Major spoilers for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero down below!
There are several anime in this world that so many people know, from recent hits like Attack on Titan to older ones that are celebrating long runs, like Pokemon, but one that has been around for decades is Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball has evolved and changed over time, with new additions to the long-running show, and the most recent iteration that has come out is Dragon Ball Super. Starting in 2015 and ending in 2018, the show has had two sequel films -- one in 2018, called Dragon Ball Super: Broly, and now, in 2022, called Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
But the voice actors for the English dub of the film are thinking that they might have an idea of who they would want the next big villain to be, and you won’t believe who they want.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero puts the focus on Z Fighters Piccolo and Gohan. They have grown and changed together immensely, both in terms of power and their partnership. Their big fight in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero proved that even more, against the ultimate villain, Cell Max. This was a new and improved version of a classic Dragon Ball weapon, Cell, who was the project of Dr. Gero (who was actually Dr. Hedo’s grandfather)
In this fight, both Piccolo and Gohan showed off new forms of their power -- Orange Piccolo, and “Gohan Beast,” both of which, combined, were able to stop Cell Max. When asked about what could possibly come next for these two heroes in the Dragon Ball franchise after taking on Cell Max, Gohan’s English Dub voice actor, Kyle Hebert, told CinemaBlend that the fandom makes speculation about the future with these characters that much more fun.
That’s a tough once, but when you’re dealing with a franchise as meaningful to so many people worldwide as Dragon Ball, I think it's just a matter of time and speculation, and that’s one of the cool things to witness too - is the fandom sitting there, going ‘well, what if this happens and what if this happens,’ and all the theoreticals, and to see who’s “quote on quote” right about it.
Piccolo’s English Dub voice actor, Christopher Sabat, (who also voices Vegeta) went on to say that the possibilities are endless for the characters, and that there are so many different “colors” that could be explored for Piccolo in the future (in reference to his new form in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero):
There’s so many more colors. There’s an infinite amount of colors. Vegeta gets black and yellow and blue and red and purple - there’s so many colors left for Piccolo. We have not nearly explored all of them.
However, Sabat also provided his insight into who he believes should be the next big villain to be featured in the franchise - and it just might get fans excited.
If you want another villain, I’m gonna keep saying this in interviews until Akira Toriyama finally, finally hears me. My pitch is ‘Resurrection L’ - I want Launch back. I’m making my pitch for that. I want Launch to be back - Launch Max is what we’ll call her.
For those who don’t know, Launch was a popular female character that was featured in the Dragon Ball franchise for many years and was able to switch between two distinct personalities - one that was super sweet and had blue hair, and the other that was a blond-haired, criminal with serious anger issues. Launch was able to switch between these two personalities whenever she sneezed, and she was loved by fans. However, she strangely vanished in Dragon Ball Z, to much confusion.
It was revealed later on that Akira Toriyama actually forgot about the character during an interview with Mandō Kobayashi, via ScreenRant. But Sabat is saying that it’s “time” for her to make her return.
It would be the first time they’ve ever battled, like, a genuine female character too. We need her back. It’s time for Launch to return.
Who would you want to see as the next villain of Dragon Ball Z? God knows there’s so many possible choices. But having Launch back would be quite the twist after all these years of her not being in the anime (besides a few small, short-live appearances). Imagine having her in live-action form - now that would be some return.
