Dragon Ball Super’s Future Trunks Arc was welcomed by many eager to see the fan-favorite character return. Once again, Trunks sought help from his friends in the present day against Goku Black, a mysterious Goku lookalike who had left Earth in shambles just as the Androids had years earlier.
Like most early Dragon Ball Super storylines, the arc was told more or less concurrently in both the anime series and manga adaptation. As usual, however, while the major plot points largely stayed the same between the two versions, several differences between them exist, with the slower-running manga making plenty of changes.
10 Kibito Was Suspected Of Being Goku Black
The only person in the anime Beerus and Whis ever suspected of having ties with Goku Black was Universe 10’s Zamasu. In the manga, however, they actually had a second suspect: Kibito. Ironically, it was the Universe 7 Supreme Kai who proposed his attendant as a suspect, given remarks about mortals Kibito had made in the past. Beerus, agreeing as he felt Kibito possessed an “evil-looking face,” immediately threatened to destroy the attendant when the two next met. Yet Kibito exonerated himself by revealing he’d discovered Zamasu had recently visited Zuno inquiring about Goku and whether the Dragon Balls could switch people’s bodies.
9 Goku Black Could Not Become Super Saiyan Rosé Until Getting Healed Twice By Future Zamasu (& Watching Vegeta Use Super Saiyan Blue)
When Vegeta first met Goku Black, he immediately powered up to Super Saiyan Blue in the anime. Black reacted with a smirk, making Trunks believe the Goku lookalike recognized the transformation. Black confirmed this later by becoming a Super Saiyan Rosé -- essentially Super Saiyan Blue, but with a pink color indicating the user is an actual deity.
However, the manga’s Goku Black could only become a regular Super Saiyan (albeit with Super Saiyan 2’s electrical sparks) at first, as he had not mastered Goku’s power. Only after watching Vegeta transform and receiving two power boosts from Future Zamasu healing his injuries could Black become Rosé.
8 Bulma Never Travelled To The Future
Bulma famously accompanied Trunks, Goku, and Vegeta on their second and third trips to the future, noting that Goku and Vegeta wouldn’t know how to pilot the Time Machine back to the present. There she repeatedly put her resourcefulness to use, providing supplies to Mai’s resistance fighters and repairing the Time Machine after Goku Black destroyed it. She also taught Trunks the Evil Containment Wave with a video recording of Piccolo executing the move.
Conversely, the manga had Bulma stay squarely in the present, though she continued to help indirectly. As she never showed Trunks the Evil Containment Wave video, Goku performed the technique instead.
7 Fused Zamasu Used Completely Different Techniques
Fusing gave Goku Black and Future Zamasu a host of new abilities as Fused Zamasu. In the anime, he could fire pink ki bolts, a.k.a. "Absolute Lightning," from either a halo around his head or a purple energy bird. He could also rain down his “Blades of Judgment” (exploding energy spikes) from the sky.
Fused Zamasu’s manga techniques, alternately, more closely resembled familiar Supreme Kai powers, including telekinesis and Katchin creation. Instead of the Blades of Judgment, however, Zamasu used a technique resembling Super Buu’s Human Extinction Attack, and he even possessed Janemba’s ability to extend the range of his punches and kicks with portals.
6 Goku & Vegeta Use Super Saiyan God Against Goku Black & Future Zamasu, Marking The First Time Fans Saw Vegeta As A Super Saiyan God
Goku and Vegeta primarily used Super Saiyan Blue to battle Zamasu and Goku Black in the anime. Yet they spent parts of the manga alternating between Blue and Super Saiyan God to conserve energy, with Vegeta powering up to Blue in short bursts before every hit. Goku, conversely, used Super Saiyan God when Evil Containment Wave had temporarily robbed him of the stamina needed to go Super Saiyan Blue.
What was particularly notable was that Vegeta’s transformation was the first time he had ever been seen using Super Saiyan God. He would not use the form in animation until Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
5 Goku “Completed” Super Saiyan Blue In The Manga
Super Saiyan Blue depletes the user’s stamina and energy, but it does so far more noticeably in the manga than in the anime. For that reason, the anime version of Goku could use the form for extended periods, while his manga counterpart had to employ it more strategically.
Thankfully, manga Goku found a way around the issue by pulling the energy from his blue aura into his body, reducing his wasted power enormously. Consequently, he was able to fight Fused Zamasu without losing strength, although containing that much energy proved too taxing to do for long periods.
4 Trunks Never Used The Spirit Bomb Sword
When Mai gave Trunks back his sword, the Future Warrior recreated the broken part of its blade with energy. Though Trunks’ new energy sword could hurt Fused Zamasu, it still couldn’t overtake the Supreme Kai’s healing abilities. Thankfully, the sword—and Trunks himself—got an enormous boost when Earth’s survivors unwittingly channeled their hope into a Spirit Bomb. Trunks’ body and sword absorbed the power, making his energy blade powerful enough to cleave Zamasu in two.
All that was anime-only, however. In the manga, Trunks attacked right when Fused Zamasu’s fusion had reached its most unstable point, splitting Zamasu back into two people.
3 Future Zamasu Split Into Endless Copies Of Himself (Instead Of Merging With The Universe)
In both versions, Trunks defeated Fused Zamasu by slicing through him with his sword… or so it seemed. Zamasu had one more trick up his sleeve -- in the anime, Zamasu continued to exist as an intangible being and began merging with the entire universe. He was on the verge of extending to the present day in the main Dragon Ball timeline before Zeno destroyed him, taking Trunks’ universe with him.
Zeno’s solution in the manga was the same, but the problem varied. Instead, Goku and Zamasu, whose fusion Trunks had separated, both turned into new "Fused" Zamasus, and their bodies began multiplying endlessly.
2 Trunks Never Went Super Saiyan Rage
When Goku Black and Zamasu partly blamed their actions on Trunks’ meddling with time, Trunks grew furious, awakening a brand new form: Super Saiyan Rage. Sustained by enduring anger, the transformation resembled Trunks’ normal Super Saiyan form, but possessed an additional blue aura within the traditional golden Super Saiyan energy field. Trunks’ newfound power made him stronger and more resilient to the Zamasus’ attacks, but never quite closed the power gap by itself.
In the manga, Super Saiyan Rage never came to be. Instead, Trunks had to rely on subterfuge and timing his attacks strategically, not to mention assists from his allies.
1 Future Trunks & Zamasu Had Healing Powers, Thanks To Being Apprentices Of Supreme Kais
In the Dragon Ball Super anime, Kibito was the only Supreme Kai apprentice who could heal others. Yet in the manga, Supreme Kais could bestow any apprentice with healing powers through a special dance resembling the Old Kai’s Unlock Ability.
Unsurprisingly, Future Zamasu possessed the technique, which he regularly used to heal Goku Black. The true shock was that Future Trunks could also heal, as he too had been a Supreme Kai apprentice. He inadvertently revived Mai and Gowasu and then, once aware of his “new” ability, healed both Vegeta and Goku. Trunks later decided he’d eventually withdraw his apprenticeship, meaning he’d lose his healing abilities.
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