Warning: Spoilers for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
The Dragon Ball franchise has no excuse for ignoring Piccolo after Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. Despite being a major member of the Z-Warriors in Dragon Ball Z, Piccolo has been sidelined for several of Goku and Vegeta’s biggest battles. It’s been over a decade in the Dragon Ball timeline since there was a sense that Piccolo’s power was desperately needed.
Piccolo was vital to the heroes’ efforts in the Saiyan, Frieza, and Cell Sagas. Despite being significantly weaker than the main villains in these stories, Piccolo was powerful enough to make a real difference in many of these fights, including the one where he fought Android 17 to a stalemate. However, the Buu Saga saw Piccolo’s standing in the Dragon Ball power scale take a dive. Dragon Ball Z changed the Namekian’s role when it established early on that he lacked the strength to even challenge Buu. Since then, Piccolo has maintained his distance from most of the anime’s high-stakes battles. In the current era of the franchise, it’s Goku and Vegeta who do the bulk of the fighting.
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Not only did Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero upset the status quo by making Piccolo and Gohan the main protagonists, but it made it extremely difficult for the anime to ever return the focus to just Goku and Vegeta. In Dragon Ball Super, it was at least reasonable for PIccolo to have such small roles in nearly every saga. After all, it was true that he was too weak to keep up with Goku and Vegeta against Jiren, Top, Zamasu, Golden Frieza, Beerus, and most recently, Broly. But, Super Hero has changed everything for the character with the Orange Piccolo transformation. With all the power he has at his disposal, it wouldn’t make sense for the Namekian not to be invited along for the fights to come.
Piccolo’s New Power Level Explained
As confirmed by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama himself, Piccolo is finally in Goku’s league. The movie hinted at the disparity between them disappearing when Gohan pointed out that Goku and Vegeta may not have beaten Cell Max. This idea that they wouldn’t necessarily have fared any better than Gohan and Piccolo shows that the four Z-Warriors are close to equal now. With that being the case, it’s likely that Orange Piccolo is stronger than Goku and Vegeta’s Super Saiyan Blue forms, but perhaps not powerful enough to defeat Ultra Instinct Goku and Super Saiyan Blue Evolved Vegeta. Either way, Piccolo should have the means to pose a threat to them in a fight, which he couldn’t have done before the movie.
Thanks to Piccolo’s new transformation in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, the Namekian is one of the four strongest Z-Warriors in the Dragon Ball franchise, with both Future Trunks and Android 17 firmly behind him at this point. So while several Z-Warriors may continue to struggle for relevancy in Dragon Ball’s future, Piccolo’s days of being a second-class hero in the franchise are over. When the next problem arises, there’s no reason at all why it should only be Goku and Vegeta rising up to stop it. Piccolo has proven that’s he capable as they are.