Remember that bully in school that everyone was afraid of? Remember the feeling everyone had when they walked down the hallways? You could feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Sweat probably begin to form on your forehead. Everyone starts to whisper, wondering who their next victim was going to be. Well, everyone in the Dragon Ball Super universe got a taste of this feeling when Goku Black was revealed to Future Trunks. He looks just like one of the most famous fighters in Dragon Ball history. However, his intentions are pure evil. He is a bully, throwing his weight around the universe, wrecking timelines, and destroying families. We have Zamasu to thank for this atrocity.

The question with any villain is “how far are they willing to go?” Are they obsessed with power? Do they want something tangible, or do they just want to watch the world burn? In Goku Black’s case, it seems to be all of the above. The second Future Trunks walks in on his mother creating the time machine to send him back; he knows that something is wrong. A black figure comes across the corner to destroy her in front of his very eyes. This is the diabolical nature of Goku Black. Join us as we discuss 25 crazy things you did not know about this sinister individual. We don’t blame you if you felt a little shiver up your spine out of terror.

25 Um…That Never Happened

Now, it is true that the Dragon Ball Z anime takes a lot of inspiration from the manga. Most of the time, the representation is spot on, which is why fans enjoy it so much. The books are great for a reason, and if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. However, there are times where the show may take some liberties to enhance the story even more. Imagine reading Harry Potter and finding out that he and Voldemort never battled in the last book. This is kind of like that. In the manga, Goku never fights Goku Black, his mortal enemy, and evil twin. It sounds a little weird, doesn’t it? Well, the anime fixes this by putting on a legendary battle between the two. This sounds a little more appropriate.

24 The Ring To Rule Them All

Rings can be an incredibly powerful item in legendary stories. Think of Gollum’s demise when he jumped to his death for his “precious” or Dumbledore’s expiration after putting on Regulus Black’s poisoned one to locate a Horcrux. Whether you are a LOTR or HP head, you recognize that rings can play a vital role in storylines. Goku Black has a ring that not only helps him wield the power of a god, but it also keeps his existence intact even if he is killed in the past. He can prevent someone from destroying him in an alternate timeline. So, fighters have to meet him in the present to take him out. Where in the world was this thing created? Middle Earth? So, be careful the next time you try on someone’s ring.

23 Pink…Really?

Many fans were probably intrigued and confused when they saw Goku Black’s Super Saiyan color. For the first time, pink made its way onto the screen instead of yellow or blue. It looked pretty cool, but it was different, so it was natural for fans to theorize as to why the writers chose to use this particular color.

Real villains wear pink!

In an interview, Toriyama was asked why he picked the shade of pink for Goku Black’s Super Saiyan form. Fans have theorized that it had a much more profound meaning regarding his power and identity. Unfortunately, Toriyama blew up the theory by stating this was the only color he had not used yet. He thought of using white, but he had to reserve it for another villain. We wonder who that could be.

22 DBZ Truly Listens To Fans

So, this is like the ultimate fan fantasy. Your favorite anime ends (bummer!), and you are heartbroken. Instead of wallowing in sorrow, you decide to create your own continuation to see the story through. While some anime studios would become upset at someone taking their work into their hands, they instead embrace it and end up hiring you to work on the next installment in the series.

What if your idea was used in your favorite series?

This is precisely what happened to Toyotaro. He created his continuation of the DBZ universe called Dragon Ball AF. The look and some of the personality of Goku Black was taken from stories in this version. In fact, Toyotoro was made an illustrator on Dragon Ball Super and is Toriyama’s chosen successor. Best fan story ever!

21 Sorry…Super Saiyan 3 Goku…

This moment probably dealt a blow to many Goku fans, and it should have. Goku is the face of the franchise, the ultimate warrior and formidable foe for anyone brave enough to face him. He isn’t too bright, but he is strong and has a good heart. He is the epitome of a superhero. So, how did it feel to see someone stronger than him who looked exactly like him?

What if Super Saiyan 3 Was No Match For An Enemy? 

Everyone knows that Super Saiyan 3 Goku is incredibly powerful. He seems unbeatable! However, it is still no match for Goku Black. His base form is on par with Super Saiyan Trunks and Super Saiyan Three Goku. Therefore, the best way to take out this guy is to team up with someone else and hope for a miracle.

20 Ummm... Should We Be Creeped out

This may be one of the most terrifying facts about Goku Black. Imagine hitting him with all the power you’ve got. You think you have him on the ropes because he has slowed down a bit, but you know that something is not right. Something has to be off. As you land another punch, he throws his head back and begins to laugh.

Why are you laughing when I hit you? 

Confused, you punch again, and he seems to laugh with even more intensity. He loves the feeling and lets you know that he does. Some fans have theorized that Goku Black may be a masochist. They point to the fact that he seemed to enjoy the pain Goku and Trunks inflicted on him in the present timeline. Can you say creepy?

19 Blame It On The Drink

Alright, so you may or may not have run into this, but there are people out there who are named after beverages. How many times have you met an Alize’ or Courvoisier? You probably have not, but they are out there. You might not have known this, but DBZ has a history of naming characters after beverages (ex. Beerus), Goku Black is no different. There is a tradition that god-like attendants are named after drinks. This is kept up when Goku Black sides (is created by) with Zamasu (a throw off to an alcoholic beverage in Japan). How weird is that? Well, heroes in the DBZ universe should recognize a pattern by now. If someone is named after drink, steer clear.

18 Welcome To Evolutionary Biology 101

What if we told you that Goku Black has a lot in common with a butterfly? You would probably think we had jumped off the deep end, and should not even be writing this article. Fair enough! However, what we said above is true, Goku Black has a lot in common with butterflies. According to evolutionary biology 101 (a class that probably exists), butterflies can mimic their surroundings to ward off prey and annoying humans. Goku Black has this graceful and potent ability. Just like a butterfly, Goku Black can mimic any moves from enemies that he is fighting against, a mostly formidable talent. Albeit, Goku Black’s ability is a bit more intense than a graceful butterfly, but hey it is still considered mimicry.

17 An Unfair Fight

Ever wonder why Goku Black has that tacky green earring in his ear? It doesn’t look compelling and it does not touch on any viable fashion sense. However, this thing means absolute doom for the universe. While there is a version of Goku Black that is Zamasu, this earring helps him to fuse with Zamasu at any time.

Tacky or not, this thing can bring Saiyans to their knees. 

If he is losing a fight or just wants to terrorize people further, the earring (and the ring on his finger) will help him physically join forces with Zamasu. So, if you think you have the fight won and that you have Goku Black on the ropes, you better rip out that earring and take his ring. As long as he has those two things he can fuse with Zamasu for extra power.

16 Can We Get Any More Intense

There is more darkness concerning Goku Black than just his name. He is not only some carbon copy of Goku that was made in a lab. His creation is incredibly dark, and it had an adverse impact on people close to the legendary Super Saiyan. Zamasu eliminated Goku in another timeline and stole his body to create Goku Black.

DBZ, ripping families apart since the early 90s. 

Not only did he take out Goku to steal his physical body, but he also did away with Goten and ChiChi. Talk about brutal! Basically, the character is a reanimated corpse of the most influential fighter in DBZ. Wow, we didn’t know that body snatching was on the table, but these guys are the worst of the worst. It is an emotional scene, one that is even dark compared to all the other gratuitious stuff on the show.

15 Black’s Appearance Was Foretold

We love when shows can connect the dots. They may take something they did years ago and compare it to something happening in present time. It would make sense for the writers to include this since the body of work of DBZ is so expansive. If you think Goku Black just randomly came out of nowhere, think again. Goku Black was mentioned in the film, Bardock, The Father of Goku. This anime film came out in 1990! In it, Bardock could see that his son was destroying a city with the Black Kamehameha, something that is only attributed to Goku Black in DBZ Super. So, Goku Black’s appearance was foretold almost 30 years ago. This is a historical connection of Harry Potter proportions.

14 Formidable But Not Impossible

Contrary to what people may believe, Goku Black is not immortal. His swagger would make others feel differently. His insane laugh, the potency of his signature moves, and his ability to time travel would logically make someone think that he probably cannot be taken out. Plus, the guy has destroyed literal gods and angels.

He comes across as too powerful.

However, this is not true. The only way that he is immortal is if he goes Super Saiyan Rose (which he does quite frequently). So, in a way, he is immortal, but only in his final form. This means that foes have to be strategic in getting the villain on the ropes. He is definitely not someone we would want to square off against.

13 When Pupil Overtakes Teacher

Everyone knows that eventually, with the help of aging, the pupil will overtake the teacher to become the most powerful of the two. However, what if this was something that happened immediately? In his Super Saiyan form, Goku Black is stronger than fused Zamasu. Zamasu is only half immortal, so Goku Black could easily take him if they got into a fight. This actually leads to the downfall of the character in the series. We will not spoil it for you, but the teacher was probably no help to the pupil when it mattered most. Zamasu created a monster when he made Goku Black. One of the rules that everyone should know when creating monsters…do not make the stronger than you! Didn’t anyone read Frankenstein?

12 Talk About God Of War

While Goku Black holds a particular hate in his heart for Trunks, he did take some time to spread his viciousness and hate to others. Goku Black was quite busy even before he came in contact with Trunks, people may not realize that he killed all the gods (namely gods of destruction), and angels in other universes by the time he met up with Trunks.

He gave Kratos a run for his money.

Now, imagine that you have to fight this crazy powerful guy who you saw take out someone close to you. You figure that you will give it the ole herculean try and see what happens. Unfortunately, someone fails to tell you that this guy has eliminated beings that created universes. We wish you the best of luck with that one.

11 Psychic Much?

Is there anything this guy cannot do? It is getting kind of insane at this point. Oddly enough when Goku Black went into the present timeline to find Trunks, he recognized Beerus and Vegeta even though there was no record of him ever meeting them before. Is he psychic or have Vegeta and Beerus been traveling? This would be an interesting plot device to explore in later episodes. It would be cool to know that Trunks is not the only person trying to change the future and save everyone. What if his dad was also trying to manipulate events without telling anyone? What is he and Goku Black had a longstanding rivalry that was passed down to Future Trunks? Hmmm…DBZ writers, hear us out!

10 Um…Pupil Really Is Teacher…What?

Okay, time travel has taken center stage in this anime. There are so many timelines and dimensions that we cannot keep track of them all. You would probably have to have a spreadsheet or posterboard and pinpoint each time Trunks has entered the future to know what iteration of time it is. Ya know…maybe Trunks should just stop going into the future. Perhaps he is the one causing all this mass destruction by messing with time. Okay, we digress, but we did find out that since Goku Black is shown to be from the “original” timeline (whatever that means at this point for fans), he is the original Zamasu. The evil green villain had taken on the body and persona of Goku to become Goku Black.

9 Sometimes The Fans May Have An Even Better Idea

Alright, so as we have already figured out, the fans have some creative explanations for things happening in the series. When Goku Black’s identity was still unknown, many had their ideas of who he could be, and one that emerged was that he was kin to Goku. One of the craziest theories that have arisen about Goku Black is that he is a grown-up and dark version of Goten.

A little Kylo-Ren angst never hurt anyone. 

So, the reason why this could have been an intriguing way to go is that another well-known franchise has had the child of heroes turn to “The Darkside.” It would have been interesting to see how a Kylo-Ren-esque battle between father and son could have played out. Plus, Goku could get some payback for all the times he has been an absent father.

8 Another Crazy Theory

This is another theory that made sense to explain Goku Black’s identify. Because of Goku Black’s dedication to time travel and destroying various worlds, there was some that assumed he was an android created by Dr. Geo. During Dragon Ball Z, androids did have a reputation for being vicious killers (many of whom turned out to be pretty docile and friendly). This theory also would have been pretty cool to explore if the series had decided to go that way. They could have even tied this in with the storyline of the new Dragon Ball FighterZ game. Instead of having Android 21 be the centerpiece of the story, Goku Black could have been the android everyone was fighting against. We do not know where Zamasu would have come into play, but this would have been an acceptable path to take the story.

7 A Wrinkle In Time

The Violent Fierce God Slicer is Goku Black’s signature move. It sounds like it can do some severe damage, and it can. It can do exactly what its name suggests, which is why many of the gods and powerful beings were destroyed in the universe. However, this is not all this move can do. As with anything having to do with Goku Black, it has much darker and evil powers.

The power to create holes in space and time...

Not only can he completely obliterate enemies with it, but he could also rip through space and time. This is what allows him to destroy whole universes and create havoc in current timelines. He can literally rip it apart. Hmmm, we might be going out on a limb by saying this, but this guy may be one of the worst and most potent DBZ villains of all time.

6 DBZ Writers, Always Throwing Us For A Loop

One thing that is pretty cool about DBZ is that fact that the writers do like to have a little fun with the audience. They are good at not taking themselves or the story too seriously and can include moments of lighthearted banter even in the face of terror. On the first episode that Goku Black appears, there is a lot of reference to lettuce. This made people feel that the Turtle (Goku’s first mortal enemy) was coming back to fight him and that this could be who Trunks was facing. This was a smart tactic as it took the heat off of who it could have been. Most people still would not have guessed who it was, but it is nice that they cared enough to keep it a surprise. They totally threw us for a loop as it was Goku Black.