Summary
Gohan’s strongest Dragon Ball Z form is now officially named “Ultimate Gohan” in Dragon Ball Super chapter #102. The “Ultimate Gohan” transformation was originally unlocked by Elder Kai in DBZ, but is unnamed anywhere except in some Dragon Ball Z video games. Now, “Ultimate Gohan” is the official name of this transformation in Dragon Ball canon.
Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Dragon Ball Super chapter #102!Gohan undergoes many transformations throughout Dragon Ball Z, but the strongest form he ever attains is never officially named in the manga, at least until Super Dragon Ball corrected that mistake and made Gohan Ultimate an official manga canon.
In Dragon Ball Super chapter #102 by Akira Toriyama and Toyotarou, Goku returns to Earth for the first time in this arc. Immediately after “Granolah the Survivor Saga”, Goku and Vegeta trained with Whis and Beerus to become strong enough to face Black Frieza. However, when Goku learned about Gohan’s new ‘Beast Mode’ form, he had to see it for himself.
After Goku uses Teleportation to teleport himself and Gohan – along with Trunks and Goten – to Beerus’s world, Vegeta – wanting to test his own son’s power – suggests that Trunks and Goten cooperate to fight Gohan before Goku does. Gohan powers up in the form of “Unleashed Potential” which Trunks and Goten call it Gohan’s “Ultimate” form – marks the first time this transformation has been referred to as such in Dragon Ball canon.
“Ultimate Gohan” is the name given by the video game Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi is the first time this form is called “Ultimate Gohan”
What is now officially known as “Ultimate Gohan” debuted in Dragon Ball chapter #496 (or Dragon Ball Z chapter #302) by Akira Toriyama. While in Kai’s world, Elder Kai performs an ancient ritual to unlock Gohan’s hidden potential so he can defeat Majin Buu. The result is Gohan’s “Potential Unleashed” form, a term used to refer to the increased power resulting from a warrior unleashing their hidden power (usually due to some outside intervention). Ultimate Gohan is the strongest “pure” warrior to appear in Dragon Ball Zwith the exception of Goku and Vegeta’s Potara Fusion as well as the forms Majin Buu takes after absorbing Gohan himself.
Gohan used his “Ultimate” form to fight Majin Buu during a time when all hope seemed lost, during the Tournament of Power in Dragon Ball Super, as well as in the manga adaptation and the movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. However, in every appearance of the manga/anime, this form has no name – something that was fixed in the series’ video game franchise. Since Gohan and all of his forms are playable characters in almost every Dragon Ball game, every version of all the characters must have a title, meaning the game must place The name for this previously unnamed form was eventually called “Ultimate Gohan”.
While some older games refer to this variant as ‘Unlocked Potential Gohan’, 2005’s Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi named it “Ultimate Gohan”, which is widely accepted among fans. grave as the real name of this transformation. Seeing the manga acknowledge that the form was never officially named in canon and correct the error is a great sign for the health of the franchise. Also, Super Dragon Ball finally named GohanGoku’s previous strongest form, before the Beast appeared, means Goku’s son will appear more often.
Super Dragon Ball chapter #102 is available on Viz Media and MANGA Plus.
Dragon Ball Super chapter #102 (2024)
Composer: Akira Toriyama Artist: Toyotarou