Goku Black

Goku Black is the central antagonist of the “Future” Trunks saga of Dragon Ball Super. He is a mysterious yet evil being who bears a striking resemblance to Goku and has not only caused the Earth’s second apocalypse in Future Trunks’ timeline, but successfully wiped the multiverse of all life.

Eventually, it is revealed that he is the Zamasu from the original present timeline who switched bodies with Goku before killing him as revenge for beating him during their sparring session. Goku Black is the biggest threat ever fought in the entire Dragon Ball franchise. Thanks to masterminding Project Zero Mortals, recruiting his future self to assist him, and not only wiping out the multiverse of his timeline of all life, but nearly did the same to the rest of reality itself before the intervention of Zen-Oh. Due to killing Future Bulma and destroying the Future timeline, he can be considered the arch-enemy of Future Trunks. He is also one of the most hated foes that Goku and Vegeta ever faced due to personally murdering their families.

He was voiced by Masako Nozawa in the Japanese version, and Sean Schemmel in the English dubbed version. Both of them voice the real Goku in their respective versions.

History

As Zamasu

Zamasu first encounters Goku chronologically when he, Beerus and Whis go to see him and his master, Gowasu. Goku spars with Zamasu and defeats him. He offers his hand to Zamasu, but the latter refuses, and even tried to kill Goku, until stopped by Gowasu. Zamasu’s defeat at Goku’s hands would only further his hatred of mortals as he felt that no mortal should be able to fight on-par with a God.

Zamasu later suggests to Gowasu that they wipe out the primitive and violent mortals on Planet Babari. Gowasu, however, states that only Gods of Destruction can carry out that act. This secretly drives Zamasu to hate the gods as well for not doing anything about mortals. Gowasu then uses the Time Ring to allow him and Zamasu to travel to the future of Babari. He also gives Zamasu a Potara Earring that makes him a Kaioshin, as apprentices cannot go.

The two fist bump and say “1000 years”, transporting them to the future of Babari, where the planet’s natives are fighting each other. This only serves to further Zamasu’s belief that mortals are all bad. A Babari attacks the two, but Zamasu slices it in half, against Gowasu’s wishes.

Returning from the future, Zamasu returns the earring Gowasu loaned him and debates his master on whether they can learn from mortals. Gowasu, however, rebukes him for killing the Babari and letting his hatred for mortals control his emeotions. This lack response likely increased Zamasu’s disgust towards his mentor and sparked his decision to kill him.

Sometime later, Zamasu gets Gowasu some tea. Gowasu is watching the fight between Goku and Hit on GodTube. Zamasu sees the Super Dragon Balls on the monitor and asks Gowasu what they are. When he got his answer, he became interested in the wish orbs. He then arrives in Zuno’s place in Universe 7 and asks him about the Super Dragon Balls and Son Goku.

As Goku Black

Deciding that all mortals and gods are worthless, Zamasu eventually decided to kill Gowasu and take his Potara earrings, inheriting his position as Supreme Kai. He then manages to gather the Super Dragon Balls and uses the time ring to travel one year into the future to use them. Afterwards, he summons the dragon and wishes to switch bodies with Goku. Upon switching bodies, Zamasu immediately traveled to Earth and killed Goku along with Chi-Chi and Goten.

Using the Time Ring, Zamasu traveled to Future Trunks’ timeline, where the God of Destruction Beerus no longer existed in this universe. He killed Future Gowasu and aligned with his future counterpart after giving him one of his earrings making him a supreme kai. Once again, the duo gathered the Super Dragon Balls and wished for Future Zamasu to become immortal; destroying the Super Dragon Balls after the wish was granted. Together, they killed all the Supreme Kais in Trunks’ timeline, eliminating the Gods of Destruction due to their life-link and removing possible opposition from the Gods. With no one left to stop them, the two enacted their goal to wipe out all the mortals, dubbing it the ‘Zero Mortals Plan’.

Zamasu traveled to many planets, destroying life on every one of them, declaring himself to be Son Goku and proclaiming to be eliminating the mortals in the name of justice. He eventually arrives on Future Earth and quickly brought humanity to the brink of extinction until Future Trunks tried to stop him. Not wishing to associate him with their fallen close ally, Trunks and his mother give him the name “Goku Black.” Future Trunks spends over a year trying to defeat Black, with Trunks constantly being defeated and barely escaping with his life.

Soon, Trunks went into hiding waiting for Future Bulma to prepare the fuel to use the time machine to go back to the present for help. Upon sensing Trunks’ ki, Black destroys Bulma’s lab and kills Bulma in front of Trunks. He also appears to kill Future Mai after she tries to stall him. Enraged, Trunks attempts to fight Black, but Black beats Trunks very easily and charges a ki blast sphere. However, Trunks then throws his sword and blasts Black with a Masenko. Black blocks his attack but loses sight of Trunks until the latter came out of the ground in the time machine. He then tries to blast Trunks with a Dark Version of the Kamehameha, but Trunks successfully manages to escape and travel back to the present timeline in the time machine.

Following Trunks’ departure into the past, Black continuously tries to sense for Trunks across the planet until the Time Ring has a strange reaction and creates a portal leading to the past timeline. Entering the timeline, he finds Future Trunks as well as Goku and Vegeta. Enraged, Trunks attempts to go and challenge Black, but is stopped by Vegeta while Goku confronts Black in his place. Black attacks Goku with the same Golden-Black ki blast sphere he tried to kill Future Trunks with and sends Goku flying. Goku then powers up to Super Saiyan 2 and fights back, with the two seeming to be evenly matched.

However, throughout the fight, the Time Ring attempts to pull Black back into the future timeline. Black fights it until he could no longer resist the Time Ring’s pull and is eventually forced back into the future; but not before destroying Trunks’ time machine. Upon returning, he collapses from his injuries after his fight with Goku, but is not upset and says he will get stronger from said injuries and regains his composure. Black proceeded to test his increased power, using a Golden-Black ki sphere, bigger than it’s usual size firing it, pleased with his increased power and embedding Goku’s fighting style into his own.

With his new power increase, Black attacks the base of the Resistance, formed by Future Mai and the surviving human’s who struggle to defend Earth. Black easily dominates and kills half of the Resistance and causes the rest to retreat and form a new base.

After Future Trunks, Goku, and Vegeta travel to the Future, Black confronts them and then fights Vegeta in his SSB form. Black moves closer catching Vegeta off guard. Vegeta then attacks Black with a barrage of punches but Black takes all of them and is unharmed even kicking Vegeta away. Goku Black then transforms into his own God Form called Super Saiyan Rosé. He then resumes the fight with Vegeta but stabs Vegeta badly with an Energy hand sword. Goku then joins the fight while Future Trunks takes care of Vegeta’s wound. The two fight evenly until Goku is overpowered and Black tries to kill him but Future Zamasu appears and stands besides Goku Black.

The two then fight Goku overwhelming him until Future Trunks helps Goku fight them. Goku fought Black and Future Trunks fought Future Zamasu. Black backed Goku into a corner and Future Trunks’s attacks didn’t have any effect on Future Zamasu. It’s then that Future Zamasu reveals that he has gained immortality and cannot die now. He then grabs Goku and Trunks allowing Black’s Kamehameha to hit them. The two take damage and just when Black and Future Zamasu were about to finish the Saiyans off, the injured Vegeta stops them. Soon the Resistance rescues the three Saiyans and they retreat to the past. Future Zamasu then says to Black that they will be back.

Following their return, Goku, Beerus, Whis, and the Universe 7 Kaioshin head to Universe 10, in order to Stop Goku Black’s past self (mistakenly believing he is Future Zamasu’s past self) from killing Gowasu and stealing his time ring. After observing Zamasu Killing Gowasu, Whis rewinds time and covers his hand with a mitten, saving Gowasu. The four then arrives with Whis then revealing Zamasu’s true plan to Gowasu, while Zamasu expresses no remorse for his actions. Zamasu then attempts to attack Goku, but his attack is blocked by Beerus, who disintegrates him.

Later, when Goku and his friends return to the future, Black and Future Zamasu go to confront them as they voice their knowledge of them. When Goku calls Black a “copy”, Black tells him he is incorrect and reveals his true identity to Goku which is actually Zamasu from the present timeline, who switched bodies with Goku and killed him, hence why his ki is similar to Zamasu’s. He then tells them that while Beerus did indeed destroy his past self, the Time Ring prevents changes to the timeline from affecting him. Goku, Vegeta and Trunks then power up and prepare to fight Black. As they fought with Black and Future Zamasu, having the upper on the Saiyan trio, Black and Future Zamasu reveal that after Black stole Goku’s body and killed him, he murdered the Gowasu of the future timeline as the two version of Zamasu teamed up. They gathered the Super Dragon Balls which gave Future Zamasu immortality before they killed the Supreme Kais of the twelve universes and by extensions the gods of destruction.

After continuing their assault, the two toss Vegeta and Trunks to corner Goku and told him of how he stole the latter’s body as well as killing Chi-Chi and Goten in cold-blood. This caused Goku’s power to rise incredibly due to his anger, Goku then began overwhelming Black and Future Zamasu but was ultimately defeated nonetheless. As Goku laid down in defeat, Black and Future Zamasu revealed the reasons behind their plans, saying Future Trunks was the one to blame for traveling back and forth through time causing history to change. They called Future Trunks a “Sinner”. because of this Trunks awakens a new Super Saiyan form then claiming he would be the one to kill Goku Black and Future Zamasu. Goku, Vegeta and Bulma then retreat to the past while Future Trunks holds off Black and Future Zamasu.

Goku and his friends later return, with Goku having learned the Mafuba technique to trap Future Zamasu. In order to ensure that the battlefield will be their grave, Goku Black destroys their time machine. Again Black engages Vegeta in battle, only this time he is outclassed and overwhelmed by the Saiyan Prince who proceeds to give him a well-deserved thrashing as he questions the difference in strength. Vegeta deems as a “fake” for stealing Goku’s body as he was the only person who can draw out the Saiyan cells within the body. Seeing that Vegeta is using his anger to become stronger, Goku Black decides to try this as well. As a result of his anger at the mortals who disrespect the Gods and the Gods who turn their heads away to such disrespect, Black is able to summon his energy blade and transform it into a scythe, which he uses to cut a hole in the sky and summon countless copies of himself distracts Goku and Vegeta.

However, after sensing Future Zamasu’s ki appear and disappear, Goku Black leaves to see what’s going on. Future Zamasu explains to Black that the humans are much more dangerous than they originally thought, prompting Goku Black to fuse with him, creating Fusion Zamasu. However, Fusion Zamasu’s body later began to mutate and become unstable due to Goku Black’s mortal body combining with Future Zamasu’s immortal one; allowing Fusion Zamasu to be defeated by Future Trunks. Future Zen-Oh later erased Fusion Zamasu from existence along with Future Trunks’ entire timeline, thus putting an end to both Goku Black and Future Zamasu.

Personality

While a man who cares for the development and prosperity of the universe, the present Zamasu often questioned the worth of lesser beings, not trusting in their ability to handle conflict, as they were prone to commence war in a repeated cycle. He also did not agree with how the Kais would not be more directly involved in mortals’ actions, like the Gods of Destruction. Despite this, he acknowledged his lack of personal experience and was willing to diligently listen to his teacher Gowasu’s words. To which, he was a humble, ordinary, deferential, and levelheaded man with just goals, as Gowasu noted by how well-balanced he would brew tea, implying that he was a just and honorable man. In battle, he is shown to be a very calm, regular, and methodical fighter, carefully perceiving his opponent’s attack style and seamlessly countering in a fluid manner.

However, after meeting Goku, his views radically changed, and his distrustful and questionable nature towards mortals only grew. Annoyed at Goku’s enthusiastic and carefree attitude and lack of respect, his distaste for the gods not quelling the dangerous and destructive nature of mortals evolved to a radicalism-level. Shocked at how a mortal like Goku could gain a power rivaling gods (or even obtain such power to begin with) and so recklessly challenge one, Zamasu came to sternly believe that mortals by nature are evil. As with his counterpart, Black, despite claiming that he wants to rid the world of sinners, is nothing more than an unhinged madman who takes pleasure in tormenting others. He has no problem wiping out his fellow Gods as long as he gets his way. Furthermore, he, the other two Zamasus, he shares many flaws with the mortals he despises such as being highly self-centered and in the case of the Saiyans, a high lust for battle. In the case of the latter, it is likely due to stealing Goku’s body.

Upon becoming Goku Black, Zamasu became an extremely cruel, ruthless, remorseless, narcissistic, manipulative and intelligent individual who has killed many humans including Future Bulma without a second thought saying it was in the name of “Justice”. He also became more emotional, gaining an opposite personality to his host’s body. During his fight with Future Trunks, he was enjoying the battle and demonstrates a sense of brutality as he savagely kicks Trunks’ right arm breaking his bones and then shoots a barrage of Ki blasts at him.

Goku Black’s distrust towards Mortals has also grown to the point where he utterly detests them, perceiving them as a sacrilegious blasphemy and God’s greatest mistake. He elaborates this by stating that he has scoured several universes and has implied to have seen enough timelines via Time Ring to feel vindicated in his belief that mortals are an existence that prevents the universe as a whole from becoming a true paradise and has taken upon himself to destroy all traces of mortal life, whom he believes have only been allowed to live as long as they have because the Gods refuse to acknowledge their failure in creating mortals. Although to wipe out mortals, he resorts to using a mortal body to assure his dark justice.

Judging from his derogatory and opprobrious comments about Trunks’s Saiyan heritage, he has grown to see Saiyans as one of the worst kind of mortals, yet at the same time refers to them as a proud warrior race, and finds Trunks’s unbecoming tactics for a Saiyan disgusting.

He is also highly respectful for Goku, saying that is a honor to fight him. He also shares a few traits with Goku, namely his desire to fight strong opponents and love for combat, even going as far as not using his full power at the beginning of the battle to have a good fight. While he does respect him, he is no less willing to kill him than any other mortal. Black shares Goku’s determination, after seeing Future Trunks disappear in the Time Machine, he promises to find him while claiming that there is nowhere for him to run. He also vowed to continue his goals no matter the cost.

He also shows masochistic traits, such as taking a full-force punch from Future Trunks while laughing, and seemingly enjoys the pain inflicted to him by Goku. However, he is slightly irritated, hot-tempered, and argumentative, as shown when Trunks threw his sword at him, in order to intercept Black’s charged ki blast. That said, he is much better at keeping his temper in check than his future counterpart.

Black also refused the chance to become immortal like his future counterpart. Thinking that his new body has all the power they need for their plan. He often says how amazing the powers of a Saiyan is. Claiming that their bodies are the “ultimate blessing from the gods”. And just like Saiyan’s, Black wants to get stronger on his own without handicaps like immortality aiding him.

Goku Black’s personality is different in the manga, as he tends to lose his composure the moment thing don’t go his way, and thinks of Future Zamasu as a mere pawn to his schemes (along with having no problem briefly betraying him as well). His fighting style differs in the manga as well, using brute force in a fight without any finesse or grace to his movements. These changes led to this version of Black becoming reviled by fans who said that he was inferior to the original.

Appearance

Black’s original appearance was the same as his other timeline counterparts. After stealing Goku’s body he underwent some physical changes. While still looking mostly identical to Goku, Black has a thinner physique and facial structure, giving him a somewhat younger look than Goku. His eyes are sharper, similarly to how Goku’s eyes change shape when he gets serious (albeit Black’s eyes are drawn even sharper), giving him a more aggressive expression compared to the lighthearted Saiyan. His Gi consists of a sleeveless dark gray jacket, a long-sleeved black undershirt, a red sash, black pants and white boots. He wears a single green Potara earring on his left ear and a silver Time Ring on his right index finger. When concealed in dark clouds or fire, Goku Black has the appearance of a demon from hell, although this was only shown in his debut.

Powers and Abilities

Even before becoming Goku Black, Zamasu was a fighting prodigy and by far the most powerful Kai that ever lived. According to Goku, Zamasu’s power far surpasses the power of Universe 7’s Kaioshin and happens to be superior to the former Kaioshins who were killed/absorbed by Majin Buu, though he is not as strong as Super Saiyan 2 Goku post-training with Whis.

In the anime, after becoming Goku Black, he is strong enough to easily defeat Future Trunks (in his Super Saiyan form) in battle, gets blasted with a ki-powered shotgun without being harmed, and destroy almost every human within a year. It is said by Future Trunks that Goku Black possesses power equal or greater than Super Saiyan 3 Goku. However, during the encounter with Goku, Black was roughly comparable to Super Saiyan 2 Goku and kept gradually increasing his power during the fight. After his encounter with Goku, Black embedded Goku’s fighting style into his own, making him more powerful than before. With his power increased in his base form he is able to take blows from Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta until he transformed into his Super Saiyan Rose’ form, allowing him to overpower Vegeta. However, once Vegeta trains in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, the Saiyan prince was able to beat and severely overwhelm Black as the latter questioned the difference of power between them. He possessed some swordsman skills, as he is able to face off against the experienced Trunks. He can create clones of himself which have the ability to reform themselves after dispersing.

In the manga, Black couldn’t access all of Goku’s powers right away and had trouble attaining the standard Super Saiyan form. However, by exploting the Saiyan’s ability to become stronger after each passing battle and Future Zamasu’s healing ability, Black’s abilities grew. In his standard Super Saiyan form, Black was able to beat Super Saiyan 2 Future Trunks easily. Against Vegeta however, Black had trouble fighting the prince. Vegeta was utilizing his Super Saiyan 2 rage mode to overpower Super Saiyan Goku Black. Black was able to hold his own for a short time until Vegeta went Super Saiyan Blue. At that point Black was outclassed by Vegeta and was almost defeated by him until his future counterpart saved him. After healing Black’s injuries, Black’s base Super Saiyan form was now on par with Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta, taking blows from Vegeta’s godly might with little damage whatsoever. Eventually, Black’s Super Saiyan form evolved into his Super Saiyan Rose form. In his Rose form, Vegeta was defeated and Trunks stepped in to stall Black and Future Zamasu so that Goku and Vegeta could escape. In his rematch with Vegeta, Vegeta was able to overwhelm Black by switching from his Super Saiyan God form to his Super Saiyan Blue form at the moment he attacks.

It’s been speculated that his power is great enough to threaten the entire Universe, and will force the involvement of the Gods of Destruction: Beerus and Champa, the Supreme Kais, and even the Omni-King himself.

Transformations

Super Saiyan

In the Dragon Ball Super Manga, Goku Black has the ability to transform into the standard Super Saiyan form and uses it to combat Super Saiyan Vegeta. According to Future Trunks, this was the first time he had seen Black go Super Saiyan in a while. Future Mai even believed Black may have found Vegeta worthy of going all out. In this form, Black was evenly matched with SS Vegeta until Vegeta went into his Super Saiyan Blue form, allowing him to overwhelm Black.

Super Saiyan Rose

By using his Godly Ki along side his Super Saiyan form, Goku Black is able to access his own version of the Super Saiyan Blue form called Super Saiyan Rosé. In this form, the hair color is pink with pure white highlights. The eyebrows are a whitish-pink color, and the eyes follow suit. The aura resembles a flame of darkness, with a reddish-purple inside. The clothing gains a purple hue and the user glows with purple particles.

What separates this form from Super Saiyan Blue is that Black uses natural god ki. Because of this, the forms color is different from Super Saiyan Blue’s.

This form evolves Black to become nearly superior to both SSB Goku and SSB Vegeta individually and defeats Vegeta easily by stabbing him with an Energy Blade made from his aura. It also powers up his Black Kamehameha so much that it could leave both SSB Goku and SSJ2 Future Trunks severely injured with one hit. However, he was no match for SSB Vegeta who learned to shift forms and overpower Black with both speed and strength.

Upon receiving several beatings from Goku, Trunks, and Vegeta, his powers increase to the point where he can create an energy scythe and cut holes in time-space, allowing him to summon clones of himself with the same amount of power and can reform themselves after getting hit.

Techniques

Black Power Ball

The Black Power Ball is charged by one hand, creating a golden energy sphere with a core of black energy, creating a devastating explosion upon impact. When fired, the energy ball is completely golden with a black outline. Future Zamasu uses an indigo colored version of this. The attack can also be fired as a Continuous Black Power Ball.

Black Kamehameha

Black cups his hands in the signature Kamehameha stance, forming a dark-purple ball of energy before firing a powerful beam of purple energy against his opponents. It is powerful enough to destroy an entire city. His SSR Form uses a stronger pink version of the attack called Super Black Kamehameha.

Violent Fierce God Slicer

SSR Black creates a weapon with his energy aura and uses it against his opponents. It is strong enough to cut the skin of even a Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan. The three main weapons used are: a sword, a scythe, a scimitar, it can be used to open portals, and can be fired in the form of multiple javelins.

Quotes

Trivia

• Black has the same Japanese voice actress as Goku, Masako Nozawa, and has the same English voice actor as him, Sean Schemmel.
• Goku Black is the third evil counterpart of Goku to appear, The first was Turles and the second was Shadow Goku, but Turles is less evil and noble as if he wanted Goku to rejoin the Saiyan Army again, but Goku refused to.
• While he fought Goku several times in the anime, the two never fought in the manga.
• Black makes his first video game appearance in Dragon Ball Heroes.
• Similar to Future 17 and Future 18, he caused apocalyptic destruction in the future.
• When Black followed Future Trunks into the past, he was somehow able to identify Vegeta alongside Goku and Beerus, despite the fact that the two of them had never met (due to Vegeta not traveling to the 10th Universe with the others). Given that he took his Goku’s body, however, it makes sense that Black knew him.
  • It’s highly possible that Black might’ve killed Vegeta and the other Z-Fighters after killing Chi Chi and Goten (as Black himself noted that he traveled through various timelines in his quest to purge humanity into extinction).
• Goku Black is the third antagonist to kill Goku (Succeeding after Piccolo and Cell). However, Black is the first villain to succeed in killing Goku as an intended target, as Goku willingly sacrifices his life when he was killed by Piccolo in an effort to defeat Raditz and when he teleported Cell out of Earth and to King Kai’s planet when the former was about to self-destruct in desperation, thus making him an unintended victim in both scenarios.
• Black comes from the original present timeline, before Future Trunks came back to the past and changed it. Because of Trunks interference, Black’s timeline was erased creating a new present timeline where Goku’s body wasn’t taken by Zamasu. However, because Black wore the Time Ring he was immune to Trunks changes in the past. Therefore, he was not erased along with the rest of his timeline.
• Goku Black is the second villain in the DB Franchise to have his own unique Super Saiyan transformation, The first was Broly with his Legendary Super Saiyan form.
• Goku Black and Zamasu’s main way of fighting is with Energy Blades. In Black’s case, he makes the Energy Blade out of his own aura.
• Goku Black and Zamasu are the first Dragon Ball villains to threaten time. That said, they only became a time-level threat after their fusion.
• In the timeline Black is from, he killed Goku, Chi-Chi, and Goten. However, it’s unknown if he killed Gohan as well. Given that he purged several timelines, this is highly likely.
• Goku Black has similarities with Baby:
  • Both are main villains who have a deep hatred for Saiyans, although Black hates all mortals as well.
  • Both used the new Dragon Balls introduced in their series to further their grand plans for the universe.
  • Both use Saiyan bodies for the power they feel they need to accomplish these plans.
  • Both use altered Super Saiyan forms to match and surpass Goku.
  • They also both share the same irony of the thing that they hate, Mortals and Saiyans respectively.
  • The Mutant Tuffle and the tyrannical Kai ultimately become the very thing they hated in their quest to vanquish the respective races they despised.
  • Because of their deeds, they gained more sinister personalities and more destructive desire as a result: thus, destroying their race’s good name (though it should be noted that evil Core Person are confirmed to exist and other vengeful Tuffle villains have appeared such as Dr. Lychee and the Tuffle machine Hatchiyack).
  • Both see their evil actions as completely justified.
  • They also use the body of one of the protagonists (Vegeta in Baby’s case, Goku in Black’s case) and both end up doing evil things to an incarnation of Bulma (Baby infects Bulma with a Tuffle parasite turning her against Goku and the uninfected Z Fighters, while Black ends up killing Future Bulma).

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