Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods is the 2013 film that brought Dragon Ball back to theaters after seventeen years, and the first movie to count as part of the official story. A few years after Majin Buu's defeat, Beerus, the God of Destruction, wakes from a long sleep and sets out to find a legendary opponent called the "Super Saiyan God". The trail leads him to Goku, and then to Earth, right in the middle of Bulma's birthday party.
Full plot (spoilers)
With his attendant Whis in tow, Beerus tracks Goku down on King Kai's planet. Goku eagerly challenges him and goes straight to Super Saiyan 3, only to be flattened in a couple of blows. The god then heads to Earth, where Bulma's party is in full swing. Vegeta, who knows exactly who he's dealing with, swallows his pride and does everything he can to keep Beerus happy, and both Beerus and Whis discover a real taste for Earth food.
The truce doesn't last. After a spat with Majin Buu, Beerus loses his temper and beats Android 18, Tien Shinhan, Piccolo, Gohan, Gotenks and Vegeta himself, who flies into a rage when the god strikes Bulma and puts up the best fight of anyone. Goku returns and asks for time: Shenron explains that becoming a Super Saiyan God requires six Saiyans with pure hearts. Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Goten and Trunks make five; the sixth is the baby Videl is expecting, the future Pan, whose pregnancy is revealed during the party.
Goku reaches the new form, with red hair and a red aura, and takes Beerus on in a spectacular duel. In the end he concedes, but Beerus, impressed, decides to spare the Earth and only destroys a small rock. Before leaving, he reveals that Whis is his teacher and even stronger than he is, and that there are other universes with Gods of Destruction of their own.
What it introduces
- Beerus, the God of Destruction of Universe 7. Toriyama said his look was based on a cat and his clothes on ancient Egyptian garments.
- Whis, his attendant and martial arts master, who will go on to train Goku and Vegeta.
- Super Saiyan God, the series' first divine transformation.
- A hierarchy of gods and the existence of other universes, ideas that Dragon Ball Super builds on all the way to the Tournament of Power.
Production
The film was directed by Masahiro Hosoda, a veteran of Dragon Ball Z episodes, with a screenplay by Yūsuke Watanabe and Tadayoshi Yamamuro as lead animation director. The driving force, though, was Akira Toriyama: for the first time he followed a film from the screenwriting stage, coming up with the story and the new character designs. Toriyama said he had started developing the God of Destruction and Super Saiyan God about two years before release, and got deeply involved to keep the tone true to the original series. Toei billed the film as part of Dragon Ball's "official history".
The theme song is a cover of "Cha-La Head-Cha-La", the original Z opening, by the Japanese rock band Flow; the score is by Norihito Sumitomo. It was also the first Dragon Ball film produced with digital ink and paint.
Did you know? Battle of Gods was the first Japanese film ever screened in IMAX, playing at all sixteen IMAX digital theaters in Japan.
Reception
In Japan the film opened at number one and stayed there for three weeks, finishing the year with around ¥3 billion according to Oricon. Funimation produced the English dub and gave it a limited North American theatrical run in August 2014, followed by home video that October with both the theatrical cut and the longer TV version, which adds extra scenes.
Critics mostly enjoyed its light, comedic tone, closer to the original Dragon Ball than to Z, and its animation. Some felt there was too little action for a film called Battle of Gods.
Where it fits in the timeline
The story takes place during the ten-year gap between Majin Buu's defeat and the manga's epilogue, between chapters 517 and 518. It is followed directly by Resurrection 'F'. The Dragon Ball Super anime retells the same events in episodes 1–18 (per Toei; some sources split it as 1–14 and 15–27), with some differences and extra material, so you can pick either the film or those episodes.
Our take
Battle of Gods is a brave film precisely because it doesn't do what you expect. After years of ever-stronger, ever-nastier villains, Toriyama gives us a capricious god who isn't even really evil, and an ending in which Goku loses. For plenty of fans in 2013 that was a shock; watched today, it looks like exactly the right way to reopen the saga without betraying it. The party scenes, with Vegeta bending over backwards to keep the god in a good mood, are worth the ticket on their own. If you want epic fights, the later films deliver more; if you want the playful spirit of classic Dragon Ball back, start here. For every other film, see our movie guide.