News culture This Marvel series thinks it’s Dragon Ball on Disney+: the fight in the final episode is pure explosive madness
Published on 01/08/2025 at 08:30
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Even today, Dragon Ball remains a reference in terms of animated combat. Few people don’t remember the first fight between Goku and Vegeta, and this Marvel series seems to have been directly inspired by the genius of Akira Toriyama for its final confrontation.
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A series that explores the field of possibilities
Announced in April 2019, this series Marvel is an ambitious project with a visual identity of its own, and a concept that makes it possible to exploit the untrodden paths of Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first season of What If…? began its broadcast on Disney+ in August 2021, as part of the Phase 4 of MCUand explores the different facets of the multiverse by presenting alternative versions of the franchise’s heroes, such as the emergence of Captain Carter instead of Captain America, T’Challa in the skin of Star-Lordor Ant-Man version zombie.
The majority of the characters are dubbed by the actors who play them in the MCUas Hayley Atwell, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Ruddor even Benedict Cumberbatch. The story is narrated by the Guardian (Watcher in English), an enigmatic character who watches over the events of the multiverse, and to whom Jeffrey Wright lends his voice. What If…? benefited from a second season in 2023, and the series ended with a third season in December 2024. Moreover, the final episode of What If…? offered a great show to the fans, in the form of a fight worthy of the clashes that can be found in Dragon Ball…
A fight worthy of Akira Toriyama
In the last episode of What If…?the stakes rise when the heroes join the Fifth Dimension to try to save Captain Carter and the Guardian from the clutches of the Eminencethe leader of the Guardians, who, accompanied by the Incarnate and of the Executorintends to punish the Guardian for his offenses. A combat sequence then follows which, in its essence, is quite similar to what can be found in the other works of the MCUwith gratuitous shots, sparks, and a few lines we could do without. But the real inspiration behind this sequence seems to come from a completely different franchise: Dragon Ball.
With exchanges of blows so powerful they can destroy a planet, the fusion of characters allowing the use of devastating powers, and even the equivalent of a transformation into Super Saiyan towards the end of the confrontationthe fight between the heroes and the Guardians is a real visual spectacle with a most dramatic conclusion for the protagonists. It’s hard not to see the similarities, and even harder not to see it as a very nice tribute to Akira Toriyama and his work.
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