Broly is one of Dragon Ball’s most beloved characters. From his sinister smile in the old movie to beating the crap out of Frieza in the modern version of Dragon Ball Super, Broly was always a treat to watch on the big screen.

The Saiyan was famous enough for Toriyama (who normally doesn’t watch his own work) to revisit Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan, Broly: Second Coming and Bio-Broly to create his own version of the character. With that, Broly was finally added to the Dragon Ball Canon.

There are mixed feelings amongst fans, but I believe DBS: Broly did a better job of exploring Broly’s character. Broly’s true feelings and intentions made sense in this film than “I’m angry because I couldn’t stand Kakarot’s crying”. Of course, there were other factors to DBZ Broly’s anger as well but the hatred on Goku was highlighted. On the contrary, Dragon Ball Super’s Broly gave us a Broly we could sympathize with.

There are interesting characteristics of Z Broly but for this article, I’m going to focus on Toriyama’s Broly and what he had to offer. With that said, here’s 15 facts of Dragon Ball Super’s Broly any hardcore fan should know.

This is different and deeper than the generic facts listicles, which even the most basic anime fan who hasn’t even touched Dragon Ball would know.

1. DBS Broly’s Super Saiyan forms are not “Legendary”

Dragon Ball Super’s Broly Super Saiyan forms are officially termed as “Super Saiyan” & “Super Saiyan Full Power” respectively. The name “Legendary Super Saiyan” exists only in the old Broly movies and not in the new ‘Toriyama-ised’ one.

(If anyone argues that the “LSSJ” is only a dub thing, then do kindly explain how the term is mentioned in the following panel of the film’s animanga).

However, Cabba does refer to Berserker Kale (who resembles Broly) in the Manga as the “Legendary Saiyan” that appears once every 1000 years. Nevertheless, the term “Legendary Super Saiyan” isn’t used.

For proof & more info, check out this article on the official Dragon Ball site.

2. Broly’s Super Saiyan Full Power form wasn’t in Toriyama’s original script

Contrary to popular belief, much of the action scenes in Dragon Ball Super: Broly wasn’t written by Toriyama but rather added on by Toei Animation’s staff. This includes the introduction of Broly’s green-tinted Super Saiyan Full Power form.

Animation Director Naohiro Shintani revealed in an interview that he designed the form from scratch based on the image of Broly he had while watching the old movies. The only design of Broly Toriyama gave him was the mutant wearing his armor. So he had to draw different designs of Broly from scratch.

The quality of his image, along with the rest of the film, is stellar, despite the fact he’s revealed to have never drawn for Dragon Ball the entire time he’s been with Toei Animation.

3. Dragon Ball Super’s Broly is completely different from his DBZ counterpart

Fan speculations aside, the officials at Toei Animation directly confirm that there exists a big difference between DBS Broly and DBZ Broly, apart from his design.

According to Shintani, Toriyama’s design for Broly was significantly different from previous Broly designs. He did, however, want to establish DBS Broly’s image while maintaining the image of his DBZ counterpart, and he wanted to see this Broly achieve popularity among both existing and new fans.

Talking about his character, the animation director remarks that the old Broly was just a dangerous guy and nothing but, whereas Toriyama “humanizes” him by having him make friends with the beast Ba at Planetoid Vampa and connect with Cheelai and Lemo.

Director Nagamine elaborates on this by saying that, like Goku, Broly influences others in a positive way.

There’s a schism between Cheelai and Lemo’s attitudes toward Broly. Lemo is a decent man, and he wants to help Broly, but he is fully aware of his own limitations. He was a subpar soldier, unfit to fight on the front lines of Frieza’s army, but meeting Broly and witnessing Cheelai operate only on willpower influences him, and he begins to change.

While differentiating the two Brolys, Nagamine affirms that DBZ Broly didn’t have his personality depicted in much detail, but this time Toriyama fleshed out the finer points of his inner workings, basically saying that Toriyama has imbued Broly with more of a sense of character than he had in the past.

Whether this is a hot take or a cold one is completely upto you but personally, I think he’s right.

Speaking of Broly’s personality, Nagamine sheds light on a unique characteristic that many fans don’t talk about.

4. Broly is a pure Saiyan like Goku & Bardock with a gentle heart

In an interview published in V-Jump, Director Nagamine describes how Goku, Bardock & Broly retained the Saiyan race’s pure nature whereas the others (including King Vegeta) have lost their original pride as a warrior race by being subservient to Frieza’s army and their command.

Rather than a warrior race’s pride per se, I think Bardock maintains something of their pure nature. Broly, Goku, and Vegeta left Planet Vegeta as children, so they’ve gone on living with that pure Saiyan aspect intact.

I consider Goku and Broly to be truly pure Saiyans and have depicted them as such.

Goku feels a newfound feeling of Saiyan pride as a result of his association with Broly, which he hasn’t felt since defeating Vegeta (since his princely pride interferes a bit). It is later expanded upon in the Granolah arc of the DBS Manga. For more details on Saiyan Pride and its philosophy, check out this video hosted by Geekdom101.

Broly’s voice actor Bin Shimada nods with this reasoning by saying something similar.

As a Saiyan, his blood really gets pumping when it comes to fighting, but he has this duality where internally, he has a pure aspect to him.

Broly’s pure Saiyan-like characteristics with a gentle heart is ultimately confirmed by Cheelai in the Dragon Ball Super: Broly light novel.

チライは、足をゆる緩めず、レモを振り返った。
「あいつは父親のせいで、ただの戦闘マシンにされたんだ。戦いたくて戦ってるんじゃない！」
それからチライは前を向き、さらに足を速めて続けた。
「ブロリーは、ホントは純粋で心やさ 優しいサイヤ人なんだ。死なすわけにはいかないよ!!」

Without slowing down, Cheelai looked back at Lemo: "Because of his father, he's been turned into a mere fighting machine. He doesn't fight because he wants to!". Cheelai then looked ahead and sped up even more. "Broly is truly a pure Saiyan with a gentle heart. I can't let him die!!"

5. Broly likes to fight but disdained his father’s training methods

Almost every Saiyan have that innate instinct for combat and desire to beat the crap outta others. And Broly is no exception.

Due to his exceptionally high amount of S-Cells, Whis noticed that his body was trembling & terribly eager to go against Goku and Vegeta as soon as Frieza’s ship landed on Earth. He warned Bulma to watch out for the mutant as he sensed his “warrior instinct”.

In the film, Broly tells Cheelai & Lemo how his father ruined his friendship with Ba. In the light novel, the green-skinned girl understands Broly doesn’t like his father’s fighting approach. She also thinks Paragus may be using Broly as a weapon to get revenge on Vegeta. Lemo affirms that Broly was so talented in fighting that he was forced to train by his dad for this very reason.

I mean, which loving father would have an electric ring clutched around his son’s neck to forcefully keep him under wraps? But nevertheless, Broly still respected him. And Bin Shimada confirms this reasoning.

It’s shown how he’s forced to obey his father for the sake of his revenge, but the two of them lived alone on a planet with an extremely harsh environment, so it’s complicated. He has a side that’s always looking out for his father, so if someone were to say something bad about him, he’d want to defend him.

6. Broly’s anger takes a huge toll on him

Although Broly’s wrath is known to exponentially increase his power, it isn’t without a catch.

The Broly movie light novel states that the growls he makes in his Great Ape (during his time on Planetoid Vampa) & subsequent form are due to pain rather than the Saiyan’s fighting spirit. And I can totally see why.

Toriyama said that anger & having a gentle spirit (which Broly possess) can explosively increase the amount of S-Cells. If this happens, the sheer amount of S-Cells could be too much for Dragon Ball Super Broly to handle. The brainpower to process so many S-Cells would be too much, causing a brain overload. As a result, he loses control of his power and thereby goes berserk.

7. Broly’s power level as a baby was the highest in Saiyan history

Fans of the old movie knows that baby Broly in the old DBZ movies jumped to a whooping 10,000 , being the strongest Saiyan toddler in history. But since that number is not canon, let’s just ignore that number for now (evil laughter).

Nevertheless, the “highest in Saiyan history” is true in the case of Toriyama’s Broly as well. The Dragon Ball Super Broly light novel mentions that Prince Vegeta broke all records in Saiyan history by having the highest power level as a baby. Then Broly comes along and smashes it by a wide margin.

No numerical are mentioned other than a figure of 920. This was Broly’s battle power 2 days after he landed on Planetoid Vampa. Mind you, this was higher than 24-year-old Goku’s and Piccolo’s base power levels combined when they fought against Raditz (416 and 408 respectively). This shows how much of an anomaly and a prodigal fighter Broly really is!

8. Broly was deemed the strongest mortal Goku & the others faced at that point in time

Broly’s strength grew dramatically as he was fighting Goku and Vegeta. He started off at the same power level as Base Vegeta and grew to SSJ Gogeta in a matter of 2-3 hours’ time.

A movie promo states that Broly is the strongest Dragon Ball antagonist up to this point. The editorial office of Saikyo Jump informs readers: “Frankly, the enemy Goku and co. are up against in this movie is the strongest. Those who trust Goku will win may lose confidence, so be careful.” They also ask: “Destructive power greater than a God of Destruction?!”

The final proof comes from the Broly film light novel where Frieza described Broly’s power when the latter was getting wrecked: “‘Fantastic. What incredible battle power.’ There was no mistaking it: No being in existence could defeat Broly as he was. Having been beaten this far himself, to Frieza, that much was clear.”

9. Frieza wants Broly to be his trusty sidekick

At the end of the Broly film, we see Frieza and his force annihilating planets left and right. The galactic emperor tells his trusty subordinate Kikono that he’ll come back for Broly once he’s able to power up without losing control over his mind.

To overpower Goku and Vegeta once and for all, he needs a suitable partner standing beside him.

Later in the Granolah arc, we see Frieza achieving a new form after training 10 years in a Room of Spirit and Time, surpassing the Saiyans. But at the beginning of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie, Goku brought the mutant to Beerus’ planet to keep him safe and of course, train with him. That means Frieza is still looking for him.

10. Broly’s stamina is almost limitless

Broly is confirmed to have nearly limitless stamina, according to the light novel. Although exaggerated, it is close to the truth. If Goku possessed that stamina, he could maintain Mastered Ultra Instinct for hours.

そういうわけで、フリーザの戦いは、一時間以上に及んでいた。
さすがのフリーザも、そろそろ体力がつ尽きようとしている。
ブロリーはといえば、無限の体力があるとでもいうように、変わらないパワーで攻撃を続けていた。

"And thus, Frieza's battle continued on for over an hour. However, his stamina was nearing its ends. On the other hand, Broly continued attacking without losing any power as if his stamina were limitless."

He survived Blue Gogeta’s powerful strikes because to his stamina. Even base Gogeta is stronger than Super Saiyan Blue Goku, according to the LN. Broly’s endurance is clearly evident.

Now let’s go over some facts that are a wee bit common amongst the mainstream fandom

11. Toriyama didn’t choose for Broly to be the star of a movie

Series creator Akira Toriyama noted in his second official movie comment that the idea of including Broly as the main antagonist was pitched to him by his editor and right hand man Akio Iyoku.

So, about Broly. I hear these days, he’s still very popular not only in Japan, but also overseas. Based on that, my editor suggested we have Broly appear in this next movie.

This was fixed in May 2017, approximately one year before the movie hit Japanese theatres.

12. Broly’s name comes from a certain vegetable

A well known Toriyama-ism amongst the fandom is his habit of giving witty names to his characters. Out of them, the Saiyans are named after vegetables, such as Carrot -> Kakarot, Radish -> Raditz, Cauliflower -> Caulifla and so on.

As you’d guessed, Broly or Broli is a pun on the vegetable broccoli, which is also addressed in the fiilm “Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan” when a drunk Master Roshi calls him “Broccoli”.

If you break down the word “broccoli” in Japanese, you can derive “burorii”, which is how Broly’s name is pronounced in the Japanese dub.

ブロッコリ(bu·ro·k·ko·ri·i) ->  ブロリ(bu·ro·ri·i)

13. Broly’s popularity gave birth to Kale

As soon as Kale was introduced in Dragon Ball Super’s Tournament of Power arc, any tom, dick and harry of the fandom knew that she was based off on Broly.

This was indeed confirmed by the official production design for the destroyed arena from Dragon Ball Super episode 100 where it refers to Kale as “turning into Broly” (ブロリー化).

Kale is a character created by Toei Animation staff in response to the immense popularity of Broly not only in Japan but in overseas as well (as noted by Toriyama). And it indeed make her popular (for good or worse).

14. Broly is a mutant amongst the Saiyans

As baby Broly was been sent to Planetoid Vampa, King Vegeta explains to Paragus that Broly has latent abilities that are abnormally elevated due to his mutant-like nature.

Due to that, he wouldn’t be able to contain himself as his bottomless power rises exponentially. When that time comes, he would be a danger not only to the Saiyans but the whole universe.

A mutant is an organism or a new genetic character that arises or results from a mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of an organism’s genome or chromosome. Mutants do sometimes occur “randomly” but when they do, they turn out to be a fierce creature, like Frieza for instance.

15. Broly’s tail was cut off by Paragus

Pure blooded Saiyans have their tails accompanying with them after they’re born. Raditz once explained that their tails hold the key to unleashing the “true” power of the Saiyans by transforming into a giant ape.

Despite being a mutant, there was no exception in the case of Broly. He too transformed into a crazy monke while looking at a full moon but the problem is, his power level at base is exceptionally high. Due to that, he becomes 10 times stronger in his great ape form, which concerned Paragus and feared for his safety.

That’s why he cut off his tail then and there, as explained by him in response to Frieza’s query on the whereabouts of Broly’s tail.

Final Thoughts

The exciting thing about Broly is that his story isn’t done. The fact that he survived the battle against Gogeta means there’s a lot more in store for him.

Word on the street suggests that Broly might learn about God Ki from Whis & Beerus and transform into a Super Saiyan Blue in future arcs.

This path for him makes sense, given the need to control himself (Ki Control) while enhancing the humongous amount of S-Cells to the max. Will he tap into a Destroyer’s Ki though? Only time will tell…

Hope these tit-bits about Dragon Ball Super’s Broly makes you see him in a new fashion. Can you think of any other underrated facts about the mutant I haven’t listed so far? Let me know in the comments below!