Recap / Dragon Ball Super Future Trunks Arc

Story Arcs: 1: God of Destruction Beerus Arc | 2: Golden Frieza Arc | 3: Universe 6 Arc | 4: Copy-Vegeta Arc | 5: Future Trunks Arc | 6: Hit Arc | 7: Great Saiyaman Arc | 8: Krillin Arc | 9: Universal Survival Arc

An evil that transcends time and space

The Future Trunks Arc (“未来”トランクス編, "Mirai" Torankusu Hen), also referred to as the Rebellious Zamasu Arc, Goku Black Arc, or Fused Zamasu Arc depending on the point of emphasis, is the fifth story arc or fourth major arc in the Dragon Ball Super series, and the second appearance of Future Trunks in the anime and manga of Dragon Ball.

Short Summary

Future Trunks returns and his home is once again being destroyed by a powerful foe, but this one looks really familiar.

Tropes:

• Actually, That's My Assistant: Future Trunks meets Beerus and Whis and is told that he's in the presence of the God of Destruction. Trunks immediately bows to Whis...who awkwardly explains that he's just the assistant and Beerus is the God. Needless to say, between this and the fact that time travel is regarded as a major sin by the gods, Beerus starts off with a pretty poor impression of Trunks.
• Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome: The Supreme Kai in Future Trunks's timeline apparently was either a lot more proactive or a lot more direct in his assistance than his prime self, as he tipped off Future Trunks to fend off Future Babidi's invasion and kill Future Dabura and Future Babidi before Future Buu could be released. Either that or Future Trunks actually listened to Future Supreme Kai, unlike the mainline characters who tended to ignore his advice and warnings.
  • This ends up being subverted though, since unlike the main timeline, this version of Supreme Kai was killed in the fight against Future Dabura. His death had tragic implications for the universe, since his dying also caused that timeline's Beerus to die, and Beerus's absence is what allowed Black and Zamasu to get away with their Zero Mortals Plan.
• All for Nothing: Played both ways here.
  • For the heroes, they go through a lot of trouble trying to find a way to stop Zamasu and Black and save Future Trunks' timeline. But despite managing to weaken him and get a killing blow on him, his power makes it virtually impossible to put him down by conventional means. What's more, once his body is destroyed, his lingering hate-filled essence still manages to infect the entire universe of that timeline and kill all mortals save for our heroes on Earth.
  • However, though Zamasu manages to succeed in his plan, it's only as a mindless monster. Goku then remembers the button Zeno gave to him and calls in that Future Zeno to him. Future Zeno then promptly erases Zamasu making sure his victory is short-lived. But to do so, he had to take out Future Trunks's timeline universe with it, leaving only Future Trunks, Future Mai and Future Zeno as the only survivors of that universe. At least Zamasu and Goku Black are stopped from spreading their influence to the multiverse.
• The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best in People: Both Future Trunks and Future Mai are hardened by the apocalypse and much better people than their main timeline counterparts. This is especially the case for Mai who is a petty criminal in the present, but the selfless leader of La Résistance in the future.
• Armies Are Useless: According to Future Trunks, the world's armies tried to stop Black and were annihilated. Played with in regards to the resistance army, who while not able to meaningfully hurt Black are able to play a part in keeping Black at bay by distracting him. They are also the reason that Future Trunks is still alive and saved Goku, Vegeta, and him during their own conflicts with Black.
• Back-to-Back Badass: Goku and Vegeta of all people do this when defending against Black's clones.
• Bad Future: It turns out that Future Trunks's timeline isn't just one for his universe, but the other 11 universes as well: Future Zamasu has murdered his master, gained immortality, and is launching his genocidal campaign. In the manga it's revealed Future Zamasu and Goku Black have wiped out all the other universe-level deities other than Zamasu so no one would remain to oppose him.
  • It turns out that Goku Black is from another one: Present Zamasu succeeded in killing his master, stealing the Potaras and Time Rings, and stealing Goku's body before killing him and his entire family in cold blood. He then jumped ship to the other Bad Future timeline to recruit Future Zamasu and start his plans.
• The Bad Guy Wins: In a sense, both Zamasu accomplishes his goal of wiping out all mortals from the universe, with only Future Trunks, Goku, Vegeta, and Mai, as the survivors. There is also no way of undoing this, especially after Goku had a future Zeno erase the universe Zamasu fused with. Even so, he didn't have much sanity left to gloat, nor did he have a followup to his plan if he remained sane.
• Badly Battered Babysitter: While asked to watch Pan for a bit, Future Trunks finds out the hard way she's inherited her father's strength. It doesn't help that he's never babysat before.
• Balance Between Good and Evil: The balance between the Gods of Creation and the Gods of Destruction is further explained. If the Kais are killed, then their corresponding Gods of Destruction will also die, and vice versa.
• Beware the Silly Ones:
  • Beerus shows just what he's capable of when he's angry enough to get serious: he can completely annihilate someone just by putting his hand to them and saying, "Destroy." Which he does to Present Zamasu.
  • Zeno may be a child-like entity, but there's a reason he's the Top God of the Dragon Ball universe as shown when Future Zeno single-handily wipes out the Fusion Zamasu and Future Trunks's timeline with it.
• Big Bad:
  • The Zamasus in general serve as the main antagonist of the arc. Initially it is unclear if Black was the true mastermind or the puppet to the real villain. However, it's later revealed that Goku Black is actually the present Zamasu who used the Super Dragon Balls to switch bodies with Goku, and that he was the one who orchestrated the Zero Mortals Plan to begin with, even recruiting Future Zamasu as his partner.
  • Fusion Zamasu takes over as the Big Bad, after Goku Black and Future Zamasu fuse together to form him. He is also the Final Boss of the Future Trunks Saga.
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • Future Trunks's version of the Majin Buu saga ended with this. Even though he successfully managed to stop Future Dabura and Future Babidi from reviving Future Buu, Future Supreme Kai, Future Kibito, and by extension the Future Elder Kai have all fallen in battle, which ended up killing Future Beerus and, by extension, Future Whis since his life was tied with them. Which also what made Goku Black invade Future Trunks's timeline, where no God of Destruction could oppose him.
  • Fusion Zamasu is destroyed, but at that point he'd become a multiverse-spanning Eldritch Abomination capable of infecting other timelines, which means in order to finish him off, Future Zeno had to destroy the entire timeline to destroy him for good. However, Future Trunks and Future Mai survived, and Whis goes to the future to warn Future Beerus about Zamasu before his death, splitting off a separate timeline where Black and Future Zamasu never existed for Trunks and Mai to return to and stay in.
• Book Ends: Trunks kills the Big Bad of the arc, Fusion Zamasu, in the same way he killed Frieza back in his very first appearance. He even slices in the opposite direction.
• Break Out the Museum Piece: Bulma's solution to Black destroying Trunks's time machine? Break Cell's rusted-up, moss-covered one out of storage where it's been for a decade or two by now and fix it up as a replacement.
• Call-Back: This arc was loaded with them:
  • First and foremost, this saga has several call backs to the Cell Saga, from the reappearance of future Trunks to the existence of Cell's Time Machine.
  • The Mafuba (Evil Containment Wave) was last spoken about or used before the "Z" part of Dragon Ball, where Master Roshi and Tien tried to use it to defeat King Piccolo.
  • A small cameo from Android 8 in the future timeline is a small nod to the Red Ribbon Army Arc.
• Central Theme: The value of humanity despite its flaws, and how the search for justice can blind your original intentions, showing your true dark self. But most importantly, how everything isn't always black and white as well as the question for what is even supposed to be good, evil and justice. Especially if you think about the Gods of Destruction and how they, as demonstrated by Beerus multiple times, often destroy planets on a whim, whereas Zamasu had some form of reasoning.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The starry goo Bulma made in the beginning of the last arc turns out to be a fuel source needed to power a time machine.
  • One from decades ago: Black destroys Trunks's time machine and it looks hopeless to chase Black back to the future... until Bulma remembers Cell's time machine.
  • Another one going even further back as far as the original Dragon Ball. After the second trip to the future, the heroes report on the situation and what they've learned about Gokū Black and Future Zamasu. When they state that the latter has Complete Immortality that can't be wished away, Piccolo proposes that they try to use the Mafūba^note Evil Containment Wave in the English dub; literal translation is "Demon Seal Wave" to seal away both of them just as it was used years ago on his father, King Piccolo.
  • The Potara Earring that Goku Black wears. It turns out it's what lets him use the Time Ring. The fact Future Zamasu has only one as well is used by the two of them to eventually fuse into Fusion Zamasu.
  • Speaking of the Potara, Goku brings up Vegito's unexplained defusion after being absorbed by Super Buu, which Gowasu explains there is a time limit for the Potara when it comes to mortals.
  • The button Zeno gives Goku is used to summon his future timeline counterpart to destroy Zamasu once and for all.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Bulma asking Piccolo to demonstrate the Mafuba/Evil Containment Wave even after Goku left to learn from Roshi. It's a joke at the time, but it turns out she recorded it and uses it to teach Future Trunks the technique.
• Clipped-Wing Angel: Fusion Zamasu is REALLY hard to kill, but, that's the thing, the Goku Black half of him renders him killable (as opposed to Future Zamasu's Complete Immortality, which is somewhat cancelled out).
• Close-Enough Timeline: The timeline Whis creates for Future Trunks and Future Mai to live in after their own has to be destroyed to kill Fusion Zamasu once and for all. Other than Future Beerus taking care of Future Zamasu early (meaning Fusion Zamasu will never exist to become the Eldritch Abomination that necessitated Zeno to destroy the timeline), the main difference is there will now be two Mais and two Trunkses should the two of them choose to go there. Both consider this acceptable.
• Continuity Cameo: Turtle, Android 8, and Arale.
• Cosmic Horror Story: While it ultimately ends up being Lovecraft Lite, this arc becomes the closest Dragon Ball has ever been to a Cosmic Horror Story. Reason being is that even after Zamasu's semi-negated Complete Immortality was finally overcome, he, through The Power of Hate, becomes a massive Eldritch Abomination that was only killable by intentionally causing the apocalypse. While Zamasu is dead, the method of his defeat made it so The Bad Guy Wins (since he wanted to exterminate all mortals in that universe), and the only way for Future Trunks and Future Mai to have anything resembling a Happy Ending is for them to escape to a Close-Enough Timeline.
• Darker and Edgier: In comparison to the Champa Saga and the Potaufeu Arc the Future Trunks arc is easily the darkest arc that Dragon Ball Super has had to date. It starts with Future Trunks watching a villain kill his mom and a close friend right in front of him. Many fans have stated that this arc is one of the darkest in the entire franchise.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Zamasu's whole grudge with Goku is just over losing what was meant to be a friendly sparring match that Goku requested. Zamasu took it way too personally however and it pushed his already unhealthy hatred of mortals over the edge.
• Dystopia: Once again the land Future Trunks comes from is a devastated wasteland.
• 11th-Hour Superpower:
  • Trunks's newest form - named either Super Trunks or Super Saiyan Rage.
  • Trunks's sword gets empowered by the spirits of the final remnants of humanity (becoming a sorta-kinda, sword-shaped Spirit Bomb).
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After Zamasu has been killed for good, Whis decides to interfere with the timeline, warning Future Beerus of what was to come so he could put a stop to it before it happens again. The result being that Future Trunks can now go back to a timeline where everybody is now alive and all is well. After the Androids, Cell, the Majins, Future Zamasu, and Goku Black, Trunks's future is now a better one.
• Eldritch Abomination: After Fusion Zamasu is physically killed, his spirit becomes what can only be described as a completely insane cloud of hatred and madness that envelops the Earth, merges with the multiverse and tries to break into other timelines. The only thing that manages to kill him in the end is Zeno obliterating the timeline he's infesting.
• Evil Twin: In an interesting subversion, Goku Black is soon revealed to be a Zamatsu who switches bodies with Goku from another timeline allowing him to harness the Saiyan's powers along with it.
• Foreshadowing: Beerus and Whis's ability to sense Killing Intent is foreshadowed when Whis describes a difference between Black and Zamasu: they felt an overwhelming feeling of malice that present Zamasu didn't possess. It's only later we learn this is an explicit ability.
• Fusion Dance: Future Zamasu and Goku Black fuse into Fusion Zamasu using the Potara Earrings. Goku and Vegeta eventually follow suit, though just like with Buu the fusion ends before Vegito can finish the job.
• Godzilla Threshold:
  • Resorting to the Mafuba to seal away the villains is this, as it's both a move that Goku really wouldn't use under normal circumstances and is dangerous to perform (as Roshi and his master both dying to perform it last time shows), but against someone with Complete Immortality there aren't many other options.
  • The appearance of Vegito after being absent for well over two decades is also this. It goes to show because, while Goku and Vegeta like to rely on their own strength and thus utterly hate fusing, none of the heroes can do anything to counter Fusion Zamasu's attacks or do any lasting harm to him.
  • After Zamasu, through The Power of Hate, becomes a multiverse-spanning, nigh-unstoppable Eldritch Abomination, the only way to beat him is to summon the future timeline's Zeno... who destroys him easily and the entire future timeline multiverse.
• Götterdämmerung: Zamasu and Black's plans involve wiping out the other Supreme Kais and by extension the Gods of Destruction so no one will be left to oppose him on a universal level. If Black is to be believed, they've succeeded in Future Trunks's timeline. Unfortunately for Fusion Zamasu, they missed a God.
• Grand Finale: This saga acts as an effective one for Future Trunks and his world, as it all ends with Future Zeno arriving to erase the entire timeline and its multiverse after Future Zamasu becomes an Eldritch Abomination bent on exterminating all mortal life. However, Whis sees to it that another version of that future will be preserved with Future Beerus aware of the oncoming threats. So, Future Trunks and Future Mai return to the newly-branched version of their world, and with Trunks on the same level of power as Super Saiyan Blue, Future Beerus presumably active, and Buu proactively eliminated, this seems to ensure that Future Trunks's universe will know peace at last.
• Half the Man He Used to Be:
  • One of the Babarians that tried to attack Zamasu and Gowasu ends up suffering this fate at the hands of Zamasu. Gowasu ends up calling his student out on it.
  • Fusion Zamasu ultimately suffers this fate at the end of Episode 66 courtesy of Future Trunks. Unfortunately, that just causes him to turn into a GIYGAS-like multiversal cloud of hatred.
• Happy Ending Override: When we last saw Future Trunks, he had grown powerful enough to kill the androids and Cell single handily and it looked like the future was looking brighter. But now a new threat has arrived and apparently he isn't strong enough to fight it.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Both Future Bulma and Mai, though the latter survives, opt to try to hold off the mysterious attacker and buy Trunks time to get to the time machine.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: As it turns out, Zamasu and Black fusing actually opens up a massive Achilles' Heel. Since only half of Fusion Zamasu is immortal, the Goku Black half of him leaves him killable.
• Humans Are Bastards: Zamasu, a Kai apprentice from Universe 10, has no regards for humans (or mortals in general), considering them barbaric and thinking that they'll never learn from their mistakes.
• Internal Reveal: Future Trunks becomes aware of events that have occurred since the defeat of Cell: Goku is alive again, the existence of Super Saiyan 3, Krillin married Android 18 and had a daughter with her and Gohan retiring from martial arts and starting his own family.
• Irony: Cell acquired his time machine by killing his Future Trunks so he could return to the past and find the Androids. Now the prime Future Trunks and company are using that exact same Time Machine to return to the future and save it, bringing things full circle.
• It's Personal: Not since Freeza has there been an opponent where Goku considered truly killing someone. But Zamasu manages by gleefully recounting how Goku Black and he killed his family in Trunks timeline.
• Knight of Cerebus: Since Dragon Ball Super is much Lighter and Softer compared to Z, Goku Black and Zamasu stick out like sore thumbs. Goku Black's very first scene involves him ruining Trunk's already ruined future and killing Future Bulma, traumatizing Trunks in the process. Then, when he finds out Zamasu killed an alternate version of his family, Goku gets as angry with him as he did when Frieza killed Krillin, a feat no other villain in Super accomplishes. Neither Zamasu or Black are ever Played for Laughs, and they end the arc with a high body count. It's telling that in a series where Death Is Cheap, Zamasu and Black are the only villains to inflict permanent damage by their actions.
• Laser Blade: All over the place.
  • It's one of Goku Black's favorite attacks, and he eventually expands it to a full-blown Sinister Scythe. This carries over to Fusion Zamasu.
  • When Vegito shows up, he naturally joins in, impaling Fusion Zamasu with it and quipping that he knows that move too.
  • Finally, Trunks uses one to replace his broken sword, which becomes a massive BFS when everyone on Earth donates their power to him.
• Let's Get Dangerous!:
  • The situation ultimately makes Beerus get serious. And he promptly annihilates Zamasu with a One-Hit Kill without a second thought.
  • After finding out that Zamasu (in Goku's body) also killed Chi-Chi and Goten after stealing said body, Goku becomes absolutely pissed off and goes to town on Goku Black and Zamasu in Episode 61.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": Everyone (except Goku and Vegeta, who aren't surprised) who knows exactly what it means has one when Future Zamasu takes off his Potara Earring to move it to his other ear to initiate his and Goku Black's fusion into Fusion Zamasu.
  • Later, Fusion Zamasu has only this to say when Zeno arrives and immediately he runs away trying to hide from Zeno.
• Meaningless Villain Victory: Sure, Fusion Zamasu manages to wipe out humanity due to some last minute power up. But, thanks to Goku being friends with Zeno, gaining the button given to him by his present day counterpart and able to call the future one, his plans to exert his will across the multiverse are stopped. What's more, in the end he was unable to kill his most hated enemies.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: It's revealed Beerus has the ability to sense Killing Intent, which is how he knew Zamasu intended to murder his master just from meeting him. According to Whis, this is an exclusive ability of Gods of Destruction and their attendants.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • When Goku, Beerus and Whis visit Universe 10, Goku, being his usual fight happy self, requests a match with Zamasu. He gets his wish and wins the match. This reaffirms in Zamasu's mind that mortals are both stupid and dangerous, and it only keeps going downhill from there.
  • It turns out that Master Roshi forgot to give Goku the seal which makes the attempt at sealing Future Zamasu pointless as he quickly managed to broke free from the pot.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • A very long distance one: Cell traveling to the past and leaving his time machine behind is ultimately the reason the heroes have any way to return after Black destroys Trunks's time machine.
  • Future Zamasu revealing himself to the Z-Fighters is what allowed Goku and Vegeta to report Beerus and Whis regarding the connection betweem him and Black. Had he just sit back and watch Black obliterate Goku, they wouldn't have make any connections between Zamasu and Black, Zamasu would have been successful in murdering his master Gowasu, Zamasu would have used the Super Dragon Balls to switch bodies with Goku and kill him along with Chi Chi and Goten reinstating the Stable Time Loop.
  • When Goku Black stabbed Trunks in episode 63, he was in the middle of self-destructing. As it so happens, the time machine appeared nearby right after. If Trunks was able to complete his attack, the time machine would have appeared before the explosion, and it would likely have been vaporized in the blast. Goku and Vegeta would probably have survived, but severely hurt since they would have been caught by surprise. However, Bulma would have most certainly died.
  • Fusing with your alternate self seems like a good idea until it's revealed that said alternate self is mortal and thus cancels out your immortality.
• Non-Protagonist Resolver: This is the first Saga where none of the Z-Fighters resolve the conflict against Zamasu. Instead Goku summons Future Zeno and have him wipe out the entire universe as a last ditch effort to stop him.
• Not Quite Dead:
  • Turns out Future Mai managed to survive Black's attack.
  • Future Trunks manages to cut Fusion Zamasu in half, and his body disintegrates... only for Zamasu to quickly return as an Eldritch Abomination bent on becoming the multiverse (with the power to back it). It takes the intervention of Zeno to put him down for good.
• Not So Stoic: Whis up to now has been very casual about everything. The worst he has ever gotten is annoyed or concerned about something, even when Beerus and those around him are freaking out. But even he screams in fear with Beerus when they receive a call from Zeno, telling them he wants to meet with Goku.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Future Zeno begins prepping a multiverse buster to destroy Fusion Zamasu and the timeline he's corrupted by merging with, Goku tells everyone to run back to the past ASAP. This being Goku, him wanting to run is certainly this trope.
• Offhand Backhand: Goku gives one to Zamasu after Black and Zamasu taunted Goku about the alternate timeline deaths of his family.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Present Zamasu has a big one when he realizes he's been caught red handed by Beerus. While he maintains his composure, it slips multiple times, showing he's quite clearly not happy about what's going on.
  • Goku has one when he realizes that Future Zeno is about to destroy the entire future timeline. In a panic, he urges everyone to get the fuck outta there.
• One-Hit Kill:
  • It's revealed Beerus has one: he holds his hand to someone and says "Destroy." They're promptly and instantly atomized. He does so to kill Present Zamasu after getting proof he was indeed going to murder his master and turn out just like his future self.
  • Zeno does this to the entire future timeline, after Zamasu goes One-Winged Angel.
• One-Winged Angel:
  • When it becomes apparent Vegeta outmatches Black and the heroes have a way to permanently defeat Future Zamasu (with the Mafuba), the two resort to fusing into Fusion Zamasu.
  • After his physical body is killed, Fusion Zamasu becomes a multiverse encompassing Eldritch Abomination that begins breaking through to other timelines.
• Opening Shout-Out: During the scene where Black gets a taste of Goku's power, an image of Goku flashes over Black, just like how an image of Super Saiyan God/Blue overlaps Goku in the opening.
• Papa Wolf: One of Vegeta's and eventually, Goku's motivations to stop Goku Black and Future Zamasu is because for the former, they made Future Trunks's life miserable and killed his Future wife, and for the latter, they killed an alternate version of his wife and youngest son in the process of stealing the body of an alternate version of Goku for no reason other than to be a spiteful asshole.
• Protagonist Title: Future Trunks is a major protagonist and the arc is named after him. Notable, as every other saga in the franchise has had an Antagonist Title.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Zamasu solidifies his Villainous Breakdown with a furious "SON! GOKU!"
  • Vegito gladly reciprocates after his reappearance with a hammy one during his Next Tier Power-Up:
  Vegito: And here's something new: VEGITO. BLUUUUUUUEEEEEEE!!!
• Rage Breaking Point: After all the crap that's thrown in his way, especially with Goku Black and Zamasu accusing Future Trunks that everything is his fault due to traveling through time, Future Trunks snaps and transforms into an unusual Super Saiyan form that's akin to Broly's Legendary Super Saiyan transformation.
• Ret-Gone:
  • Beerus killing present Zamasu was supposed to erase Black from time, as Beerus is a God and if a God kills another one it bypasses the timeline spitting off. It unfortunately fails due to Black's Time Ring.
  • After Fusion Zamasu is obliterated along with the now corrupted future timeline by Zeno, Whis goes to when Future Beerus was still alive and warns him of the Zamasus' plans, allowing him to preemptively stop Future Zamasu before the Zero Mortals Plan can ever start. As a result, in the timeline Future Trunks and Future Mai return to, Future Zamasu and by extention Fusion Zamasu no longer exist.
• Right Makes Might: Trunks's righteous fury towards Zamasu causes him to obtain a new Super Saiyan form, and the hope of the people he was protecting manifested into a Spirit Bomb-like energy sword. With both of these combined, despite being objectively weaker than both Goku and Vegeta, he's the one who destroys Merged Zamasu's body.
• Say My Name: *ahem* SON! GOKUUUUU!!!
• Sealed Evil in a Can:
  • The Majin Buu of Trunks's timeline is still in his, as Trunks managed to kill Dabura and Babidi before they could free him.
  • The heroes ultimately decide to use the Mafuba to imprison Future Zamasu because they can't kill him due to his Complete Immortality. It works...for about two minutes before he escapes due to the lack of a seal.]]
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The heroes go to visit Zamasu due to the similarity between his ki and Black Goku's, believing he might be involved. Their meeting with him is the very thing that sends him over the edge into evil.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong:
  • Beerus and Whis make an attempt at this by rewinding time after Present Zamasu kills Gowasu, at which point Beerus one-shots Zamasu before he can ever begin his plans in hopes of erasing Black from existence due to Beerus's way of doing it bypassing the normal universe-splitting thing. Unfortunately, Black's Time Ring protects him. Though he does succeed in ensuring Zamasu will never steal Goku Prime's body.
  • Whis creates a new timeline by going to the future before Future Beerus's death and warning him about the Zamasus' plans so he can take care of Future Zamasu early. As a result, the Zero Mortals Plan and everything associated with it never happens in that timeline due to Future Zamasu already being dead.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Once Trunks returns to his future timeline with Goku and Vegeta in tow and finally reunites with Mai and the Resistance survivors, he tells Vegeta that they don't have that kind of relationship. It doesn't stop Vegeta from assuming it anyway, especially after seeing their tearful reunion.
• Ship Tease: Between Trunks and Mai, in both their future and present versions.
• Shout-Out: The time travel sequences have a time corridor, just like Doctor Who.
• So Proud of You:
  • While observing from afar how Trunks is praised by people he has saved from destruction, Vegeta smiles with a proud look on his face. However as soon as he realizes Goku is watching him, it turns into a scowl.
  • It comes up once again during Episode 67. Just before Future Trunks and Future Mai leave for the new timeline that Whis creates for them, Vegeta is standing by the time machine much to Future Trunks's surprise. Instead of Vegeta saying goodbye the old-fashioned way, he instead throws a punch that Future Trunks catches easily. The smile on Vegeta's face says it all.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: This is by far not just the darkest arc of Super, but the darkest arc of the entire franchise, yet the ending themes are some of the most whimsical and cheerful sounding songs with very happy looking characters pictured. The looks on Future Trunks, Videl, Future Bulma look very Out of character in the Yoka Yoka Dance theme.
• Spanner in the Works: Bulma figuring out to use Cell's old time machine is what broke the whole Stable Time Loop with Goku Black. Had she not did this, the Z-Fighters would have struggled to find a method to travel to the future (aside from wishing a time machine, which for some reason they didn't consider doing), Goku and Vegeta wouldn't have reported to Beerus and Whis regarding the whole Black and Zamasu connections, Zamasu would have been successful in his murder of Gowasu without Beerus and Whis to stop him and would have successfully switched bodies with Goku and killed him, reinstating the whole loop again. Essentially, Bulma inadvertently stopped the loop from reinstating again.
• Summon Bigger Fish: Ultimately how they managed to stop Zamasu when Goku remembers he has the button Zeno gave him and summoning the future version to him. Once Zeno finds out what Zamasu has done, he wipes him and the Future timeline out in an instant.
• Technicolor Death: Present Zamasu's death: Zamasu slowly turns into purple light as he's obliterated by Beerus.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Goku declares this to Black and Future Zamasu upon learning that Black killed the Goten and Chi Chi of the Goku who's body he stole.
• Time Travel Taboo: While previous arcs had Jaco state time alteration is forbidden by the Galactic Patrol, this is the arc that further explained why. Time travel is forbidden by the gods, being considered a taboo, because any minor alteration could lead to horrible results, maybe even the universe being destroyed. Only the Supreme Kai can travel through time with the Time Ring, and only for observation purposes in the future, as it's needed to see how a civilization has evolved through time. Anytime someone travels through time with a time machine, an alternate timeline is created, and with it, a time ring of a green color. If it weren't for Goku Black having a time ring and causing destruction to both humanity and the gods, Beerus would have intervened and destroyed Trunks time machine on the spot. It also gives an excuse for Beerus and Whis to not deal with Black themselves.
  • Goku Black also proclaims, from a hypocritical point of view, that one of the reasons he decided to exterminate humanity is because of Trunks experience with time travel. If it wasn't for Trunks breaking the taboo of the gods, and saving Goku from his heart disease, he wouldn't have been interested in Goku's body, and as such, never started his Zero Mortals Plan. Trunks, after obtaining a new transformation, decides to not give a damn if he is considered a sinner.
  • After the arc is over and Trunks returns to the future, Bulma tries to recreate the Time Machine, despite knowing it's forbidden. Once Beerus discovers her plans, he destroys the time machine once and for all.
• Timey-Wimey Ball: This arc takes this to almost comical levels. Even the characters in story spend most of the arc confused about all the alternate timelines and different versions of characters running around.
• Underestimating Badassery: Both Black and Zamasu constantly underestimate both Vegeta and Trunks. To them the only fighter worth even a passing resemblance of respect is Goku and Goku alone. This leads to them not taking the two seriously and getting their asses handed to them.
• Villainous Breakdown: Despite having merged with Goku Black, Zamasu's mental state deteriorates when he finds that his opponents aren't going to back down, culminating when Vegeta and Trunks manage to push one of his attacks back at him. It only gets worse from there as the battle drags on, especially when he realizes that his much vaunted immortality has been negated with the fusion, meaning while he's more powerful he can now be hurt and any regeneration will only mutate his body.
• Wham Episode:
  • 56. Black reveals his new Super Saiyan Rosé;, effortlessly takes down Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta by stabbing him in the chest, and to top it all off Zamasu appears in the future alongside Black.
  • 67. Fusion Zamasu is seemingly killed by empowered Future Trunks, who cuts him in two with his sword. And then he survives through sheer hate, becoming a multiverse-encompassing Eldritch Abomination who is also able to break into the other timelines, kills all mortals other than the characters. It takes Zeno interventions to destroy him... which also destroys the entire multiverse. Then Whis and Beerus decide to make a timeline where Everyone Lives and prevent Zamasu's rebellion, and where Future Trunks and Mai, the only survivors of the original version of the timeline, end up.
• Wham Shot:
  • The end of the beginning of the arc has the assailant finally show himself and it's... Goku?
  • Episode 66 Preview: The return of Vegito.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One:
  • The heroes try to kill present Zamasu before he can even begin his plan, which according to Beerus should result in Black and Future Zamasu being Ret Goned because the rules of the Gods mean him killing another god should bypass the way altering the past normally works. Unfortunately, the Time Rings both possess protect them from alterations to the past.
  • Trunks of all people uses the Mafuba on Zamasu successfully and all seems well, but the sealing talisman was left back at Master Roshi's place. As a result, Zamasu escapes, allowing him to fuse with Goku Black.