For more than three decades, Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball has stood out as one of the most popular anime series of its kind, and it continues to draw as passionate of an audience now as it did back when it first premiered. The various characters in Dragon Ball are responsible for saving the Earth on numerous occasions and the many heroes in the series have no shortage of accomplishments shared between them.
Most of Dragon Ball’s eclectic cast find a way to contribute in their own ways, but Future Trunks is an individual who’s proven himself to be indispensable to the team ever since his first appearance. He’s a character who’s continued to make his mark in major ways.
10 He Can Perform The Solar Flare
There are so many techniques that get showcased in Dragon Ball that it might seem silly to weigh one ability as being more advantageous than another. Characters eventually begin to increasingly rely on the power boosts provided by transformations so much that the utility of a good technique sometimes goes overlooked. The Solar Flare, for instance, can be extremely advantageous since it will temporarily blind the opponent when properly performed. The technique is a trademark of Tien and the amount of people who know it are in short supply. Future Trunks picks it up from Future Gohan.
9 He Masters The Evil Containment Wave
Part of the joy of a series that runs for as long as Dragon Ball is that there are techniques or characters that can disappear for hundreds of episodes, only to once again return when the moment is right. The Evil Containment Wave is a temperamental, yet powerful, maneuver that’s introduced in the original Dragon Ball as a tactic to take out Demon King Piccolo. It returns in a very big way in Dragon Ball Super as a possible way to take out the immortal Zamasu. Future Trunks learns the technique from Master Roshi, which puts him in rare company.
8 He’s The First To Unveil Super Saiyan Third Grade
New Super Saiyan transformations are typically an occasion for celebration, but Dragon Ball enters an interesting period of complacency during the Cell Saga where lackluster half-stages to the Super Saiyan process are introduced.
Super Saiyan Third Grade, also known as Super Saiyan Advanced or Ultra Super Saiyan, gives the user a heavy boost in strength, but it comes at the cost of a heavy increase in bulky muscle mass that sacrifices speed and agility. Future Trunks is the first one to tap into this energy, but it’s eventually deemed to be a worthless transformation.
7 He Reaches The Finals Of X.S. Cash's Intergalactic World Tournament
All of the different Dragon Ball series are filled with tournaments that help the characters showcase their strength and how much they’ve grown. One fighting competition that’s easy to forget about is X.S. Cash’s Intergalactic World Tournament that kicks off the ninth Dragon Ball Z movie, Bojack Unbound. The tournament is largely a ruse held by Hercule Satan, but there are still real competitors that are present. Future Trunks proceeds through the semi-finals when he defeats Tien and makes it all the way to the final round until Bojack shows up and derails everything.
6 His Defeat Of Mecha-Frieza And King Cold
A lot of Dragon Ball characters have memorable introductions, but few carry as much of an impact as the first appearance of Future Trunks. Future Trunks’ debut stands out because of his Super Saiyan status, but he also immediately eliminates the new threat of a rebuilt Mecha-Frieza and his tyrannical father, King Cold. He sets a new standard in strength as he’s casually able to defeat this villain that gave Goku dozens of episodes of frustration to overcome. If Future Trunks wasn’t around at this moment, it’s unclear how much damage these two could have done during their revenge tour.
5 He’s Instrumental To The Extermination Of The Androids
Future Trunks’ arrival to the present timeline serves a number of purposes, but he exhibits a special amount of hostility towards the Androids, since he’s personally witnessed their horrors to an excessive degree back in his own fractured timeline.
As a result, Future Trunks is a very important figure in the ensuing fight that takes place against not only the Androids, but also Cell. Furthermore, when the Dragon Ball Z movie, Super Android 13! introduces three more Androids, Trunks is instrumental in their defeat and destroys Android 14.
4 He Cures Goku’s Heart Virus
It’s a major turning point when any series decides to pull the trigger on a concept that’s as lofty as time travel, but Dragon Ball resorts to this idea for some creative reasons. There is a very Terminator-esque threat that drives forward Dragon Ball’s time travel, but at its core there’s also a very practical reason for Trunks’ appearance from the future. Goku succumbs to a deadly heart virus in Trunks’ timeline. Future Trunks is able to benefit from the future’s advanced science and travels to the past to give Goku the necessary medicine to keep him alive.
3 He Helps Save Universe 6 From The Tuffle Threat
Dragon Ball has grown into such a juggernaut of a franchise that there are dozens of video games and supplemental materials that expand upon the series. Super Dragon Ball Heroes is a promotional anime series that exists out of canon and throws as many characters together as possible, but it still often teases some interesting narrative ideas that would work well in the proper series. Super Dragon Ball Heroes features an incident where Universe 6’s Supreme Kai, Fuwa, turns to Future Trunks and Vegeta to save Universe 6’s Saiyans from Oren and Kamin, two Tuffles that have invaded Planet Sadala.
2 He Accesses Super Saiyan Rage And Wields The Sword Of Hope
Dragon Ball contains some more unusual displays of power that occasionally happen only once or twice in the series, and under extreme circumstances. Future Trunks returns in Dragon Ball Super and he plays an instrumental role in the battle against Zamasu and Goku Black. This showdown pushes Future Trunks past his limit and he undergoes a Super Saiyan Rage transformation that allows him to fight on equal ground as Super Saiyan Blue Vegito. Additionally, Future Trunks pulls off a Sword of Hope attack, which essentially takes the power of the Spirit Bomb and channels it into his blade.
1 He Successfully Saves The Past Timeline And Redeems His Own
The whole reason that Future Trunks undergoes something as elaborate as time travel is to help this “past” timeline avoid the same grim fate that his future has had to endure. Future Trunks’ mission is a complete success and he helps prevent an Android apocalypse, but he’s also crucial for the Earth’s survival when he again travels through time in Dragon Ball Super. Future Trunks’ own world is in ruins, but he’s at least able to improve upon it and give it some peace, both against the Androids and Goku Black. He’s a hero to both timelines.
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