Dragon Ball is Officially Moving On From Goku & Vegeta

Goku and Vegeta have been the main characters of the Dragon Ball franchise for well over a decade now. Battle of Gods made it very clear that Vegeta was Goku's co-lead, a role he's been holding firm since 2013. Goku and Vegeta are effectively the face of the franchise, with their rivalry playing a key role in both the story and their character development. That said, they've more or less reached the end of their stories in Dragon Ball Super.

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero made Piccolo and Gohan the main characters, with Goku and Vegeta being relegated to the film's B-Plot. The manga doubles down on this by continuing to follow Gohan's point of view in Dragon Ball Super Chapters 101 through 103 in the manga. When Dragon Ball Super returns for the Black Frieza Saga, Goku and Vegeta won't be the main characters anymore – which they haven't been for a while.

Gohan & Piccolo Are Currently Dragon Ball Super's Main Characters

When you think about it, the Granolah the Survivor Saga was the last time Goku and Vegeta were the main characters in Dragon Ball. Both Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and the manga's Super Hero Saga make Piccolo and Gohan the main characters. Piccolo is the protagonist for most of the actual story, while Gohan's role expands as he becomes the main character during the last act. The manga's last few chapters (save 104, which was a flashback), are outright framed around Gohan's point of view.

Piccolo even gets the final panel in Dragon Ball Super Chapter 103. Goku and Vegeta spend the entire arc and movie fighting, never actually growing as characters, while Piccolo and Gohan undergo power boosts and reclaim their spots as two of the strongest Z-Fighters. By the end of the movie, Gohan understands what he needs to do to keep the Earth safe, and the Dragon Ball Super manga explores this by having Goku acknowledge Gohan's growth.

When the Dragon Ball Super manga finally comes back from hiatus, Gohan and Piccolo will still be the main characters. This is their story now, especially Gohan, who Whis even said was powerful enough to replace Beerus as Universe 7's God of Destruction. Tying in with Dragon Ball's overarching theme of passing the torch onto the next generation, Gohan could very well remain the series' main hero and point of view character during the Black Frieza Saga.

Broly Has the Most Potential For Character Development in the Black Frieza Saga

Although Gohan and Piccolo may be Dragon Ball Super's main characters right now, they're already fairly fleshed out and developed characters. Broly, on the other hand, has a lot of narrative potential – significantly more so than Goku and Vegeta. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero treats Broly as one of the series' main characters, with the Dragon Ball Super manga heavily teasing the prospect of Broly having a major role in the Black Frieza Saga.

Broly is the main character with the most narrative potential right now. He killed his father because of Frieza and was manipulated by him to fight two of, what are now, his closest friends. The Black Frieza Saga can force Broly to come to terms with his mistakes and learn from them, as he grows as a socialized person. Don't be surprised if the Black Frieza Saga dedicates a massive amount of page-time to Broly and his development since his debut movie.

Goku & Vegeta's Character Arcs Are Done

More important than anything else, there's nowhere left to go with Goku and Vegeta. Goku has already mastered Ultra Instinct and the only major beat left in his story is choosing to train Uub. Vegeta has made up for the damage he did on Namek, come to terms with the Saiyans' dark past, and surpassed Goku, so he's achieved all of his goals and gone through some amazing growth that's arguably better-written than his development in Dragon Ball Z.

All this to say, Goku and Vegeta are fully fleshed out characters, while Gohan, Piccolo, and Broly have more potential. Even the Akira Toriyama seemed to know this, as he pushed Goku and Vegeta aside for all of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. Even Dragon Ball DAIMA focused more on other characters than Goku and Vegeta as a joint duo. Dragon Ball, on a whole, seems done with the dynamic duo that Goku and Vegeta became now that their stories are effectively over.