Dragon Ball Super Broly hit the Anime community like a storm. It became Toei’s most successful movie in terms of Box Office sales. The movie shed a new perspective towards the fan-favorite character. Unlike the mutant’s earlier avatar of constantly having a grudge on Kakarot with hardly any character development, Akira Toriyama portrayed Broly as a pure kind-hearted Saiyan. He actually doesn’t want to fight but his father Paragus used him as a tool for the sake of his own revenge. As a result, Paragus forcefully pitted Broly against Goku and Vegeta under Frieza’s instructions.

Unfortunately for Paragus, joining Frieza’s side paved the way for his own doom. Frieza killed him in cold blood to trigger Broly’s anger. This anger brought forward a magnificent transformation; that resulted in one of the best fights in Dragon Ball history – Broly Vs Gogeta.

When I watched this film for the first time, I was like “there’s no way Broly would go toe-to-toe with the likes of Super Saiyan Blue Goku or Vegeta” Not only did that happen but, he comfortably canceled out their Kamehameha+Final Flash combined attack! How did Dragon Ball Super Broly become so strong? This article is an attempt to clear all confusion regarding Broly’s insane strength.

1. Dragon Ball Super Broly is a mutant and a prodigal warrior by birth

The Dragon Ball Super Broly Light Novel (LN) 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!

King Vegeta was obviously jealous of Broly’s latent abilities far exceeding his son’s. However, what he told Paragus in the movie was true. He said that one day; Broly’s exponential increase in power will drive him insane. He’ll be unable to control his mental state. When that happens, he will be a danger to the Saiyans and the entire Universe. Paragus even agreed to this later on in the film after seeing Broly go berserk.

King Vegeta made another interesting remark on Dragon Ball Super Broly. “He could even be classified as a mutant,” he said. Contrary to people’s beliefs, there could be a deeper meaning to this statement.

To clarify beforehand, 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, what if in this case, Dragon Ball Super Broly was genetically modified by Saiyan scientists?

2. Genetic modification through injection of additional S-Cells

Toriyama once mentioned in an interview about how a Saiyan can transform into a Super Saiyan:

In order to become a Super Saiyan, one’s body must contain something called “S-Cells”. Once these S-Cells reach a certain amount, a trigger such as anger will explosively increase the S-Cells and cause a change in the body; that’s Super Saiyan. Most Saiyans have some S-Cells, although not a great quantity.

Akira Toriyama, Saiyan Special Q&A, Saikyō Jump, January 2018 Issue (01 December 2017)

My theory goes as follows:

Nion, a Saiyan Scientist, wanted to see whether the legend of the Super Saiyan can be made true. When Dragon Ball Super Broly was born, she gets an idea to conduct an experiment on him. She knew a lot about Saiyan biology, S-Cells, and their properties. She wanted to know whether it’s possible to genetically modify a Saiyan by forcefully injecting extra amounts of S-Cells, making him stronger. Looking at his latent abilities, the scientist saw Dragon Ball Super Broly as a perfect candidate for this experiment.

This resulted in him being an unstable artificially mutant Saiyan who had an abnormal amount of S-Cells.

Why Nion you ask? She has that sinister look that gives off those “evil scientist” vibes. While her colleagues fell into a cold sweat when King Vegeta screamed at them, Nion remained calm. She seemed very confident of Broly’s abilities and even went out of her way to say that he could be a legendary Super Saiyan.

Everyone knows King Vegeta is too proud of his son and his abilities. Anyone who dares to defy this could end up dead. Nion was so confident of Dragon Ball Super Broly that she didn’t care for King Vegeta’s outburst. This could mean she has something to do with Broly’s mutant powers.

Well, is this story worth pondering on or am I thinking too much? It could very well be just a freak of nature. Anyway, we could learn more about Broly’s powers once he comes back into the picture.

3. Broly’s anger increases his power level

We all know that Dragon Ball Super Broly cannot control his anger and goes berserk very often. Sure, his dad’s upbringing could be a cause but, what if there’s another important reason?

If the S-Cells theory turns out to be true, Broly’s brain could really be messed up. Toriyama said that anger 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.

His anger is the main source of his brute strength. His emotions fluctuate rapidly, thereby instantly increasing and decreasing his power level. When baby Dragon Ball Super Broly cried, his power level soared, breaking the gauge/scouter. When he calmed down, his power level decreased to less than half of the earlier level.

This is similar to Gohan’s rage. During the battle with Raditz, his anger increased his battle power to 1,307. This was again more than Goku’s and Piccolo’s battle powers combined.

After head-butting Raditz and calming down, his power reduced to a mere 1. You can see the effect emotions have on battle power.

The difference between Gohan and Dragon Ball Super Broly is, the latter remained angry for a longer duration and couldn’t control it. This uncontrollable anger can only be subsided by a strong shock (like the electrical discharging device around his neck) or a feeling of fear in the face of imminent death.

Toriyama also mentions that having a gentle spirit greatly increases one’s S-Cells. Dragon Ball Super Broly, intrinsically, is a pure and kind-hearted soul who actually doesn’t like fighting (like Gohan). So that could play a part in the rapid increase of Broly’s S-Cells.

4. Broly’s transformations are unique

Dragon Ball Super Broly has two principle transformations – Ikari Broly or Great Ape Transformation and the Super Saiyan form.

Great Ape Transformation

This Great Ape transformation is achieved when one contains the power of Oozaru or the Great Ape transformation in his base form. The user gains the strength of the form without losing speed. This is quite different from the usual Oozaru transformation wherein the user grows 10 times his base form in strength but his speed reduces dramatically. Dragon Ball Super Broly achieved this form after his father had cut off his tail.

Due to his constant angered state (which increases his power several folds) and combining that with the wrathful form, Broly’s power level would have jumped more than just the X10 multiplier. This is probably why he was able to beat the heck out of Super Saiyan God Goku. The light novel states that the growls he makes in this form are due to pain rather than the fighting spirit. This further adds weight to the S-Cell theory that a sudden increase of those cells hurts his mind.

Super Saiyan form

Paragus’ death stirred up so many emotions in Dragon Ball Super Broly that his S-Cells began to increase exponentially. Soon the numbers grew which enabled him to transform into a Super Saiyan. This is different from the normal Super Saiyan transformation. In the Dragon Ball Super Manga, Cabba and Caulifa talk about a demoniac “Legendary Saiyan”, that shows up every 1,000 years. Cabba adds that once they awaken, their power keeps on increasing until they self-destruct. This is exactly how Paragus described Broly.

However, Broly is different than Kale in certain aspects. Kale was able to calm herself down and control her power whereas Broly couldn’t. Kale isn’t as strong as Dragon Ball Super Broly so she may not possess as many S-Cells as him.

There’s no official multiplier for this type of Super Saiyan but I think it’s more than the X50 multiplier. At this point, Broly is much stronger than X500 his base form.

When SSJ Broly charges up to full power, his hair turns green-ish. He grows even larger in this form, towering at 3 meters.

This unique transformation causes Broly to grow even larger and lose all sense of self as he indiscriminately unleashes one furious attack after another. It’s a form with unfathomable potential that far exceeds Super Saiyan.

The name Legendary Super Saiyan exists only in the old Broly movie and not the new one. The official Dragon Ball website names the transformations as “Super Saiyan” and “Super Saiyan full power”.

5. Broly’s sheer determination pushes him to fight

No matter how much Dragon Ball Super Broly gets overwhelmed by his opponent, he always comes back for more. Driven by rage, his sheer determination to continue the fight no matter what is almost unparalleled, even higher than Goku’s. His will to fight dropped only when Gogeta unleashed the Kamehameha wave at him. Mind you that, this attack, according to Tatsuya Nagamine of Toei Animation, could have killed a normal enemy three times.

The LN states that Broly’s stamina is almost infinite. Although it is kind of an exaggeration, it is not too far away from the truth. If Goku had those stamina levels, maintaining Mastered Ultra Instinct for hours together would be a piece of cake.

Because of his high stamina levels, he was able to withstand huge blows from the likes of Blue Gogeta. Mind you that even base Gogeta is stronger than Super Saiyan Blue Goku according to the LN. This shows how high Broly’s endurance level is.

6. Dragon Ball Super Broly flabbergasts his opponents by his combat abilities

Vegeta is obviously more experienced than Dragon Ball Super Broly. However, Broly’s ability to study his own power and respond by reading his opponent’s moves is even better than Vegeta’s. As he’s fighting with the Prince, he’s learning how to punch, dodge, block, and so forth. He’s basically learning the entire form of martial arts by studying Vegeta.

For example, initially, Broly was behind Vegeta in terms of speed and blocking. After carefully observing Vegeta’s moves, these traits improved dramatically. When he was trailing behind Vegeta, he was able to whoosh through and block his way.

The light novel states that Dragon Ball Super Broly is learning Vegeta’s movements, his techniques, and situational judgments. In regards to techniques, the “oomph” behind Broly’s intense Ki-based attacks comes from observing Vegeta’s Ki blasts. In other words, he carefully studies his opponent’s movements and reproduces that, taking it one step further through sheer determination. This is how he was able to use Goku’s God Bind technique and use it against him.

7. The stronger the opponent, the stronger Dragon Ball Super Broly gets

When observing closely, you’ll notice that Broly became much stronger battling with Goku and Vegeta than with Frieza. Broly grew from struggling against Base Vegeta to beating the crap out of SSG Goku and even surpassing SSB Goku. This took approximately an hour or so. After the Saiyans teleported to Piccolo’s location, Broly spent the next hour pummeling Frieza into a pulp (This was one of the most satisfying scenes in the movie).

He didn’t grow much while fighting the galactic tyrant. In fact, he did not attack Frieza after the latter was backed against a rock. Broly did not fight to kill but just to whack the senses of his opponents. Broly didn’t see Frieza as a threat. He, therefore, stopped attacking Frieza beyond a point and went to Whis (Ouch! That must have destroyed Frieza’s pride).

It was only when Gogeta showed up that Broly’s strength resumed its expansion. When he increased his energy to its maximum, he was even able to pin Super Saiyan Gogeta down. In terms of overall strength, Base Gogeta > SSB Goku >= Golden Frieza. If Broly was able to push back SSJ Gogeta, then imagine how much he’d improved while battling Base Gogeta. This particular fight lasted only 2-3 minutes. This shows that the stronger the opponent, the better Broly gets.

Weaker opponents won’t affect him much. He trained with his father, a 4,200 leveled Saiyan, for around 43 years. And yet, he could barely reach Base Vegeta’s power level. The battle with the Saiyans exponentially increased his power.

Final thoughts

Dragon Ball Super Broly is Dragon Ball’s version of the Hulk. He’s a prodigy to the true sense of the word. So much so that it made Goku compare Broly’s strength to Beerus’. This controversial subject matter is explained in another article. To give a sense of Broly’s growth in the film, here’s a list of key scenarios with a power scale comparison.

• In the beginning of the fight, Base Broly = Base Vegeta (as confirmed in the Light Novel).

• Vegeta then goes Super Saiyan and Broly gets beaten up. One punch to the cheek sends him flying back. Broly gets angry, becomes stronger and charges towards the Prince. Now he’s able to withstand a similar punch by SSJ Vegeta. He then starts pushing SSJ Vegeta backward. At this moment, Base Broly = Base Vegeta X 50.

• Vegeta is forced to go Super Saiyan God. He lands a blow on Broly’s face, which again sends him flying backward. Broly’s anger further increases. He starts losing control of himself. SSB Vegeta hurdles a yellow beam, making him fall deep into the water.

• Broly transforms into his wrathful state. SSG Vegeta lands a similar punch to Broly’s face. Nothing happens. Ikari Broly > Base Vegeta X500.

• As the fight continues, Broly gets angrier and charges up a bit.

• Goku decides to intervene. He soon transforms into an SSG and initially overpowers Broly. Broly charges up and beats the crap out of SSG Goku. Goku then goes SSB. According to the Light Novel, SSB Goku > Ikari Broly.

• Broly ramps up his power after Paragus’ death, turning into his Super Saiyan form. SSJ Broly > Base Vegeta X25,000. Base Gogeta > SSJ Broly > SSB Goku.

• Gogeta goes Super Saiyan. Broly unleashes his full power, forcing SSJ Gogeta to go SSB. Full power SSJ Broly >= SSJ Gogeta. This version of Broly was able to dodge Gogeta’s Stardust Fall attack, unlike SSJ Broly.

• After surviving the Stardust Breaker, Full power SSJ Broly charges up for the last time.

Ever since Broly first laid eyes on Vegeta, his power level would have increased by at least 1,250,000 times at the end of the film. To be more precise, end of the movie Broly’s battle power = SSJ Gogeta or 50 X (Base Vegeta)^2 (assuming Base Vegeta = Base Goku). This is how much Broly improved in 2-3 hours’ time. This is NOT a plot armor. It’s due to Broly’s high concentration of S-Cells that he’s able to grow this strong. Broly is OP. Heil Broly!

What do you think of Broly and his immense power? Let us know in the comments below!