Warning: Contains spoilers for Dragon Ball Daima.In one of the biggest surprises in Dragon Ball history, Dragon Ball Daima finally made Super Saiyan 4 canon after almost 30 years. Granted, Daima’s interpretation was different both visually and narratively from its original depiction in Dragon Ball GT, but for anyone who grew up with Dragon Ball GT, something as iconic as Super Saiyan 4 becoming canon was still great to see.
As great as Super Saiyan 4 becoming canon was, it hasn’t been without its problems. While it was plenty cool to see in the moment, some of the further details about Daima’s take on Super Saiyan 4 made it a bit confusing, to say the least, and by the time of Dragon Ball Daima’s finale, Dragon Ball Daima made Super Saiyan 4 so confusing that it went from being the coolest part of the series to one of its most controversial. There’s a lot that goes into why that is, and unfortunately, it’s unknown if it will ever be resolved.
Dragon Ball Daima’s Finale Makes Super Saiyan 4 A Blatant Plot Hole
Why Super Saiyan 4 Doesn’t Work Anymore
The main reason why Super Saiyan 4 is so divisive is because of the bizarre way Dragon Ball Daima explained its existence. Unlike in Dragon Ball GT, where Goku unlocked Super Saiyan 4 after turning into a Golden Great Ape, Super Saiyan 4 first appeared in Daima after Neva used magic on Goku in the battle with Gomah. That made it seem like Super Saiyan 4 now had a magical origin, and as such, many Dragon Ball fans assumed Super Saiyan 4 would be explained away by making it a form Goku could only use thanks to magic.
Unfortunately, Dragon Ball Daima didn’t go that route with Super Saiyan 4. In Dragon Ball Daima’s finale, Goku revealed to Vegeta that he already knew Super Saiyan 4 but just hadn’t mastered it, so at best, Neva just gave Goku the means of gaining full control over Super Saiyan 4. That means that Super Saiyan 4 is something Goku can use like any other Super Saiyan form, and that means that Super Saiyan 4 Goku in Dragon Ball Daima is a blatant plot hole because there’s no explanation for why Goku didn’t use it in Dragon Ball Super.
With Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta, it’s easy enough to explain Vegeta never using by remembering how its stamina drain makes it a liability and how Super Saiyan God made it redundant, but with Super Saiyan 4, there are numerous fights in Dragon Ball Super where it would have made sense for Goku to use it, most notably when he fought Beerus. Add in Goku’s explicit statement about Super Saiyan 3 being his strongest form, and unlike Super Saiyan 3 Vegeta, Dragon Ball Daima’s finale turns Super Saiyan 4 Goku into a blatant plot hole that needs to be corrected.
Dragon Ball Daima Forgets Why People Loved Super Saiyan 4
Why Was Super Saiyan 4 So Popular To Begin With?
A bigger issue with Dragon Ball Daima’s handling of Super Saiyan 4 is that it highlights how the series doesn’t understand what made it so popular, in the first place. Super Saiyan 4’s great design is one thing, but between all the work Dragon Ball GT put into its build-up with Goku’s constant struggles for more power, by the time it finally happened, it felt more than earned in every regard. Dragon Ball GT made Super Saiyan 4 popular not just for its visuals, but for the story attached to it, and that hasn’t changed after almost 30 years.
All of that is another reason why Daima’s take on Super Saiyan 4 doesn’t work. While Super Saiyan 4 being canon is great, some people have criticized Daima for making the form come out of nowhere as opposed to having any sort of build-up, and the reveal that Goku unlocked it offscreen only makes that worse, as it now can’t even be said that Neva at least helped Goku unlock his hidden potential. Dragon Ball Daima making Super Saiyan 4 entirely unearned for Goku completely forgets what made it so special in Dragon Ball GT, and that’s nothing but disappointing.
Something also worth considering is how the new take on Super Saiyan 4 loses a lot of the mysticism of the original. Super Saiyan 4 was originally presented as the form of the Legendary Super Saiyan, and with Dragon Ball Daima emphasizing its red coloring, it seemed like the new take was referencing that by combining it with Super Saiyan God’s aesthetic. Unfortunately, Dragon Ball Daima making Super Saiyan 4 just a regular transformation robs it of all the mysticism that helped make the original version so great, and there’s no real way for the series to resolve that.
How Dragon Ball Daima Can Resolve Its Super Saiyan 4 Plot Hole
It’s Still Possible To Make Super Saiyan 4 Work
Super Saiyan 4 is undeniably a plot hole, so the question now is how Dragon Ball might resolve it. Naturally, there’s no way to retroactively put it into Dragon Ball Super, but whenever Super returns, Goku can simply use Super Saiyan 4 and the story can either say that he used it in training sessions with Whis or forgot about it while mastering Super Saiyan God and Ultra Instinct. Dragon Ball has never been a stranger to retcons, so it wouldn’t be out of the question for Dragon Ball to solve its Super Saiyan 4 problem with more retcons.
Is Super Saiyan 4 Really As Big A Problem For Dragon Ball As People Say?
Does The New Super Saiyan 4 Ruin Dragon Ball Daima?
There’s been plenty of discussion about Dragon Ball Daima’s take on Super Saiyan 4, but whether it’s a problem is another story. While the blatant contradictions to Dragon Ball’s lore are annoying, as is the lack of prestige and narrative weight to it, it was still great to see Super Saiyan 4 finally become canon, and the stellar fight scenes accompanying it helped sell that even further. Overall, Dragon Ball Daima’s take on Super Saiyan 4, while greatly flawed, isn’t bad to the point of breaking the franchise, and that’s probably the best anyone can say about it.
Super Saiyan 4 becoming canon was something fans had been waiting decades to see, and with how iconic a form it was to the point that it’s often the sole thing people like about Dragon Ball GT, Super Saiyan 4 deserves a better portrayal than what happened with Dragon Ball Daima, where it was mostly just flashy without any real narrative weight behind its existence. Whether Dragon Ball finds a way to make Dragon Ball Daima’s take on things work like that is unclear, but hopefully, it will happen sooner, rather than later.