However, there are several reasons why any future Dragon Ball Super revival must start by adapting the Broly saga. The main reason is that Dragon Ball Super: Broly has a lot of elements that could be expanded on. Despite only running for 100 minutes, the movie jumps between various settings and periods, each with unique plot points. The movie’s first scenes focus on King Cold retiring and handing his mantle down to Frieza, a moment that sees Frieza give the Saiyans their now-iconic Scouters.
The movie’s second part focuses on King Vegeta learning about Paragus’ son, Broly, and his absurdly high power level. King Vegeta, scared that Broly will usurp Vegeta, sends Broly to a planet named Vampa. Paragus, angered by this decision, follows Broly to Vampa and rescues him before vowing revenge on King Vegeta. Following this are several scenes that see Goku’s father Bardock’s suspicions about Frieza finally reach critical mass.
Due to these suspicions, he convinces his wife, Gine, that the best course of action is to steal an attack ball and send Goku off-world. This move is quickly proven correct as Frieza destroys the planet, fearing that the Legendary Super Saiyan will one day appear and overthrow him. The film then jumps many years into the future, following Frieza as he recruits a now-adult Broly, leading to an epic clash between Broly, Goku, and Vegeta.
While none of these parts are bad, it’s clear that the movie struggled to fit everything in, as some of the film’s early scenes move at a breakneck pace. However, an anime series could easily dedicate a couple of episodes to each segment, allowing the writers to add depth and explore each plot point on a deeper level. Doubly so because these early sections spotlight things Dragon Ball fans have wanted to see for years, like life on Planet Vegeta before it was wiped out, the paranoia that led to Frieza wiping out the Saiyans, and the home life of Goku’s mother and father. So an expanded, episodic retelling could finally answer questions fans have been asking for years and flesh out a period of Dragon Ball history that the canon stories have barely touched on.
Another reason a Dragon Ball Super revival needs to adapt the Broly arc is that many of the plot points it introduces are crucial to Dragon Ball Super’s later arcs. The most obvious of these plot points is Broly himself because he becomes a recurring character moving forward. Most notably, the Super Hero Saga features a subplot where Goku and Vegeta move Broly to Beerus’ planet and start to train with him, leading to Broly rapidly growing in strength as he learns to control his powers.
On top of this, the Broly saga also lays the foundations for several later sagas. Most notably, the Broly saga gives viewers new information about the downfall of Planet Vegeta and the events leading up to it, including explaining why Goku’s parents decided to send him to Earth at the moment they did. Plus, Broly joining the group reminds Goku and Vegeta of their Saiyan ancestry, something that opens up old wounds and makes them reconsider who they are and their position in the universe. These elements pay off massively during the Granolah the Survivor Saga, leading to two of Dragon Ball Super’s most memorable plot points. When Goku and Vegeta go to Planet Cereal, they discover that Bardock had visited the planet many years before and fought alongside Monaito. While trying to work out how to defeat Gas, Monaito gives Goku Bardock’s old scouter. When the group extracts the audio data from the scouter, they find a message Bardock recorded for Monaito, telling him to run away with Granolah and to “stay alive.”
This final statement triggers a flashback for Goku, as he suddenly remembers that it’s the same thing Bardock said before launching his pod. These recovered memories allow Goku to connect with his past and his Saiyan ancestry. This revelation later lets him finally overcome his issues with Ultra Instinct, unlocking his True Ultra Instinct form, leading to one of the most epic moments in Dragon Ball history.
The Broly Saga also sets the scene for the arrival of Dragon Ball Super’s biggest villain, Black Frieza. Both the Universe Survival Saga and the Tournament of Power Saga saw Frieza get pushed to his limits by several combatants, with even his Golden Frieza form not being enough to guarantee him victory. Combine this with the fact he clearly hated the idea of working with Goku (only agreeing to fight if he would be resurrected), and it’s easy to see why Frieza quickly gets to work restoring the Frieza force and plotting to collect the Dragon Balls.
When Cheelai and Lem find Broly and bring him to Frieza, the tyrant believes that the Saiyan will help him reclaim his power and get revenge on Goku and Vegeta. However, this plan goes wrong when Broly loses control and attacks Frieza, quickly and effortlessly gaining the upper hand against the space tyrant. Frieza eventually transforms into Golden Frieza, but even this isn’t enough to get the upper hand against the rampaging Saiyan. Later, when Gogeta enters the battle, Frieza sees the writing on the wall and quickly flees the planet, showing that he knows he stands no chance against Broly or Gogeta.
This context is essential to understanding why Frieza created a new form and used a Hyperbolic Time Chamber to train for ten years. It also explains why Frieza avoided repeating the mistake he made in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ by working out how to overcome his Black form’s downsides before launching an attack because he knew he had to step up his game if he wanted to overcome Goku.