 he cannot be revived using the Dragon Balls since he was a fully synthetic being and thus does not have a soul to revive.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Videl, who only gets a couple of scenes explaining why she isn't in the movie much. While it makes sense, it would have been nice to have all three members of Gohan's family fighting or involved in the plot in some way, especially with the revelation that Videl had her own martial arts school. While she obviously can't compare to the heavy hitters, there were plenty of mooks she could have shown off her skills with.
  • Gotenks, who is Demoted to Comic Relief once again, while a failed fusion is made useful, Gotenks remains useless on his own, needing others to fly quickly from place to place. It was rather disappointing for fans who were excited to see Gotenks finally get an adult counterpart like his components, and hasn't gotten into a serious fight since his tenure fighting Super Buu decades ago.
  • For a movie focusing on the theme of Super heroes, along with Gohan in an active role, the lack of his super hero alter ego, the Great Saiyaman, feels like an obvious opportunity passed over. This was somewhat fixed in the Manga adaptation, except it's with Goten and Trunks in the role as new versions of Great Saiyaman.
  • In a film in which the Red Ribbon Army are the main antagonists for the first time since the original Dragon Ball (along with Dr. Hedo being revealed as Dr. Gero's grandson), some fans felt that Android 18 (who only shows up in the climax) should have played a far bigger role in the overall story (due to her history with Dr. Gero), such as trying to bond with Hedo (in a way of redeeming him) while also getting revenge on the Red Ribbon Army for her and her brother's kidnapping all those years ago.
    • There was even some who were also disappointed that she didn't get an earlier scene of her getting an Important Haircut of her iconic shoulder-length hairstyle prior to her showing up to the Final Battle (considering that this film is set a year before the final episodes of Dragon Ball Z), showing more importance to said haircut as her moving on from her past experiences with being a captive of said army and most importantly her trauma of being a part of Dr. Gero's experiments.
    • Additionally, many fans were disappointed that she didn't play a more significant role in the fight against Cell Max, both in terms of her not having a bigger reaction to him looking so much like Semi-Perfect Cell, and her being the only one of the heroes who didn't get a moment to shine against him. This was semi-rectified in the film's Manga adaptation, where she gets more screentime in the Final Battle and assisting Krillin in severing one of Cell Max's wings to help set up Gohan's killing blow.
    • Speaking of 18, her twin brother Android 17 (who was mentioned earlier alongside 18 prior to her showing up later), wasn't involved in the film period despite having the same history with the Red Ribbon Army as his sister.
• Too Cool to Live: Gamma 2, thanks to him performing a Heroic Sacrifice in his attempt to destroy Cell Max. Had he survived the whole ordeal, he could've joined the heroes alongside Gamma 1, and since they're androids with Dr. Hedo being alive and well, they could potentially receive even stronger upgrades, making them very solid additions for the main cast and even the lineup for the hypothetical future Tournament of Power. Alas, it wasn't mean to be, and only Gamma 1 and Dr. Hedo get the honor to join the heroes.
• Woolseyism: When Soldier 94 (actually Piccolo) volunteers to "kidnap" Pan, the squad leader objects. In Japanese, the leader simply calls him "too inexperienced" to partake in the operation. The English Dub uses the punnier "too green", calling out 94's lack of experience while (unknowingly) poking fun at Piccolo's skin color at the same time.