Dragon Ball’s Trunks Has a Unique Manga Power the Anime Ignored

Trunks has been proven to be much stronger in the original Dragon Ball manga than in the anime in reference to his epic future self. The reason for his power discrepancy has everything to do with one specific ability he has in the manga that he doesn’t have in the anime. The incredible power Trunks wields is the power to heal at a remarkable rate. 

In Dragon Ball Super Chapter 24 by Akira Toriyama, Goku, Vegeta, and Trunks are fighting the multiversal villain Zamasu and are losing quite considerably. Zamasu and his variant Goku Black have taken over Trunks’ future, bringing his world to its knees. Trunks, in response, goes back in time to retrieve Goku and Vegeta to bring them to the future and defeat Zamasu once and for all. When the Z-Fighters get to the future, however, the power level of Zamasu is unmatched, as the villain enhances himself using Super Dragon Balls. While Zamasu puts the beating on Goku and Vegeta, they have a secret weapon in the form of Trunks that keeps them in the fight. 

Trunks realizes in Chapter 24 that he has healing powers, bestowed on him by the Supreme Kai of his universe through a special ritual. Once Trunks learns of his hidden ability, he rushes over to his father Vegeta, who is gravely injured after fighting Zamasu, and puts his powers to the test. Trunks successfully heals Vegeta, putting his father back into the fight to save his world and his entire universe. 

In the corresponding Goku Black saga in the Dragon Ball Super anime, Trunks does not have healing powers either to quickly heal himself or others. The reason behind Trunks’ lack of this ability in the anime is unknown, but it’s likely that the showrunners instead decided to focus on the tragedy of his future world and what he was willing to do to save it, simplifying the narrative by removing the type of ability that tends to create plot holes down the line.

Trunks literally became a living, breathing senzu bean with the realization that he had the power to heal those who had been injured in battle. Trunks proved that, while not as powerful as Goku or Vegeta (given that at the time of their encounter during Dragon Ball Super, the two were wielding godly power), he is incredibly powerful in his own right. Throughout his time fighting Goku Black in his future, Trunks had been able to hold off the godly foe, which was proven difficult for Goku and Vegeta to do while fighting together. The Dragon Ball manga took Trunks a step further and gave him a power no one else had, and one that was integral in the heroes’ survival while fighting Zamasu.

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