It’s not a secret for anyone that Dragon Ball is mostly about Goku and his journey to constantly become stronger and take care of the Earth. But this wouldn’t have happened if the mighty Saiyan wasn’t sent to Earth by his parents long ago.
When Goku was just a baby and his home planet Vegeta was on the brink of extinction, his father Bardock had an idea in order to save him. Together with Goku’s mother, Gine, the couple agreed to put baby Goku in a capsule in order to send him far away to another planet. That other planet was Earth, and Goku became his most trusted guardian. Later on, Bardock decided to take the main threat head-on, an evil galactic overlord who hated the Saiyan race with every cell in his being. That overlord was Frieza, and he destroyed the planet along with all the Saiyans living on it, including Bardock.
But Goku escaped, and so did a few other Saiyans. Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz also managed to escape before their planet’s explosion.
Goku clashes with Bardock in Super Dragon Ball Heroes
The Super Dragon Ball Heroes anime is well-known for bringing back old and forgotten characters that would otherwise never meet in the rest of the franchise. It happened with Raditz, Janemba, Future Gohan, Cooler, and more. Since there were a lot of fans who were eager to see Bardock, the father of Goku, as well, it seemed as if it was just a matter of time until it happened.
The latest arc known as the Ultra God Mission of the Super Dragon Ball Heroes anime brings Goku to fight against his father, Bardock. This is possible through a weird time gimmick, as Goku’s father died a long time ago.
As you probably already guessed, the show had to find a way for Goku not to mop the floor with Bardock. Otherwise, the difference in power between the two warriors would have been way too huge. Those two had to somehow be equal in strength because you know: it would have simply been boring otherwise.
Goku used his latest Ultra Instinct technique, while his father used a Super Saiyan 3 transformation. Bardock also used some dragon balls before in order to become stronger, which is definitely a nice and compelling explanation for his massive power boost.
Just so that a fighting anime wouldn’t turn out into a complete emotional one, Goku had no idea who his opponent really was. Overall, Bardock was still outclassed by the power of his son, but at least he didn’t lose without a little fight.
Bardock VS Goku was so wholesome. Even though Goku had no idea who he was, they both acknowledged their strength and Bardock seemed very proud of his son 💪❤️ pic.twitter.com/h534wviRm6
— SLO (@SLOplays) September 1, 2022
Who could ever guess that, of all DB medias, Super Dragon Ball Heroes Promo Anime would give us the best interaction between Bardock and Goku pic.twitter.com/gZpvQfYn7s
— Saikyou 🌻 (@SaikyouPotara) September 1, 2022
Surely some fans might still be upset that Bardock was capable of clashing with Goku’s most powerful transformation while the former was only using the Super Saiyan 3 transformation. But even so, let’s not forget what happened in the Tournament of Power from the Dragon Ball Super anime: Super Saiyan 2 Kefla was able to spar with Goku while the latter was at Ultra Instinct level. Even though Kefla wasn’t able to land a single blow, she was still able to not lose too early against Goku in the fight.
Kefla is the fusion between Kale and Caulifa, two female Saiyans from a different Universe. They were both extremely strong but somehow haven’t learned how to become Super Saiyans just yet. During the tournament, they managed to solve their problem and become the first female Super Saiyans in Dragon Ball history. While Kale is a shy person, Caulifa is the opposite. Despite her behavior, Kale was able to use a huge dormant power when needed, and it overwhelmed Goku while our hero was using his Super Saiyan Blue form.