Goku Black smiles, hands clasped, in a gray gi over a black turtleneck, with a green Potara earring on his ear, against a cloudy blue sky

Goku Black: The Zamasu Who Stole Goku's Body

CharacterVillainsDragon Ball Super

Goku Black, known as Black Goku in the French version, is Zamasu, a former Supreme Kai apprentice from Universe 10 who stole Goku's body using the Super Dragon Balls. Having settled in Trunks's future, he spreads terror there alongside that era's Zamasu, before going Super Saiyan Rosé. A major foe of Dragon Ball Super's Future Trunks arc, he doesn't follow the same path in the manga and in the anime. Here's a look back at his origin, his battles, his end and his voice actors.

He has the face of Goku, his voice and his Saiyan body, but not his heart: Goku Black is a god who despises mortals, hiding in the hero's skin. Here's the story of this evil double, separating the manga from the anime whenever the two diverge.

Contents

Zamasu in Goku's body: Black's origin

Goku Black, most often simply called “Black,” is another incarnation of Zamasu. Before becoming Black, Zamasu was Gowasu's Supreme Kai apprentice in Universe 10; a bonus page in the manga shows that he had previously been that universe's King Kai. He is one of the two main antagonists of Dragon Ball Super's Future Trunks arc, alongside Future Zamasu.

To get the Saiyan's body, Zamasu summoned Super Shenron with the Super Dragon Balls and asked him to swap his body with Goku's: the Goku of his own timeline, since in Trunks's era, Goku died of heart virus long ago. Before that, in order to use a Time Ring, he had killed his master Gowasu and taken his Potara earrings, which had made him a Supreme Kai.

In the anime, once the wish is granted, he kills Goku and his family, including his original timeline's Chi-Chi and Goten, to erase every link to the Saiyan's past, then takes the name Son Goku for himself. In the manga, Zamasu only meets Goku after stealing his body; Beerus and Whis assume he discovered the Super Dragon Balls while watching the tournament between Universes 6 and 7.

In the manga, Black chooses Trunks's future because it no longer has a God of Destruction: Shin, the Supreme Kai of Universe 7, died there fighting Dabura and Babidi, which caused the death of that era's Beerus, since their lives were linked. In the anime, allied with Future Zamasu, he gathers that era's Super Dragon Balls with him to make the latter immortal.

After the body swap, Black wears a gray gi over a long-sleeved black turtleneck, a red cloth sash, black pants and pointed white boots. He wears only one Potara earring, on his left ear, because he gave the other one to Future Zamasu; in the manga, it's the green earring he wears himself that lets his opponents figure out who he is.

On a rocky plain, Zamasu in Goku's body, wearing a gray tunic trimmed in yellow, stands behind a worried Chi-Chi and Goten
In the anime, once the wish is granted, Zamasu, in Goku's body, looms behind Chi-Chi and Goten; he then kills them, along with Goku, to erase every link to the Saiyan's past.

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The scourge of Trunks's future

On screen, Black first appears in episode 47 of Dragon Ball Super, which aired in Japan on June 12, 2016; in the manga, he debuts in chapter 14, published a little over a month later, on July 21, 2016. He also appears in the previously unseen epilogue of an extended version of the movie Resurrection 'F', which aired in Japan on August 27, 2016.

In episode 47 of the anime, Black kills Future Bulma. In the manga, her death isn't shown: we only learn that she was caught off guard while dusting solar panels. What's more, the manga shows only Trunks and Mai as survivors on Earth, while the anime still shows groups of resistance fighters and orphans.

In the anime, while he's trying to figure out how Trunks escaped, his Time Ring reacts and opens a portal to the past, which takes him to Goku's era; before being pulled back to the future, he destroys Trunks's time machine, leaving Trunks stranded in the past. In the manga, it's Future Zamasu who wears the Time Ring, and Black doesn't come to fight Goku in the past; much later, in the future, it's Vegeta who fights him while Goku takes on Future Zamasu.

His personality differs from one version to the other: more composed in the anime, he easily loses his cool in the manga as soon as things go wrong. His bond with Future Zamasu changes too: they're true allies in the anime, whereas in the manga Black sees him as nothing more than a pawn. In episode 60 of the anime, he reveals that he is Zamasu and that he killed Goku after taking his body.

Under a dark, cloudy green sky, Black in a gray gi and red sash holds out his hand, a ring on his finger, among ruined buildings
Black, who ravages Trunks's future, amid ruined buildings.

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Super Saiyan Rosé, a form with two versions

In the anime, Super Saiyan Rosé first appears in episode 56, which aired in Japan on August 28, 2016. Black names the form “Rosé” himself, following Goku and the Saiyans' habit of giving names to their power levels. In the anime, where Rosé is the divine version of the first Super Saiyan level, he obtains it simply by incorporating Goku's fighting style into his own.

The manga makes it something else: there, Rosé is the Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan form, the equivalent of Super Saiyan Blue, of a Saiyan with divine status. Black explains that after stealing Goku's body, he initially didn't have access to that body's full power and couldn't even turn Super Saiyan, a form he has since acquired and takes on against Vegeta in chapter 19; in chapter 20, healed several times by Future Zamasu, he feels his divine spirit and the cells of Goku's body bonding more and more, until he reaches Rosé.

In the anime, Rosé turns Black's hair and eyebrows pastel pink and surrounds him with an aura that's dark red on the outside and pinkish on the inside. In the original Japanese version, Black first refers to himself with the polite pronoun “watashi,” like Zamasu, then switches to the more assertive pronoun “ore” once in Rosé.

Black in Super Saiyan Rosé, with pink hair and eyebrows and a hand on his chest, smiles at the heart of a purple aura edged in dark red
In the anime, in Super Saiyan Rosé, Black has pink hair and eyebrows, and his aura, dark red on the outside, turns pinkish purple on the inside.
Black mug with a white interior, printed with Goku Black in Super Saiyan Rosé, arms spread under a white halo, in front of a large pink silhouette

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Fusion, the Evil Containment Wave and erasure by Zeno

In the anime, Black turns his aura into an energy blade and runs Vegeta clean through before Vegeta can do him any real damage. Later, overpowered by Vegeta, who calls him an impostor and a thief, Black turns his anger into strength: he plunges his blade into his hand and draws a huge scythe from it. The scythe doesn't exist in the manga, where Black proposes the fusion right away.

In both versions, the Evil Containment Wave (Mafuba) traps Future Zamasu in an urn, but Zamasu breaks out because the talisman that was supposed to seal it is missing. The technique isn't used by the same character, though: in the manga, it's Goku who takes care of it; in the anime, it's Future Trunks, who learned it by watching a video of Piccolo filmed by Bulma.

Black and Future Zamasu then fuse with the Potara into “Fused Zamasu”: in the anime, this is episode 64, which aired in Japan on October 30, 2016; in the manga, it's Black who calms his ally down in the middle of an argument and reminds him of their last resort. In the anime, Future Trunks finishes off Fused Zamasu's body: he runs it through with his sword, then slices it in two.

In the manga, when the fusion wears off, Trunks runs the unconscious Black through with his sword; but Black gets back up, pulls out the sword and snaps it, to Goku's astonishment, then transforms into Fused Zamasu all on his own. Both versions end with Future Zeno stepping in: in the anime, he erases that era's universes; in the manga, that entire timeline.

Black in Super Saiyan Rosé wields a huge lilac energy scythe with a curved blade, wreathed in red, under a dark green sky
In episode 64, Black wields the huge scythe drawn from his energy blade, a weapon absent from the manga; it's also the episode in which Fused Zamasu is born in the anime.

Goku Black's name, creation and voices

In both the anime and the manga, it's Future Bulma who dubbed the enemy “Goku Black.” In episode 49 of the anime, Future Trunks explains why: Black calls himself Son Goku but wears black clothes; present-day Bulma finds the nickname pretty uninspired. In France, he's often called Black Goku, notably in the French episode titles.

According to an interview with Akira Toriyama, the idea for Goku Black comes from the theme of a copy of the hero, like the “fake Ultraman” in the Ultraman series. Toriyama also came up with Super Saiyan Rosé, with a simple brief: go Super Saiyan like Goku, but in a slightly different color. The Dragon Ball Super manga is drawn by Toyotarou, who follows the broad outline of Toriyama's story with a certain freedom, hence the differences from the anime.

Black shares Goku's voice actors: Masako Nozawa in Japanese, and Sean Schemmel in Funimation's English dub of Dragon Ball Super, where he gives Black a more menacing version of his Goku voice. A big fan favorite, the character came in fourth in a fan poll of Dragon Ball's villains published in the March 2018 issue of V Jump.

Seen from behind, Black looms over a landing pad marked with an H, where Piccolo, a small character in a red T-shirt, Future Trunks and Goku look up at him
In episode 49, Black sizes up Goku, the hero whose face he wears: it's in this episode that present-day Bulma finds the nickname “Goku Black” pretty uninspired.

Goku Black at a glance

Key fact Goku Black
Japanese name ゴクウブラック Gokū Burakku
Identity Zamasu, a former Supreme Kai apprentice from Universe 10, in Goku's body
First appearance Episode 47 of Dragon Ball Super, June 12, 2016; chapter 14 of the manga
Divine form Super Saiyan Rosé
Ally Future Zamasu
Voices Masako Nozawa (Japanese); Sean Schemmel (English)

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Who is Goku Black?
    He's Zamasu, a former Supreme Kai apprentice from Universe 10, who swapped bodies with Goku using the Super Dragon Balls.
  • Why is he called Goku Black?
    He calls himself Son Goku but wears black clothes: Future Bulma gave him that nickname. In France, he's often called Black Goku.
  • What is Super Saiyan Rosé?
    Black's divine form, designed by Akira Toriyama: a Super Saiyan in a slightly different color. In the manga, it's the Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan form of a Saiyan who is himself a god.
  • Did Goku Black kill Chi-Chi and Goten?
    In the anime, yes: the ones from his original timeline. The manga doesn't show this double murder, and there, Zamasu only meets Goku after stealing his body.
  • How is Goku Black defeated?
    He fuses with Future Zamasu into Fused Zamasu; in the end, Future Zeno erases that era's universes in the anime, and that entire timeline in the manga.
  • Who voices Goku Black in English?
    Sean Schemmel, who also voices Goku in Funimation's English dub. In Japanese, it's Masako Nozawa, the voice of Goku.

🖼️ Whether his hair is black or pink, Black keeps Goku's face; to put this evil double up on your wall, choose from our Dragon Ball canvas wall art, including a piece dedicated to him.

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