WMG / Dragon Ball Super Universe Survival Arc

The Grand Priest's true motives

The Grand Priest is the hidden Arc Villain

There are several subtle hints that the Grand Priest may not be who he seems. One, the translation of the new ending song is Evil Angel and Righteous Devil. The trailer for the arc implies that the Grand Priest is going to have a major role in the arc and it's been confirmed that he's an angel. The lyrics is also quite suspect with it implying about a demon hiding within the angels.

• He also ended the pre-tournament bout between Goku and Toppo, while pretending to be "following orders" from Zen'o, indicating he may well be The Man Behind the Man. Moreover, none of the Angels have been erased alongside their respective universes.

The Grand Priest is lying through his teeth, and he's The Chessmaster of a divine war to come.

Think about it; almost everything about the tournament is spoken through him. The only things the two Zen'o have personally mentioned is that there aren't any limitations towards what you can do in the fight, which is why things like Basil's power-up and poison were allowed. It's the Grand Priest who mentions the multi-universal destruction. So...what if he's lying? In truth the Grand Priest is using everyone's fear of Zen'o to further the lie. Being all-powerful children, the two Zen'o are blissfully aware of his intentions; he doesn't speak out because he believes the threat of one's universe being erased will make the tournament more interesting.

By revealing that Universes 1, 5, 8 and 12 are excluded, it means the other eight universes are going to hate them and want to see them join them in oblivion. Whoever wins the tournament will lead to utter contempt seven universes have to the lucky five. When a universe loses, it's not destroyed? The Grand Priest will say the destruction will happen once the tournament is over. Excluding the Angels? Either Even Evil Has Loved Ones or they're in on it. When the truth is revealed? Zen'o told him to lie, which is technically true. By then it'll be too late and the seeds of war will already be planted.

Goku meanwhile is the key to his plan. While it'll get everyone riled up and they could possibly start killing each other, there needs to be the final straw. Unwittingly, at least from their perspective, Goku risked all their lives. They'll want him dead, and that can snowball into accusing Beerus for his involvement. Snowball into Gowasu getting blame due to the whole Zamasu thing. Snowball into civil war of the gods, and the Grand Priest's plan to eliminate competition into his rise to being the Top God in all but name as the Zen'o become puppet kings.

In short the Grand Priest is the cosmic equivalent of Littlefinger, and a Satanic Archetype who's learned from Zamasu's mistakes.

The Grand Priest wants revenge on Zen'o.

We know Zen'o has destroyed six universes in a fit. While those universes could've been destroyed for a good reason like the future timeline, it seems it was a sudden event. It's unlikely the angels had time to evacuate, meaning that the Grand Priest has lost six of his children to his childish superior. Utterly incensed, he has been trying to plot revenge against Zen'o ever since.

If he isn't masterminding the universal destruction, he's a Papa Wolf trying to spare his offspring so that they can join him in revenge. If he is masterminding the universal destruction, he's trying to liberate as many of his children as possible-if the universe is erased, they won't go inactive given there's nothing to look after. He also wants to get back at the other gods as well since he hates they haven't done anything against the questionable actions of Zen'o.

Of course, his actions towards the erasure of Universe 9 suggests he is so blinded with revenge that he'd rather let quadrillions of lives be snuffed out than be denied retribution for the death of his children, which ultimately makes him evil albeit more sympathetic than simply desiring to become the new God. He'd be a Contrasting Sequel Antagonist to Zamasu; one is an idealist who proves to be as petty and hateful as what he sees as evil, the other a man motivated by personal yet understandable and sympathetic reasons.

• Jossed, he is carrying out Zeno's plan.

The Grand Priest is actually heroic, albeit in a Lawful Neutral sort of way.

While it's easy to suggest that he's pulling the strings, it's possible that Zen'o is ultimately behind the idea of destroying universes. The given reason of "there are too many universes" seems too childish to come from him. Rather, I propose that the Grand Priest is trying to limit the destruction and try and rein Zen'o in. Originally Zen'o planned to erase eight random universes because he couldn't be bothered to look after them, maybe even more if there wasn't a second Zen'o to share duties. Horrified at this but unable to directly restrain the Omni-King due to his volatile personality and extreme power, the Grand Priest made the pragmatic, utilitarian decision for the four universes left to be the most developed. That way, as much good in the multiverse would survive.

That was the initial plan. But Goku changed things so he has a better shot at reining his boss in. With the idea of a future tournament, he could find an excuse to ask if more universes could be spared. Not necessarily because he cares about the people in them all that much, but such destruction seems needless when they could simply wait for the universes to be more improved, or only destroy the worst parts instead of just discarding them(or just the gods for being bad at their job). He probably pointed out that it'd be only fair that the universe who fights the best has earned the right to live. Wanting to be entertained, Zen'o agreed. He also agreed that there should be a prize, since most tournaments happen.

The Grand Priest is hoping to keep at least one more universe around than just four, and the Super Dragonballs are his chance to allow more universes. He hopes Zen'o will be too excited from the tournament to go back on his promises, and have enough fun he allows a wish to restore the universes. The ideal is that his bosses will enjoy the fights so often they'll begin to understand the value of human life even if it's in a "mortals are fun and we want more fun" kind of way. This isn't because the Grand Priest cares since angels seem to have limited empathy, more so he values the multiverse's development and thinks destroying most of it won't help. Also since he and his children are in charge of monitoring the universes, it's a matter of pride in his work. He might try to destroy part of or an entire universe, but only because it opposes his standards.

The Omni-Kings morality

Zen'o is deliberately lying about the whole "losing means the destruction of your universe" thing

He just wants to see people fight as if they had everything on the line, and is lying to make them fight with everything they've got. At the end of the tournament he'll casually reveal that he was lying.

• Taken a step further, Goku may know this, and maybe even helped plan for it offscreen during the short timeskip between arcs. By getting Zen'o to pretend to threaten the multiverse and drawing attention to himself as an Unwitting Instigator of Doom with a disturbingly cavalier attitude about it, Goku has made himself the enemy of the entire multiverse. Absolutely no one is going to hold anything back fighting him, meaning he'll get to fight all the strongest warriors at their full potential.
  • Jossed. Zeno destroyed universe 9 and is thus proven to be serious about the destruction of the losing universes.
  • Quasi-confirmed, in a round-about way. The entire tournament was a Secret Test of Character, with the intention that the winner would use their wish to bring the other universes back. They would've been gone for real if the winner had made a selfish wish, though.

Zen'o never said anything about the universes being destroyed

We only heard the Grand Priest confirm it, and when Zen'o himself appears he does not mention it. It's possible the whole thing is just a lie made up either to make them try their hardest and please Zen'o, or as a gambit to get Zen'o doing exactly that for some reason.

• Jossed so far. Universe 9 destruction confirm that, yes, Zeno is all for it.

Future Zen'o is evil and will be the main antagonist of the arc.

There are some subtle hints that this Zen'o isn't as nice as the one we know. For one, he was rather quick to wipe out the entire multiverse in his timeline and wasn't shown to be even slightly regretful that it came to that. Also, Zen'o never mentioned anything about any universes being destroyed when he had the idea for the multiverse tournament, which means it's distinctly possible that it was future Zeno's idea. The Grand Priest might find himself in the unenviable position of serving two Zenos with conflicting ideals and moralities and being forced to do things he really doesn't want to (for example destroying the losers' universes). The lyrics to the most recent ending hint at this as well.

An angel and a demon are sitting together like friends
I'm in the middle which way do I face?
Either destroy myself or destroy everything else

• Jossed. The tournament was a Secret Test of Character.

The Tournament of Power will convince Zen'o not to willfully destroy universes anymore.

Part of why Zen'o proves to be such an amoral figure is because his power and position makes it difficult to see people as, well, people. He doesn't get the enormity of his actions. However he was massively entertained by the tournament. Seeing the effort people go into trying to protect their universe will help him realize that these universes are far too interesting to just get rid off. That way once the tournament is over, Zen'o isn't going to undo any wish to restore the losers; to do so means he can't see more of their adventures. It won't be a Heel–Face Turn, but it will be the first step in him developing some empathy towards his dominion. It'd also parallel how the audience has become enamored with many of the characters introduced, and don't want them permanently gone since they want to see more of them. Assuming he's not evil, the Grand Priest may have wanted the Tournament of Power to happen in the first place since it would teach Zen'o not to be so hasty(again, a sort of meta commentary on the They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character trope).

The other six universes were erased for poor mortal level.

When Whis said they were erased because Zen'o was "a little upset", he was downplaying what happened. Zen'o actually destroyed the universes because they had a low mortal level. Something like a tournament or other test was made, but since a selfish wish was made Universes 13-18 were erased. The Zenos planned for some sort of test before deciding the tournament was the best means of achieving it. He goes from six to eight universes being at risk of erasure because he was already frustrated at the first attempt failing, and would've erased everything if a selfish wish was made because at that point the multiverse is beyond saving.

The fate of the Universes

The universes aren't going to be at risk.

From what we see of Zen'o, he's a rather chill guy and probably isn't going to wipe entire universes for a tournament. However he needs to make sure the contestants behave; the squabbling of the gods and potential evil fighters might prove hazardous. With the fate of their universes at stake, everyone will fight at their maximum potential. Of course this is likely going to end with him being chewed out, though it's possible this was part of the plan and it's a massive Secret Test of Character.

• In a way, confirmed. The Grand Priest states that universes 1, 5, 8 and 12 will be spared.
  • Jossed. Zeno destroyed universe 9 after their defeat.

The destroyed universes will be brought back somehow after the tournament.

Either Goku will talk Zeno out of it or bribe him somehow, or the next arc after this will be dedicated to bringing them back. Even if they went for universal destruction in the last major arc, this seems too dark for Dragon Ball.

• the two Zen-Os will show the horrific destruction of one of the team's universes, before immediately restoring it exactly as it was before, just because dragon ball is that type of series.
• Confirmed. Android 17 uses his wish to revive all the erased universes.

At the end of the tournament, the winner will use their wish/prize to bring back all the universes that were destroyed.

And it will be either Goku, or Goku will talk them into it. (Idea came from this Reddit thread.)

• Vegeta has confirmed he plans to restore at least Universe 6. But will he win the wish himself?
• Confirmed! Not only does 17 uses his wish to restore the erased universes, the entire tournament was a Secret Test of Character to see if the winner would restore them.

The Super Dragon Balls will be used to revive the erased universes at the end of the arc

Because it's Dragon Ball.

• Confirmed! See above.

The Super Dragon Balls were gathered specifically to restore the erased universes

The Zeno's or the Grand Priest decided that totally erasing the universes is uncalled for and is betting that whoever wins the tournament decides to use them to undo the damage like Goku or his new rival.

• Confirmed! Not only were they gathered so the winner could wish the universes back, it was actually Zeno's plan all along that they would. ...If they had decided to make a selfish wish instead, though, everything would've been gone for good.

The angels, not the Super Dragonballs, will restore the universes.

Either the wish on the Super Dragonballs will allow them to do this, or the angels from the destroyed universes will do so because they are free of service. The reason there is a time limit at all instead of just fighting until one universe stands is because the angels disapprove of Zeno's decision, either out of conscience or because they disagree of his means of "cleaning up the multiverse", and the 48 minutes is how far they can wind back the clock.

• Step 1 is to have enough universes destroyed that the angels can combine their do-over powers to at least 48 minutes.
• Step 2 is to use their higher position and the confusion to catch the Omni-Kings off-guard and convince them not to just erase the universes again. That, or the Grand Priest may have some sort of space-time manipulation that allows him to imprison and pacify the Omni-Kings, it's just that he needs the right opportunity while they're entertained to catch them off guard (which doesn't seem that hard).
• Step 3, profit.

To keep the arc having consequences, the nature of the World of Void means they can't rewind time inside it, meaning whoever was erased inside it is in every sense of the word Deader than Dead. This also means that the restored universes will lack a Supreme Kai or God of Destruction. While it's unclear how knew Kaioshin are picked, it would allow new pickings for the gods of destruction, which could play into other powerful mortal characters that survived(perhaps Frieza could jump at taking over Sidra's position?) and this could play into the angels' more personal agenda and hiring new talent. Some of the teams and gods will probably still be around regardless so long as Zen'o decides to let them have a few hours to get their affairs in order or spare them as a "reward" for lasting so long. It'll be a Bittersweet Ending as although the fighters from these destroyed universes are gone forever, their universes survived.

• [[spoiler: Jossed. The Super Dragon Balls bring back all erased universes with their fighters intact.

The universes will be restored after the tournament.

Either Frieza will get the wish or something will get in the way. However unless they're destroyed the Super Dragonballs will still exist, just not be usable until a year afterwards. Goku, Vegeta or whatever will swear to one day bring back everyone who is brought back, and the next arc will be an adventure through Universe 7 to find the Super Dragonballs. It'll be similar to the original search for the Dragonballs and GT's search for the Black Star Dragonballs, but instead of being a light-hearted adventure or trying to save the world it'll be active heroism on the part of the Z-fighters. It would also allow further exploration into the Dragonball universe and development of it. We could even get some more answers on mysteries of the series like what Frieza's race is or seeing the Metamorans.

• Confirmed! The entire tournament was a Secret Test of Character, with the intent that the winner would wish the other universes back.

Jiren The Gray

Jiren is the mortal that Whis was talking about being stronger than the respective universe's God of Destruction.

Whis brings up that there's a God of Destruction that's stronger than Beerus, and from that universe, there's a mortal that the particular God of Destruction can't take on. Considering that Toppo is considered a potential GoD, then it could be possible that Jiren himself (who is described as being much stronger than Toppo) could be that mortal.

• Confirmed.
• Semi-confirmed. This is where we need word of god to confirm. Whis said that there exists a universe with a mortal not even a God of Destruction can defeat. Belmoud is a Go D and confirms that he cannot defeat Jiren that doesn't mean that one of the Go Ds from the four exempt universes couldn't whoop him.

Jiren an expy of All Might

Jiren appears to be an buff looking fighter who is the greatest fighter of Universe 11, but in reality, he is a Monaka-weakling behind that buff form. Unlike Monaka, however, he is really strong, but he needs that transformation of his. He would be an expy of All Might who is similar in this regard, but also a Male Counterpart to Brianne de Chateau (who her universe is a twin with his universe).

Jiren is telepathic, and at least some of his incredible power can be attributed to that

Episode 109 includes a moment in which Jiren appears to be communicating telepathically with Belmond. In addition to his absolutely insane amount of ki, telepathy would allow Jiren to know how his opponents would attack and dodge before they did so. This is why Goku’s Ultra Instinct transformation worked as a counter: he could move without thinking, which blinded Jiren to the best way to counter his attacks.

Jiren will be beaten the all the remaining fighters attack him at once.

They will all hit Jiren at once, he will be able to stop it, but if he moves he can't stop the attack, and it will damage him and ring him out. However if he doesn't move, he can stop the attack hurting him, but it will destroy the arena beneath him, ringing him out that way.

• Semi-confirmed. Goku and Frieza team up to destroy the arena under Jiren's feet, ringing out themselves and him.

Jiren possible backstory.

While is never directly stated that Jiren is a Superman Substitute, there has been a few things to notice from the episodes about Jiren.For one:

• He wants the Super Dragon Balls, as stated by Toppo.
• He, at one point, became stronger than the god of destruction, Belmod.
• His completely serious attitude, which is actually quite different from other characters in the series, suggest something.

Following this, I have a possible theory, that might ring true to his inspiration origin: Jiren wants the Super Dragon Balls, not to revive everyone after the Tournament is over (Let's face it, everyone is selfish in this arc), but to bring back his home planet.Think of it like this, maybe Jiren is the last survivor of his home planet, and as a foil to Goku and Vegeta, he trained all his life to make sure he could bring it back somehow. Goku and Vegeta don't care about their race, but Jiren maybe does care about his race, and wants it back.

Maybe it was Belmod who destroyed his home planet, just doing his job, and Jiren swore to defeat the god of destruction and did so. Maybe he mastered the Ultra Instinct himself. However, defeating Belmod didn't give him any satisfaction, as Belmod couldn't bring back his home planet, and neither could Khai. As such, he decided to fight with the Pride Troopers to make sure no planet could ever be on the eyes of its god of destruction, meaning Jiren is the one responsible for making Universe 11 the highest universe with mortal life out of the last eight.

Also, could be a nod to Baby, who did manage to revive planet Plant. Who knows?

• Semi-confirmed. Jiren wants the Super Dragon Balls to bring back his mentor and family.

Jiren will not be defeated, but Universe 11 will lose because he will be the only U11 fighter left, but Goku and Gohan/Vegeta/Frieza will still be standing when the time goes out.

Jossed. Goku and Frieza ring him out along with themselves, leaving Android 17 the sole survivor and thus winner.

Jiren is cheating - he is getting assistance from Belmod

It's already established that Jiren can telepathically speak to Belmod, what's to stop Belmod from telepathically giving him power?

• Kind of ironic that the Universe of Justice is the one that's cheating. Though if he's able to handily defeat Belmod, he must be pretty powerful to begin with.

Jiren is a survivor of the six destroyed universes.

Not my theory, but this guy's. Adding to the Superman parallels, he was sent by his universe to escape its destruction. Perhaps they foresaw this would happen and made a interdimensional space pod that would protect him from the erasure, though only ever made one before their annihilation. Eventually he landed in Universe 11. Jiren is so powerful because he's spent millions of years dedicating himself to getting stronger. He started a comparative wimp, now he transcends the gods of destruction and may even reach the angels themselves. Belmod is in on it, and puts up with a power greater than himself despite Gods of Destruction supposed to be the strongest individuals in the universe bar their angels, because he believes that the Top God Zen'o and possibly the Grand Priest are unjust. As a proponent of justice, Belmod believes Jiren's desire to see his universe avenged and/or restored must be fulfilled. It's also why, beyond pride and the desire for him and his universe to survive, he is determined to see Universe 11 win-he is absolutely sure Jiren will wish for both the universes erased in the tournament and the six universes destroyed in the distant past to come back. As for Jiren, he hopes one day to be strong enough to take on Zen'o himself, though of course through a mixture of taking him off-guard and having a lot of help.

Jiren isn't nearly as strong as we think.

A lot of fighters in the USA seem to have gimmick powers, they might be tough even without them, but the real issue is figuring out what you're up against. Which gives us a few possibilities. He could be similar to Dabura, and he's not half asleep, he's charging up. He might only be truly dangerous in short burst or the real reason is that with people like Roshi and Frieza if he ran around fighting someone would figure out what his gimmick is. Another telling sign is that Jiren appeared to be a bit on the defense when Goku went UI, like the blows were actually effective and had Goku not burnt out, or alternatively not spent quite so much time curious about what was happening and doing something he might have had Jiren. Contrast that to UI Goku vs Kaulifa. She was just tanking his hits. Sure Goku still hadn't recovered his stamina but Whis explains that the real issue is that he's thinking when he attacks.

• He manages to overwhelm Goku, Frieza, and Android 17 even after Goku mastered Ultra Instinct, so I'd say he really is that strong.

Jiren will only be defeated by Goku & Vegeta working together.

Ultra Instinct as a form is apparently a call back to Goku & Vegeta's training with Whis before Frieza's return; movement based on pure instinct. It's also established that Ultra Instinct has two parts; attack & defense. Goku has achieved the defensive form of Ultra Instinct, but not the attack form, and as such while he can dodge with unparalleled ability, his attacks are ineffective. Going back to Whis; training, it was a point that Goku & Vegeta had opposite problems; Goku didn't think enough and let his guard down too much, Vegeta thought too much and was too tense, making him slow to react. With the hints that Vegeta will also achieve Ultra Instinct, it stands to reason that he will manage to unlock the attack mode of the form, opposite Goku. Further, another theme of the Ressurection F arc & Whis' training there in is that if Goku & Vegeta put aside their differences & fought as a cohesive unit, they'd be virtually unstoppable - in the movie verson of the story it's even stated that if they worked together they'd be capable of defeating Beerus, himself. Further, a running theme of the Tournament of Power is that several fighters, notably Goku, Vegeta, and Jiren, are all loathe to help or accept help from their team mates. Jiren only steps in when he deems an opponent worthy of fighting and rejects help from his team mates when Goku achieves Ultra Instinct. Goku & Vegeta both go off on their own & focus on fighting challenging opponents rather than working as a team, though they do occasionally help out & recieve help from others, it's a very temporary state of affairs. So, tying all these themes together, it makes the most sense for Jiren, a consummate loner on par with the Gods of Destruction, to be defeated by Goku & Vegeta finally overcoming their egos and fighting as a team, using their complimentary skills to beat an enemy on par with the Gods of Destruction, just as they were foreshadowed to do so long ago. This also leaves room for growth in future arcs, as they can be about Goku and/or Vegeta achieving Ultra Instinct completely & independently to beat the next big bad(Probably Grand Priest).

• Jossed. He's defeated by Goku and Frieza working together.

Jiren's wish is to make more Super Dragonballs.

They can grant any wish, can't they? Jiren will wish "I wish each universe had its own set of Super Dragonballs". That way he is capable of giving his and the four exempt universes a means of protecting themselves. It would also allow fix-six wishes to be made simultaneously. He'd proceed to use one set to undo the damage from the Tournament of Power, and another for his personal wish.

Jiren made a huge mistake in his past. That's the reason he chewed out Toppo.

Throwing shade on Toppo for how he threw away his sense of justice for power seems surprisingly dickish, given Toppo did that in order to defend their own universe. Vegeta has an excuse in that he's made the same mistake of throwing away his principles. So what if Jiren did something like Vegeta, and has been regretting it ever since. Jiren was originally more of a Smug Super focused on the thrill of the fight, however his lust for power cost him. It prevented him from saving a loved one, a friend, maybe something as dramatic as his entire race. As such, he adopted strict cape-like principles out of shame for what he did. It's why he calls out Toppo. It's also why he was initially dismissive towards Goku; he sees too much of his past mistakes and shame in him. The wish? "Restore everything lost by a power equal to or greater than my own". This would allow him to restore the damage caused by his mistake and the Zen'o simultaneously, while not upsetting the balance by the gods of destruction since he's stronger than them. Granted, the angels are likely stronger than him, but they aren't supposed to destroy stuff, Vados blowing up a planet notwithstanding.

Belmod is the evil force that killed Jiren's family and friends in an attempt to make him the ultimate Warrior of Justice.

Ep 127 reveals a bit of Jiren's past, as an evil force killed his parents, and later his companions when he tried to fight him. It could be a demented way for Belmod to mold Jiren into a force of justice.

Related to the above theory, Belmod is the Joker to Jiren's Batman.

The Joker killed Bruce Wayne's parents in the 1989 movie. He wants to kill loved ones to change his personality for his own benefit. He's a clown. Same thing with Belmod if the above theory is true, except the reasoning is different-the Joker is a madman who thinks he's an agent of chaos, and wants to corrupt Bruce For the Evulz. Belmod's a Knight Templar who wants to mold Jiren to become the perfect hero. While her vanity makes Heles come off as a jerk, she's one of the kindest destroyers in the tournament given how much of a Benevolent Boss she is. It's her team which act like jerks. Fitting the Foil nature of twin universes, the Pride Troopers are heroes and Belmod is the Token Evil Teammate none of them know. He'd be like Zamasu, except his Knight Templar attitude is a lot subtler and he doesn't think all mortals are evil-doers. Jiren, of course, has no idea.

If true, it shows just how twisted Belmod is that he not only is cocky enough to admire Jiren, but retells his past despite it being HIS FAULT. Hell, he may even suspect that Jiren could find out, and Toppo isn't a replacement because he plans to retire. Toppo's a replacement in case Jiren ever learns and kills him for his actions. It's possible Universe 11 loses not because Jiren is beaten in a fight or Universe 7 has the numbers, but because this Dark Secret is revealed, causing Jiren to be so blinded with rage he disqualifies himself by trying to kill Belmod. The worst part? Belmod's done this before. Jiren is just the first time it paid off. And it may be the only time.

Belmod is lying. Jiren accidentally killed his family because of his own power.

Not my theory, though I have put my own spin on it. The evil-doer never killed Jiren despite having the opportunity. We hear this from a second-hand source, not Jiren himself. In reality, the evil-doer is a fabrication by Belmod. The sad reality is that Jiren, like Frieza, was born with enormous power. However he could not control it, and accidentally killed his own parents with it. His crew and teacher weren't there to fight off the evil-doer, but to control him so he'd never hurt others when using his power. It's a parallel to Goku, who killed his own adoptive parent, Grandpa Gohan, due to losing his mind due to the power of the Great Ape. The Pride Troopers offer his the chance to control his power. This is the real reason why he's so cold-he doesn't want to hurt anyone close to him, so he doesn't let anyone BE close to him. The reason why Toppo and Belmod are close to him is because they're so powerful he doesn't run the risk of accidentally killing them, and he snaps at Belmod because he's not telling the story truthfully-Jiren takes full responsibility for what he did, and doesn't like Belmod trying to sugarcoat it. What lies beyond strength, for him, is self-control. He doesn't just want to see his family back, he wants to wish them back so he can apologize, or maybe he just wants to wish for perfect control of his powers so he never hurts anybody again. This is the real reason why he barely fights despite Universe 11 being on the line-he risks accidentally killing a contestant, disqualifying himself and putting all of Universe 11 at risk.

If true, this would further his status as a Foil to Frieza. Both are killers, but Jiren is completely reluctant and unintentional while Frieza loves it. Both are Inexplicably Awesome and powerful, but while his overwhelming power has corrupted Frieza to the core and he loves dominating others with it, Jiren hates how his power has ruined his life. It would also reconcile the more cape personality of Jiren in the manga compared to the anime. Both have the same driving motivation and backstory of their own Power Incontinence robbing them of everyone they care about, it's just that the manga version tries to be more optimistic while the anime version is bordering on the Despair Event Horizon if he hasn't already crossed it. It's also why he refuses to kill bad guys. Him telling Vegeta to get off the stage in Episode 128 and overall dismissive attitude is because he doesn't want to be forced to kill or brutally maim him, especially with his universe and chance of atonement on the line. He targeted Maji Kayo because his status as a Blob Monster means he'd survive being curb-stomped, Hit because he's strong enough to live through his offenses and the remaining Universe 7 members for the same reason.

Evil Jiren and the Tournament of Power in general is merely Toriyama throwing a tantrum

Toriyama commented that he hated the characterization of Goku as Japanese Superman made by the Funimation dub. So he basically made Jiren and the entire Tournament of power as a middle finger to the entire concept of Goku being a benevolent force of good. Evil Jiren is just there for Character Shilling and everyone hates him and the Pride Troopers which was Just as Planned for Toriyama. This was all just a plan to discredit an entire section of the fanbase and their opinion because Toriyama doesn't like what they say. It's the Subspace Emissary all over again.

The killer of Jiren's family is mysterious because he's a possible future villain

The two other antagonists who are introduced as shadowy figures are usually done to keep their identity unknown. Goku Black used the same effect, so as to make the reveal of him more shocking. Earlier than that are Androids 17 and 18, who when Future Trunks was explaining them they were depicted as vague, amorphous beings. In 17 and 18's case, it was because Toriyama hadn't decided how the main villains looked yet(who were swapped for other androids). The same thing applies to the killer of Jiren's family. They haven't decided what the killer looks like yet, they haven't even decided whether he show up again, but they do consider the option of this villain appearing again so made the amorphous look as a placeholder. Just in case they ever use him/her/it as a villain. If Jiren appears again, the villain could serve to further Jiren's Character Development and test his newfound kindness.

Jiren is Belmod's long-lost son.

Belmod had a relationship with a woman on Jiren's planet, and left due to his job of God of Destruction. The hair, clown nose and white skin are elaborate make-up much like an actual clown, without it Belmod looks like a skinny Belmod with normal ears and eyes. This is the real reason why Belmod is interested and defensive of Jiren; he's his wayward son whom he never got to raise or acknowledge, which is also why he wants Jiren to get his presumably selfish wish instead of something heroic. He was aware of Jiren growing up, though only sparsely and wasn't there to stop his son's mortal family or mentor from being killed. The killer knew that Jiren was Belmod's son, so either that shadowy form is a disguise so Belmod couldn't find him or the reason Jiren survived was because the killer feared his father's wrath. If the former, maybe it's the reason he harasses Jiren; he has some grudge against Belmod and wants to hurt him by killing his lover and ruining his son's life. While this isn't where Jiren's power comes from(God of Destruction is an earned title, it probably isn't power that can be inherited), it's the real reason behind why Belmod acts the way he does around him. Jiren has no idea that Belmod is his biological father, just assuming he's interested in his power and alliance to the Pride Troopers. The other Pride Troopers probably don't know either, with the possible exception of Toppo. It also plays up the Superman Substitute since like Superman, Jiren was the son of an alien/superpowered being raised and adopted by simple, good people(as suggested by his primitive hut and homeworld as a kid).

Jiren is a Time Abyss.

The manga reveals that his mentor and father figure, Gicchin, knew Belmod before he was a God of Destruction. Belmod is established as being well over 200,000 years old, however as far as we know Gicchin was mortal. It's possible that Gicchin is The Ageless, or perhaps Jiren is. Outside of the Dragonballs forms of immortality exist, like Master Roshi. In his path towards strength, Jiren gained biological immortality. It's how a mere mortal surpassed the power of a God of Destruction; he has trained for hundreds of millennia. Having lived for so long plays into him being really cynical. Not accepting the Pride Troopers as friends might be among other reasons knowing they're a blink in his lifespan. His parents' killer is either dead from age, or still alive through some other immortality. Either way, him being a Karma Houdini makes Jiren's cynicism rather understandable. It makes his wish to see Gicchin again even stronger if it's been millennia since he last saw him.

Jiren's killer was the prior Universe 11 God of Destruction.

Again, assuming Jiren is actually a Time Abyss from some time before Belmod became a God of Destruction(Gicchin was friends with Belmod before then). The shadowy figure is reminiscent of Goku Black's first appearance. Perhaps Jiren's village was supposed to be destroyed for some reason, or maybe the prior God of Destruction was a giant dick and did the deed for little to no reason. Probably the latter, and Marcarita chose the more justice-oriented Belmod to replace her former pupil. Belmod is sympathetic towards Jiren because as his predessecor killed his family along with Jiren's mentor/his own friend, he felt morally responsible for keeping track of him. Jiren meanwhile is dismissive of Belmod for holding the same divine position as the man who murdered his family, and despite being more powerful than Belmod refuses to try and replace him because of his past.

Frieza's wish and fate

Frieza's endgame and fate after the Tournament of Power

In a nutshell, he's going to defect to Universe 9 near the end of the tournament after all. But not in the way that any of us expected.

We know that Frieza's going to be manipulating the gods themselves in order to come out on top this tournament, and Universe 9 is being set up as the weak link he's going to target. Not only are they the weakest universe most desperate to survive, but he's also in a position to very easily blackmail them, and we've established that their angel Mojito himself is unhappy with his universe's management. Frieza will leverage this weakness to bargain with its angel.

There is a rule against the gods interfering with the contestants, but not the other way around. There is a rule against killing the other contestants, but nothing at all about, saaaaay... shooting a death beam right through the chest of the Universe 9 kaioshin when you find yourself backed into an impossible corner. Sidra is, of course, killed by this as well, leaving Universe 9 without a god of destruction. Frieza's bargain with Mojito? Appoint him as Sidra's successor. And then Frieza was a hakaishin, much to everyone's absolute shock and horror.

Although Daishinkan immediately amends the rules or shields the observing gods so this won't happen again, Frieza is given a pass and is allowed to continue participating with his newfound powers intact, all according to keikaku. However, since he is the hakaishin of Universe 9 and will therefore be destroyed along with his universe if it is eliminated, he has to be switched to the U9 team, which he expected and is fine with. And there's nothing anyone can do about it, aside from Beerus yelling at Goku about why the hell did you bring this absolute fucking lunatic to the tournament in the first place. And, true to his word, Goku is furious with Frieza for killing yet another innocent bystander.

Worst of all, though? Ascending to godhood mid-tournament would nigh-guarantee him MVP status if he doesn't get eliminated—you really can't top that. You know the common assumption that they'll just wish on the Super Dragon Balls for the erased universes to be restored? Yeah, well, so much for that.

Of course, this won't be the end of the tournament (I personally highly doubt Goku vs Frieza will be the final fight even if this plays out), but it'll certainly raise the stakes to a ridiculous high. Beyond this point, who knows. However, I do think the crazy bastard will end up surviving the arc somehow and even being crucial to its resolution, as well as being allowed to keep the job. Pawning him off to another universe as their new hakaishin is just the most convenient thing to do with his character from a writing perspective, at least in terms of leaving doors open for the future.

• Jossed about becoming part of Universe 9, since Zen'o erases the lot when they all lose. Though Frieza could still target another kaioshin for the same effect. Maybe even one from the universes that aren't competing; if he plays his cards right and is able to bargain, it would ensure he's safe no matter who wins. Even if it gets him erased on the spot instead, it's better than being sent back to spend eternity in Hell and thus worth the gamble.
  • Even more Jossed, since Frieza ends up fighting for Universe 7 legitimately and being resurrected as a reward.

Also, he still needs to attend Bra's birthday party.

Frieza is going to betray the U7 team.

C'mon, does anyone actually think for a second that he'll work with them? Causing their Universe to get erased even if it means he'll be as well? What better way than to get vengeance on Goku than to screw them over.

• So far, he's already offered to sell out to U9 and conspired with Frost. So far, this WMG is looking pretty good.
  • His conspiracy with Frost was a lie; he was actually working with Gohan to ring Frost out.

Frieza won't betray the U7 team.

Instead, he'll actually try to be a Token Evil Teammate. Frieza's Fatal Flaw has always been his Stupid Evil nature and refusal to learn. In order to make him an actual threat and avoid Villain Decay, he will be forced to learn Pragmatic Villainy, defying expectations. It'll be darkly hilarious for Frieza of all people to play his hand at the role. The minimum they could offer him is revival (though under Boxed Crook status), allowing a Frieza more competent and having learned from his mistakes. Villainous Character Development to make him a far more threatening future antagonist.

• Confirmed

Frieza is a Red Herring.

He'll prove so stubborn that he'd rather be erased from existence than be a team player. Instead, the Token Evil Teammate will be Cell, who will exploit his potential in the Time Chamber. Why would he be a team player? Because Cell himself played with the idea in the Cell Games. Granted, it was ego-stroking and he was intending to kill everyone afterwards, but while fighting Goku he was a team player. Unlike Frieza he has at least fought within rules once, to some extent. He's also more willing because as a much bigger Blood Knight, the idea of proving his might against the other 7 universes would be a larger carrot to him.

• Jossed. Frieza has agreed to join the U7 team. Whether he'll stay loyal is another story, but he's at least on the team.

Frieza wants to wish for immortality.

First off, it's what he's wanted ever since he learned he could wish for it. Secondly, Frieza is a lot more cunning now. He says he wishes to control the gods, but part of him must suspect they will have a way to make sure a wish that audacious won't go through. Well, unless Zen'o is that gullible, but the Grand Priest certainly isn't. Also, it has to be translated as Frieza doesn't know the language of the gods, and he was screwed over due to language barriers before. For insurance, Frieza will wish for Complete Immortality, meaning there's much less risk to his person in the path to power. Immortality wouldn't increase his power, so the powers that be wouldn't consider it the winner stepping out of bounds. It would be interesting to see the Emperor of Evil finally achieve his original goal of becoming immortal, only for it to be means to an end rather than an end itself.

• Apparently Jossed by Dragon Ball Super: Broly, where he says that he no longer wants immortality because his time in hell has made him realize that if he becomes immortal, that will just eventually land him in And I Must Scream. He now wants the dragon balls to be 5 centimeters taller.

Frieza's plans to manipulate the gods.

Frieza has proven to be a lot smarter and less prone to Stupid Evil moments in the Tournament of Power, likely out of necessity. We saw that with Sidra and Ro, he played on their insecurity and fears for his benefit. Beerus believes he plans to be the last man standing and wish on the Super Dragonballs, which even after Episode 108 may still be the case. But having become a better schemer, this isn't his only plan. The reason why we haven't see Frieza much is because he's studying both the fighters in the tournament and the gods in the stadium to find a weak spot. With Zen'o it's their childishness and willingness to allow Loophole Abuse so long as it's cool. With the gods of destruction, it's their pettiness and feelings towards one another.

Beerus, Champa and Quitela have been the loudest about expressing their opinion. Having betrayed Frost, Frieza knows he can't use Champa to his end. But Quitela? Frieza can use the feud between him and Beerus. The initial plan is to get the Super Dragonballs legitimately, so Beerus can't erase him for such a blatant act of treachery. He needs Beerus and the Z-Fighters to let their guard down, so is as Faux Affably Evil as he can manage. Plan B is to appeal to Beerus' petty nature, pretend to be a pawn he can use for his own benefit for his own self-preservation and long term plans. Either way, it's a gamble. But what if both Universe 7 and 4 survive? That's where Plan C comes into fulfillment.

Frieza will survive this arc.

Given how much is happening in the tournament, it's unlikely that Frieza will be able to put all his plans together in the tournament alone. It's also likely the reason he's come back again was because the writers didn't think he did enough in the movie/its adaptation and needed another shot. To avoid Villain Decay, Frieza will manage to avoid going back to Hell. Fridge Brilliance suggests that Goku will use Loophole Abuse against Frieza since the Earth Dragonballs can't make the same wish twice. But what if he uses other Dragonballs?

When Shenron is summoned and refuses to wish him back, Frieza will remember the Namekain Dragonballs still exist(he planned to destroy them after destroying Earth). He has three wishes-be able to speak Namekian(what screwed him over on Namek was the language barrier), transport the Namekian Dragonballs together on New Namek, and be transported to their location. Then wish himself alive again. As for the second wish? It's possible he might finally get his immortality.

Admittedly this might make him hard to eventually defeat, but it's possible that being not as powerful as the Super Dragonballs, his newfound immortality wouldn't be as powerful as Future Zamasu's and could still be wiped out by, say, Beerus or Whis. It should be enough that Goku can't kill him, even if he's still significantly stronger thanks to his Kaioken and whatever new power-up he might have.

In a sign of him becoming more competent, Frieza will leave and bide his time elsewhere. Oh, he plans to get back at Goku and revel in his new power, but first he must make good on his plan to rule over Zen'o. And that requires learning more about the other universes and how he can slide his way up. Even if he's stopped by Goku before making the wish, he could be saved by the Grand Priest or Mojito, utilizing his contempt towards Beerus for their own plans. Thus Frieza will finally have the chance to graduate from Smug Snake to a Magnificent Bastard, becoming just as fearsome to our heroes as he was in his first appearance. And Goku will have to live with that.

• The basic guess is confirmed, though the details aren't. Frieza doesn't get the wish, but Whis revives him as thanks for fighting on team Universe 7.

Frieza will become the Omni-King, however it won't be as bad as people think.

One of the arguments against Frieza winning is the obvious story issue of him wishing to become the King of Everything, but just because you're the ruler of the multiverse doesn't make you the strongest there is. Rather Frieza will be on top, but still be far behind his subjects. The angels and bodyguards will still be loyal to him, but he will be limited in what he can do and will need to get used to the position. As for why the wish would even be allowed? Zen'o is bored out of his mind being king, and might approve of someone else taking his role so he can hang out with Goku or the different universes. The angels, depending on their motive, might see Frieza as more controllable than the two Zen'o.

This would put Frieza in a position where he can't immediately act his vengeance, but he does have a lot of power like the old days. Being the King of Everything coming back from the dead is irrelevant and he has the Diplomatic Immunity to avoid someone like Beerus destroying him then and there. Obviously he would want to eventually abuse that power maliciously, but it'd take time for that to work, allowing them to shelve him for later as a main antagonist. It would also give him the resources to learn how to get stronger and learn techniques like Ultra Instinct and god ki, allowing him to one day have his revenge against Universe 7 and surpass the strength of the Gods of Destruction. Possibly even angels if that's even possible for him.

As for the destroyed universes, either the angels will bring them back or Goku and friends will spend the next year searching for the Super Dragonballs so they can make their wish. The two Zen'o will hang around them, creating an interesting if awkward and unnerving dynamic. It might even lead to them better understanding the value of human life. Even if Frieza doesn't get the wish, he could probably still suggest the idea of him taking up the reins to Zen'o and appealing to their childish nature, though he'd have to be very careful.

Somehow, someway, Frieza will kill Goku.

He's been planning every way to achieve it in the cocoon, so it would be pay-off. Also, both times Goku has died in the main timeline, usually from an error of judgement. First time he was tricked by Raditz pleas for mercy. Forcing him into a suicide attack by Piccolo, who himself would later die by Nappa due to the error of judgement in revealing they have Dragonballs and giving the Saiyans a reason to visit. Second time he was dumb enough to give Cell a senzu bean and mishandled Gohan, who screwed up the job and Goku had to get himself killed to save the day. His time with Present Zamasu led to him stealing his body in the original timeline before the Timey-Wimey Ball saved the day, and suffered a Disney Death by Hit by having him try to assassinate him for a no holds barred fight. If Goku dies in Super, it's only fitting for it to be yet something else that is fault-that is, hiring Frieza as the 10th member in pure desperation.

Frieza will be forgotten by the rest of the fighters.

That's how universe 7 will win the tournament, it will eventually go down to Jiren vs Goku and then time will run out, since Frieza hasn't been ringed out and is still unconscious universe 7 will win on a technicality.

• [[spoiler: Jossed. Frieza and Goku ring themselves out to defeat Jiren, leaving Android 17 the final victor.

Frieza will become a God Of Destruction.

Goku will use the Super Dragon Balls to bring back the destroyed universes. However, this will disqualify him from any potential God of Destruction candidacy, as he will be seen as a God of Creation instead. Frieza will be the passed the mantle of the next God of Destruction, but with the knowledge that Goku will stop him if he gets out of hand.

Frieza plans to blackmail Beerus.

As insurance in case he doesn't get the wish. There have been implications in the series that Beerus has had Frieza do some of his destruction work. Notably he wanted him to blow up Vegeta. While Frieza was certainly planning to blow it up, it should be under Beerus' jurisdiction. It also may go to explain how flippant the tyrant is in destruction and terror, psychopathy asides. This is a terribly irresponsible thing for Beerus to do. Frieza never thought Beerus had a boss or someone he feared, and to learn he did immediately offered an opportunity. While the main goal is the wish on the Super Dragonballs, he has a back-up so he doesn't go to Hell. That being threaten to reveal this and put Beerus' job at risk, along with threatening to reveal his involvement with Planet Vegeta's destruction to Vegeta, will force the God of Destruction to make sure his desire to not return to Hell be achieved. Beerus doesn't want to risk him spilling the beans before he can fire a Hakai.

Frieza will be the final boss.

After Jiren is defeated and Universe 7 wins the tournament Frieza will attack Goku just as he is getting ready to make a wish on the super dragon balls.

• Jossed. He fights with Goku against Jiren, and they both pull a Taking You with Me to get him ringed out.

Frieza will get the wish on the Super Dragon Balls.

When Super Shenron is summoned and Frieza will get the wish, on the Super Dragon Balls. Only to run into the same problem as on Namek, the language barrier because he can't speak the language of the Gods.

• Jossed. Not only does Android 17 get the wish, the Grand Priest translates it into the god language.

Unsorted

Vegeta will hold a grudge against Hit.

Zeno-sama did say he was going to hold another tournament, knowing Vegeta he's going to want some payback for being humiliated by him since Vegeta's much stronger now.

• Confirmed, but nothing came of it, as Botamo and Magetta interrupted their match and Hit focused on Universe 11.

Our heroes will intentionally lose some fights to try and keep the other universes alive.

Assuming that Zeno's plan is to destroy a universe only after all of the fighters from that universe have been eliminated from the tournament, the Z-fighters and some of the more merciful entrants might try to help the other universes by throwing a fight or two. Maybe at the end of the tournament they'll have at least one person from every universe still left and they'll all agree not to fight until Zeno promises not to destroy any universes, in a callback to Goku and Hit defying the gods at the last tournament. Unlikely, but cool.

If the winner isn't Goku, it will be Hit, Vegeta or Gohan.

Or a gag character like in the last one.

• Alternative, Universe 10 will win. After all, all those characters are complete jokes, and after Universe 11 and 6, is the universe with the most screentime focus.
• Jossed with Hit, Universe 10, Gohan, Vegeta and Goku. The winner is Android 17.

Watagash will reappear in this or a later arc

Sure the Great Saiyaman arc was filler but Watagash was shown to escape Jaco's custody and could infect somebody REALLY dangerous. Remember, Tien and Chaotzu showed up early in the original dragon ball anime before their propper arc, so a future story featuring him could still happen with the excuse that Jaco was unable to rearrest him

The female Legendary Super Saiyan's name will be a homage to Broly.

• Something like Roccol or Coli.
• Somewhat confirmed: It's Kale, which as a vegetable is related to broccoli.

The Legendary Super Saiyan will be The Woobie

Her brief appearance has her appearing pretty meek and timid before she bursts into the 8 feet of muscles and rage that is the Legendary Super Saiyan form (a transformation that, if it holds to its movie iteration, looks pretty damn painful to go through). As she seems to be representing Universe 6, and thus chosen by Vados, who is unlikely to play fair and may have done some digging to counter Goku and Vegeta's power, it's possible she's not there on her own volition or even a fighter at all, just an unfortunate Saiyan born with the Legendary Super Saiyan transformation, which she may not be able to control, which Vados is looking to exploit. The inevitable Unstoppable Rage from the transformation will disrupt the proceedings of the tournament as Goku and Vegeta try and get through to her, calm her down and/or help her maintain control whilst in her transformed state.

• Sorta confirmed: Kale has a really low view of herself. However, Vados and Champa have nothing to do with it.

The Legendary Super Saiyan will also be the princess of all Saiyans

Cabba mentioned the King of Saiyans in the Champa Saga. What if the King has a daughter who could transform into a super saiyan, but the king was scared of showing her to the world? Thanks to Cabba, the King will trust this form to his daughter, bringing forth not only a bigger comparison to Broly.

I'll admit this theory belongs to MasakoX and Geekdown.

The Legendary Super Saiyan will betray Universe 6 and join the Pride Troopers

Maybe she will hate her team for putting her on that tournament in the first place, or maybe because her form hurts her, and decides the join the team with the higher chance of survival, ergo, the Universe 11. That's why she is with the Pride Troopers in the opening. Maybe the Pride Troopers told her they can her control her super form.

• Nope. Kale is genuinely friends with Caulifla and remains with her team.

Broly will be canonized through the female LSSJ.

He's already perhaps the most popular non-canon character, and they'd probably be able to work the first Broly movie in with only a small amount of Broad Strokes. They've also canonized the very popular Bardock...and Gregory the Cricket, who appears in DB Super but not the Dragonball manga. It'll be a nod where after seeing the female LSSJ, Goku will have flashbacks to Broly and realize she's bad news. They could also speculate that she's Broly's counterpart from Universe 6, like how Frost is the Freeza of Universe 6.

• Helping this theory is that Broly the Legendary Super Saiyan is one of the few DBZ movies that isn't chronologically confusing, easily fitting during the training period for the Cell Games.
• Jossed. No mention of Broly is ever made.
  • Un-Jossed. He appears in the next movie.

Related to the above, the characters will mention Broly but be confused about it

Because of the awkward placement in the timeline about the Broly movies, the characters will remember him and immediately get confused about when they faced him. Goku will say we faced him during the preparation for the cell games as he notes Future Trunks was there after training with Vegeta but it was during a flower blossom festival.

• Jossed.

Gohan will reveal a Super Saiyan Green form.

Gohan's always been The Ace for anything he actually puts effort into. With the fate of the universe and everyone he cares about riding on success or failure in a tournament, Gohan's willingness to fight will be as high as it's ever been. While he hasn't been trained by Whis personally, he's been around Goku and Vegeta and seen their Super Saiyan Blue transformations quite a bit. While it's unlikely for him to achieve Super Saiyan God on his own, it wouldn't be all that surprising to reach a demigod status via training himself based on what he's seen and felt from Goku and Vegeta's own god modes. Such a transformation would hover between mortal (Super Saiyan yellow) and god (Super Saiyan blue), becoming green.

• Seems unlikely, however. I'm mostly guiding myself through MasakoX Super Saiyan Color theory video, but Gohan doesn't exactly represent any of Broly or Kale attributes so he could become green. He could become purple or orange, however.
  • Jossed by [1]. Gohan reveals his Beast form, which has long silver hair.

There will be Super Saiyan "Color" forms for each of the levels of Super Saiyan mixed with Super Saiyan god

• Super Saiyan 1 + Super Saiyan God = SSGSS1 = Super Saiyan Blue
• Super Saiyan 2 + Super Saiyan God = SSGSS2 = Super Saiyan Green
• Super Saiyan 3 + Super Saiyan God = SSGSS3 = Super Saiyan Purple
• Super Saiyan 4 + Super Saiyan God = SSGSS4 = Super Saiyan Orange

The red aura Goku shows in the new opening is actually his own version of Super Saiyan Rose

A lot of people have noted Goku flashing a Black-esque smirk and both fans and in-universe characters have noticed his lust for battle has reached an almost dangerous level; even Beerus considers destroying Goku and losing a potential rival due to his recklessness. So perhaps Goku's recent violent attitude will lead to him adopting Black's transformation as well, giving him a huge power boost but stripping him of his merciful nature, ironically returning him to the Saiyan ways he had before hitting his head as a baby. A transformation like this could also prove interesting as it is less about the "stamina vs power" of Super Saiyan vs Super Saiyan 3 or the "ease of transformation vs power" of Super Saiyan vs Super Saiyan Blue, and more about the internal conflict of "power vs morals" that the series has hinted at with Black and Zamasu and their views on Goku and other mortals.

• Possibly jossed, considering Goku can now combine the Kaioken and Super Saiyan blue: It may just be that.

After the events of the Universal Survival arc, Goku will gain a greater sense of morals

After seeing all the misery and stress he caused from being careless with starting up the tournament of power, Goku will realize the importance of everybody's happiness. his arc through Super will be about him being torn between the greater good and his own lust for battle and call back to the original "learn what it really means to be a hero" that battle of gods was originally going to be about

The Clown God red team are their universe equivalent of the Galactic Patrol

Captain Lmao teams uniforms reminds one of superhero costumes, and considering they are among the best fighters in the multiverse, they are probably a space superhero team.

• Confirmed: They are the Pride Troopers, and one of their members seeks to battle Goku on the spot due to the latter's scapegoating.

Beerus and Champa are not originally from Universe 7/6

One of the clown's fighters is a purple cat identical to Beerus. This could imply Beerus and Champa are not native from Universe 6 and 7, but from that same universe, and when they were chosen God of Destruction, those universes were selected as their work place. This could explain how exactly those twin universes could have literal twins as gods.

• Alternatively they're from the clown's counterpart of Universe 2. The goddess there has a strong Egyptian theme, and the same purple cat species would exist there.

Going by the above, Vermoud(the clown god) is the superior god to them.

Of the other 10 gods he's been one of the most showcased, suggesting he's an important character in the plot. If Beerus and Champa are from his universe originally, it's possible they tried to apply for godhood there but he beat them. As the one fighter they were unable to beat, they'd have extra motivation to beat him and show off.

When dubbed into English, one universe's team will be voiced entirely by Team Four Star members

Because hey, the English dub team have done collaborations in the past and it'd be amazing to hear some of the abridged actors matched against their canon counterparts.

• Jossed.

Kale will be voiced by Maxey Whitehead in the English dub.

It makes sense to do this because Kale is considered to be a female Broly, Broly was voiced by Vic Mignogna, and Maxey and Vic played brothers in a certain other show.

• Jossed. Kale is voiced by Dawn M. Bennett.

The Clown God universe is the fourth

Because Four Is Death and he is by far the creepiest looking of them all by virtue of the Monster Clown trope.

• Jossed. Clown God is confirmed to be Eleventh Universe. Rat God is the god of Universe 4.

This entire thing is a Secret Test of Character.

Elaboration on the idea that Zen'o is lying. While it does make sure people fight the best, there's a bigger reason to it. Since the beginning of time the Omni-King has held to deal with his subjects being terrified of him, which he clearly doesn't like. Zen'o is sick of the likes of Beerus cowering at him, which is what made meeting Goku such a relief-in spite of being able to blink him and his entire universe from existence, Goku doesn't fear him.

By pretending to commit multiversal genocide or using the Reset Button of the Grand Priest to make all damage null and void, it will motivate the gods to fight against him as they'll have nothing to lose, showing nerve. Future Zen'o will use this as an opportunity to examine the strength of the different gods, all to ensure something like Zamasu never happens again.

• Confirmed that it's a Secret Test of Character, but not what Zeno's testing. They were actually testing whether the winner would use their wish selflessly, to restore the other universes.

Future Zen'o is corrupted by Zamasu.

An expansion of the above theory that Future Zen'o is evil. The reason why he'd have a Face–Heel Turn? Perhaps it's Zamasu. Zen'o may be powerful but he's not truly omnipotent considering a human time machine was able to create an alternate Zen'o through parallel timelines. There's a possibility that Complete Immortality Zamasu was enough that even being obliterated by Future Zen'o couldn't get rid of him completely. Destroying the corrupted future multiverse simply destroyed his new "body", leaving him an impotent spirit in the void. There was only one bit of matter left at this point for him to cling on; Future Zen'o.

Obviously he can't pull a Grand Theft Me; Fusion Zamasu lacked a consciousness at this point, being little more than a miasma of hate. Even if he could still think Zen'o is still too strong to wrestle control over. But he was able to corrupt the Omni-King's way of thinking, resulting in his Ambiguous Innocence reaching genocidal extremes. Present Zen'o may have an amoral side, but never as strong as wiping out 11 universes for a tournament. The Future Zen'o is acting as a Toxic Friend Influence to Present Zen'o, and its possible some of that malice he got from Zamasu is leaking over.

• Alternative, Zen'o power may not be complete destruction, but absorbing everything. Those universes destroyed in the past? They became part of him. Future Zen'o may have absorbed Zamasu, and since that genocidal Kai has an immortal spirit, it may be corrupting the Lord of All. I use the seventh ending as proof of a hint: the song talks about a demon (who is wearing the mask of an angel) and an angel talking to someone, asking him to "destroy all evil right now for the sake of justice". This should sound familiar...

One of the fights will take place inside Future Zen'o, and the Multiverse fighters will have to find their way out

Just a stupid theory of mine, related to the above. Future Zen'o is corrupted, and will destroy/absorb the multiverse to himself, and for some reason, the fight will take place inside his body. Like inside Buu, only this time, all the multiverse fighters will have to find their way out, instead of only Goku and Vegeta.

Alternative, Zamasu took over a god of destruction body

He took the body of either Liquiir (Due to the energy blade) or Geene (since he doesn't fight, he may be trying to hide among the cast). My theory comes from the manga, where Universe 12 is said to be the first universe to create a time machine, and Zamasu killed the Supreme Kai and stole the time machine. So maybe there is a connection there.

Goku will convince the Zen'os not to destroy everything with very simple reasoning.

Goku will simply point out that if the multiverse except for one universe is destroyed, they can't have another super fun tournament, at which point the Zen'os will see the point and not do so.

The teams of each universe.

Asides from Universe 7 of course. Each will be picked according to their gods' behavior, or will in general fit a theme.

• Universe 6's Champa has been defined in his Sibling Rivalry. Every action he's done on-screen is to be better than his brother Beerus. It's why he added a Saiyan on the team in the first place. One of the reasons he chose the Broly-esque Saiyan is because he wanted to match the two Saiyan on Beerus' team. He'll also likely take advantage of the revived Earth(maybe one of the reasons it was ruined was because people are a lot stronger there than in U7), and find a Namekian.
  • His team didn't have any humans (the revived Earth plot was kind of dropped after the Champa arc), but he did bring 2 Namekians, who had drastically increased their power by fusing with other Namekians multiple times, and instead had multiple Saiyans present (the already-introduced Cabba, as well as new Saiyans Caulifla and Kale (the Broly-esque Saiyan)).
• Universe 9's Sidra and Rou have chosen anthropomorphic animals. It'd be a nice bit of irony and fitting with the trio of danger theme that one of the few human-looking Gods of Destruction chooses an all-furry team. Because they are the nicest and meanest(sans Zamasu) of their role, there will be varying morality with their team.
  • Sorta confirmed. The fighters of Universe 9 are three wolfmen, a Catlady, a bunny, and a bat fighter. There is also an amphibian and a metal lizard. The other fighters, however, are a walking three and his red buddy, so 8 out of 10.
• Universe 11's team so far are superhero themed. This could be somewhat ironic given Vermoud, though that could also be intentional; if the clown's evil like we suspect he may want to come off as less likely to cheat or otherwise be evil with them. Alternatively half the team will be super-villains. The Pride Force isn't going to like this, but upon hearing what happens if they lose even the evil half will Enemy Mine with them. Would serve as major tension in the team.
  • Confirmed, but jossed on the Enemy Mine thing. All the fighters of Universe 11 are Pride Troopers.
• Universe 10's Gowasu will want to avoid another Zamasu scenario. As such he will want to choose those who are trustworthy or proven themselves as honorable fighters. Rumoosh will argue for a Token Evil Teammate out of necessity, which Gowasu will argue against. There will be one, but this may cost them the victory. Gowasu will want to be the most involved with choosing his team because if it weren't for his mishandling of Zamasu, Future Zen'o wouldn't be here and the tournament may not even have happened.
  • Close, but no cigar. Gowasu did indeed wanted to avoid another Zamasu sceneario, but Rumsshi suggested for the flesh, thus a team of muscleheads.
• Universe 2's Helles will want style over substance. A Combat Aestheticist, her vanity will cause her to ignore ugly/scrawny yet powerful fighters. It'll be up to her Supreme Kai counterpart to suggest some of these.
  • Jossed. Her team is very varied in the fighters departament, incluiding fighters that are not that handsome.
• Universe 3's Mosco is clear reference to Dragon Ball GT, namely Ludd. With this in mind Universe 3's team could be a big Shout-Out for that continuity. Its fighters will be stylized after the Machine Mutants and the Shadow Dragons, though changed that they're not outright rip-offs. We could even have an Xicor expy of all things, given Toyotaro created both him and the Mosco design. A Cell equivalent is also possible, since Universe 6 gave us a Freeza equivalent.
  • Jossed. All the fighters are robots and cyborgs, thought they could be seen as Tuffles-analogues, I suppose.
• Universe 4's team might go one of two ways. As Quitela is a Pint-Sized Powerhouse he could get a bunch of like-bodied figures. Alternatively he'll want to get a bunch of goliaths, since he might be Compensating for Something. Expect some of the other gods to make snide comments.
  • Jossed. Quitela team is very varied, and the only thing consistent with all of them is a sneaky attitude and the color green.

Sidra is the strongest God of Destruction.

It's just that he doesn't show it off. Along with the elephant, he's in the front in one of two opening screenshots with the different gods. While this could mean he's a major character or its a Red Herring, it might also hint at his power. Because of his indecisiveness and being the most compassionate of his ilk, Sidra is incredibly hesitant to use his true power. As such people believe he's the weakest of the 12 gods, when in reality they're severely underestimating him.

• Jossed. It's Iwen, the God of Destruction of Universe 1.
• Neither jossed or confirmed. It was never said that Iwen or any of the other destroyers was the strongest, just that universes 1,5,8 and 12 and their destroyers will be spared the potential wrath of Zeno-sama and universes 7 and 9 have the lowest mortal levels.
  • While Iwen's relative power is unknown, he is certainly able to hold his own against Liqueer and Arak.

Following that, Iwen is the weakest God of Destruction.

In fact, he may be the only God of Destruction weaker than the combatants, or even weak enough that Future Zamasu and Goku Black didn't need to exploit the life link he had with his Kai. To help enforce the idea that universal rank is about development/enlightenment and not power or fighting level that the series is often consumed with, the weakest God of Destruction will also be the most competent of all twelve. The above theory could serve a similar purpose; the fact Sidra is the strongest god yet his rank is dead-last further shows how incompetent he is.

• Nope, see above.

The winning team of the Tournament will be forced into another Tournament

Whatever team of the eight universes wins, Zen'o will then declare that they'll be fighting again, this time along with the other Universes which were deemed too powerful to enter. Zen'o seems intent on ridding and destroying as many Universes as he can what with his and his future counterpart's new attitude.

Zeno's destruction of the losing universes will happen, but it isn't as horrible as everyone thinks.

Dragonball is a show where souls are more or less immortal and reincarnation is a thing. So lets say that there's a finite number of souls, that are spread out through all the 12 universes. Its an extremely large number, but if there isn't a soul available, no one can be born, which means that each of these universes has an extremely low population density. Its an extremely inefficient use of space, and the problem was way worse back when there were 18 universes. Now, while Zeno's will destroy the losers' universes', all the souls that previously inhabited those universes will just migrate to one of the 5-6 that still remain. Zeno is basically doing a re-org, just on a multiversal scale.

• To just follow up on the above. The reason for the re-org is two-fold. Firstly, he believes that it will more easily allow an increase of the average power-level of mortals. Second, it's to punish the gods of the losing universes for not doing their jobs. Zeno may seem child-like, but nothing escapes his notice. We have gods like Champa and Beerus who don't do their jobs, and it's probably similar in other universes as well. Notice that universes 1, 12, 5 and 8 aren't being punished, because the gods there are probably doing their jobs, and doing their best to increase the average mortal power level.
  • The souls in Dragon Ball are not immortal. Your soul can be destroyed and erased from existence. This is the warning Goku gave Vegeta back in the Buu Saga when he was trying to stall Kid Buu. Also, only the bad people are reborn after suffering for some time in Hell. Good people stay in Heaven.
  • Souls being erased tended to be more the result of a freak accident than anything. Normally a soul will exist forever. So that prompts the question as to whether good people stay in heaven forever, or whether they're eventually reincarnated. Zeno seems to care a great deal about the quality of mortal powerlevels, and that would seem to preclude destroying mortals' souls willy-nilly. Now destroying universes, or rather real estate, that wouldn't be an issue.
    • Where was it ever stated in the dragonball multiverse that souls exist forever?
    • In fact, souls don't exist forever. The residents of hell are there for a proper resurrection as another individual, like Buu, who became Uub. The reason why Frieza is still trapped in Hell is because he is just that evil and will never repent.

Team Universe 11 will be heroes of the arc.

Their most powerful and prominent fighters are the Pride Troopers, a group of space superheroes. It stands to reason Toppo and the like would disapprove of the losing universes getting destroyed, and be more understanding of Universe 7's predicament. The Pride Troopers will decide to work with Universe 7 to find a way for the other universes to survive, giving the Z Fighters relief/levity in case they fail. Vermoud and Beerus' view on this and possible relationship may complicate things though.

There will be a rematch between Universes 6 and 7.

Either along the way or as a grand finale.

Average Mortal Level has nothing to do with average power level of that universe, but it actually represents the quality of life in that universe.

• The AML of universe 9 is the worst because their Kaioshins are openly malevolent, while having the weakest God of Destruction. Universe 7 is the second worst because of the workings of Freeza/King Cold's Empire, and because Beerus is an extremely lazy and immature god, destroying planets at random. Third worst universe is either universe 6 or universe 4, because they are mirror universes of 7 & 9. 6 is slightly better than 7 because Saiyans are a force of good from the start in that universe.
• The reason of Survival Tournament is because Zenos (who are actually much smarter than they appear to be) are afraid that there will be another Future Zamasu situation, which are actually the reasons why he destroyed the other 6. They want to leave universes where:
  • a.) There is no chance of it ever happening, like universes with AML higher than Zamasu's Universe, which is 7.
  • b.) There are fighters strong enough to overcome the threat.
• The winner of the tournament (either Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Hit or Toppo) will convince Zeno to give them time to fix the AML in each universe by destroying evil threats, which will be the later arcs of Dragon Ball Super. This will solve the problem of Goku and Vegeta not having either strong enough opponents like Golden Freeza and Commeson or unbeatable like Beerus or Giygas Zamasu, while also introducing new allies that will be of similar strength as the main duo.
• Alternately, Right Makes Might is a rule of nature, at least on a cosmic scale. Those universes are stronger on average because they are more morally righteous.

Average Mortal Level is not an accurate gauge of a universe power.

It's Average Mortal Level: As Goku has repeatedly proven even to the other gods, he's far from average. Just because the average is larger in those universes doesn't mean a smaller universe is incapable of having truly exceptional fighters, (ex. the Z-fighters.) As such, after the tournament, the "higher gods" (with universes that have an AML of 7+) will suddenly be in a panic because while their averages are higher their exemplary combatants aren't.

The Zen-os will do something very similar to Beerus after the tournament

• They'll freak everybody out but will only destroy a dead planet or two in each universe saying they won't destroy the entire universes at once. Somebody will say everybody is okay with them just changing their minds.
  • Er, kind of. Turns out that the entire thing was a Secret Test of Character of the winner, since if they had used the Super Dragon Balls for a selfish wish, they would've wiped out the winner's universe.

The tournament will end in a draw by all participants.

As episode 81 revealed, the tournament is a grand battle royale: with the only method of defeat being falling off the platform. The winner at the end of the time limit is determined by the team with the most surviving members.However, there is a loophole to all of this: if 1 member of each team is left alive, then it's a draw for all participants.Alternately everyone will be so busy fighting that no-one will drop off the edge; it's mentioned only being pushed off the edge is defeat, not falling unconscious. The logic being you can just push unconscious people off the edge, but there's nothing indicating that the competing warriors have to do this.Zen'o will be so impressed by this result that he'll call off the multiversal destruction: Or delay it, so they can train up and have a proper battle royal with one winner.Bonus points if one team (Universe 7, probably decide to deliberately engineer this, to the point of dropping themselves off the edge.

• And jossed.

Goku will have a Heel Realization at the end of the arc.

Goku's behavior this arc has been morally questionable to say the least, and despite several What the Hell, Hero? speeches directed toward him, he so far doesn't really seem to care that much about universes being destroyed so long as he gets a good fight. It's quite possible that Goku will get what he wants out of the tournament and even end up winning, only for him to realize that it's a Pyrrhic Victory and he's responsible for trillions of death and has lost the respect of even his family and friends. At this point he'll finally realize that some things are more important than fighting and beg Zen'o to undo this.

Universal survival arc doesn't refer to the Tournament of Power.

While its not a 100% chance that the losing universes will come back via dragon balls or Zen'o's choice, If that does become the case and universes that Zen'o destroyed are revived, the multiversal threat that is merged Goku Black/Zamasu will be revived along with other multiverses. With the tournament being revealed to be a 45 minute battle royale between the competing universes, this could mean the tournament will end quickly. Goku's characterization/accusation of being a villain could foreshadow the return of Zamasu.

Goku is already making a plan to save the other universes.

If not by obtaining the Super Dragonballs, he's already thinking about how convince Zen'o not to go through with his actions. It's a similar situation to Cell; he already has a solution in mind and as such isn't concerned with the other seven universes competing. In his eyes he already has the solution. Like Cell, this will probably end up biting him in the ass.

The universes and their gods will turn on Zen'o.

Assuming that the real Big Bad isn't the Grand Priest, Zamasu in some form or one of the two Zen'o. If the Grand Priest is 100% truthful then the Omni-Kings have slipped into God Is Evil territory, and if the whole Zamasu thing is any indication the gods don't have an Omniscient Morality License. Sure Zen'o can destroy all 12 universes, but his lack of fighting abilities and the fact that timeline splitting affects him may suggest he's Not So Invincible After All. It's possible that by teaming up, the gods, kais and angels may be able to take them down. Particularly if the Grand Priest is involved.

• Jossed.

Monaka won't be in the universe 7 Team, because his style of fighting will make him a danger to everyone.

Something like this will be the excuse that Beerus tells Goku so Monaka won't be in the team.

• Jossed. Beerus said he was sick, a la Satan.

The universes will be saved by Zen'o having a change of heart.

After witnessing the eight universes fighting earnestly for their survival, the Omni-King will come to the belief that he may have misjudged their value. He'll decide that they've earned the right to live and call off the destruction, similar to how Beerus was impressed enough by his fight against Goku he only blew up a tiny piece of the Earth. Further conflict will come from either the Grand Priest having a secret agenda or the other Zen'o wanting to stay on schedule.

The Pride Troopers will pull a Frost and reveal they are Evil All Along

Probably the harsh (and dissapointing) truth is that they will reveal to be bullies, or worse, criminals who are able to fool Vermoud and Marcarita. Their uniform is even Red and Black and Evil All Over.

• I'm mostly being cynical, but I do hope this theory is wrong since it would be a cliche by now to have another Frost or another villain saying he works for justice. Besides, if Vados was able to tell Frost was Evil All Along, maybe Marcarita will notice too, of course, there is the possibility of her not caring like Vados.
  • Jossed. They are real heroes.

The Pride Troopers won't pull a Frost, but will still have their dark side.

While they won't be evil like the above, they will be more grey and anti-heroish. Zamasu proved that a strong sense of justice doesn't automatically make one a good guy, and while the Pride Troopers aren't extreme like him they're more neutral than good. Toppo's speech about vanquishing different types of evil could be hype, or it could suggest he's guilty of excessive force and being rather judgmental. The Pride Troopers do serve justice, but it can come off as rather harsh. Then there's Vermoud, who may be a more rational and sympathetic Zamasu. He doesn't believe mortals are inherently evil, but does wipe worlds he deems evil even if they have a chance of improving. Universe 11 is very prosperous, even if a lot of innocents died for it. That being said some of the Universe 11 fighters will be more clear-cut heroic and some outright evil, but Grey-and-Gray Morality applies here. Universe 11 being under a 7 in rank could mean that they are going to harsh and will be less aggressive if they survive the tournament, or Zen'o thinks they're not being harsh enough.

• Well, semi-confirmed. While we don't get to see the personalities of most of the Pride Troopers, Jiren is definitely a harsh Nominal Hero, while Top proves willing to forsake his ideals to become a god of destruction.

Alternatively the Pride Troopers will turn out to be an extremist faction of superheroes

Due to their intense color scheme, how Toppo regards all evil as qualified for destruction and the biased favor of their gods; the Pride Troopers could likely be enforcers of their own view upon their universe to an unhealthy/authoritarian degree.

Cabba will ask for Kale for marriage after the tournament, and will ask Vegeta to be his best man

I NEED THIS... please, don't let Kale be Cabba's sister.

• Well, she isn't his sister, but she is possibly gay, so jossed?
  • When was that ever stated?

Vegeta will earn the title of King of All Saiyans from the Universe 6 Saiyan King, as gratitude for teaching his race the Super Saiyan transformation

But Vegeta will decline it, saying he doesn't need the title anymore.

The "Red Eye Man" is from the destroyed Earth of Universe 6

He looks human and like a warmonger. For added bonus, Champa will hate his guts because is a planet of terrible cooking.

• Jossed. He is Kahseral, a member of the Pride Troopers from Universe 11.

"Smug Pup" is a cousin of the Trio De Dangers, and is the most dangerous of them all

But is a Nice Guy by comparison to the trio.

• Jossed. He is Majora from Universe 4. He could be from the same race, since Universes 4 and 9 are twins, but is never stated.

After this arc a number of other universe characters will move to Universe 7

If Goku and company can't save the other universes, they can request Zen'o to let them move the inhabited planets to Earth 7, or at least those of the competitors.

Kale is the daughter of the Saiyan King.

It's a Madwoman in the Attic situation. The Saiyan King had a daughter with freakish power and "Jekyll and Hyde" situation, so had to lock her up for the greater good. The reason why Cabba has never heard of a Super Saiyan is because he made the real one secret, and may have prevented the Saiyans he rules from ever achieving this power in fear they'll turn out like her.

The four possible new fighters on Universe 6.

Or five if it turns out Kale is in the Pride Troopers

• A human. It's possible one of the reasons that Earth was ruined in the first place is because the Earthlings were way too strong for their own good. Beerus will unwittingly give his brother the advantage by breaking the natural order and wishing that Earth back.
  • Jossed.
• Frost's father, the U6 equivalent of King Cold. Given how many fans believe King Cold was wasted along with Frost being Evil All Along, they could make it up to them by introducing the first genuinely good member of Frieza's race. Though since Frost isn't a tyrant in the manga, the manga adaptation could have the Cold equivalent as a bad guy.
  • Jossed. No mention of Frost's father is ever made.
• The Universe 6 equivalent to Majin Buu. It was revealed that Majin Buu has existed since time immemorial and Bibidi merely woke him up. Given Universe 6 and 7 are twins, sharing the same species, there should be a Buu there. Said Buu would probably be based around Super Buu, as his intelligence and preference for assimilation makes him unique enough to not just be a Mr Buu carbon copy.
  • Jossed.
  • The Pink Female Fighter seen in the current intro fighting Vegeta might also be the Buu equivalent.
  • Jossed, the Pink Female Fighter in from Universe 2.
• Jossed in all of them. The fighters are two saiyan women, two namekians, and a Joke Character in the name of Dr.Rota.

"A Righteous Devil, Evil Angel" is sung from the Grand Priest' perspective.

Any suggestion that he's the Arc Villain will turn out to be a Red Herring. Instead he will turn out to be the real hero of the arc, and the one who has the only real shot at stopping the Obliviously Evil Zen'o. The lyrics in the song are foreshadowing

• The term "righteous devil, evil angel". If the Grand Priest is the real villain then he's the evil angel, and the righteous devil may be Goku who's had the gods turned against him. However he could be the righteous devil, and the two Zen'o(or some other factor) as the evil angel. He's the devil in this situation because he's opposing the Top God, and righteous because he's fighting against him to save the multiverse.
• "An angel and a demon are sitting together like friends"-who do we see sitting next to each other all the time in this arc? The two Zen'o. One is good or at least morally neutral, the other not so much.
• "I'm in the middle, which way do I face?"-this could be the Grand Priest' conflicting loyalties between the two Zen'o. As for why he doesn't know who to face? He's not sure whether the present or future Zen'o will be the ultimate villain. While the future Zen'o seems the most likely(possible Zamasu influence as a factor), it could be the one we're more familiar with and seeing the horror Zamasu unleashed matured him enough.
• "Either destroy myself or destroy everything else"-the Grand Priest has the power to kill or severely inconvenience the Omni-King, however it requires his death. The latter isn't meant to mean he's directly destroying the weaker universes, but that through inaction he will be responsible for them being erased when he could've done something.
• "They scream in my ear all night. Is there a right answer to this?"-while his own death would prevent the universes under a 7 in rank or the winner from being erased, it would have major consequences on the natural order. He is trying to weigh in the lesser of two evils."
• "The masks of angels on the faces of demons"-another reference to Zen'o, perhaps? Or maybe some of his children are not as neutral as they seem.
• "They beckon to me and say to me, for the sake of goodness destroy all evil right now"-if this doesn't have something to do with Zamasu, it could be other gods, angels or what have you either thinking similar to him or suggesting a radical action to protect the multiverse.
• "They say the world is waiting for me"-everyone is waiting to see the actions of the Grand Priest, as it will determine the fate of the multiverse itself.
• The "righteous devil" probably referencing Goku, with all the participating universes breathing down his neck for this even happening in the first place. And the "evil angel" is probably Frieza. He does have the halo, after all. And being on the same team, they're "sitting together like friends", more or less.

Goku going to become a god of destruction in this arc

• The scene in the new opening where goku smirks after powering up is foreshadowing this accomplishment. while it won't be official he will internalize the power. This is hinted by the red aura goku has in the opening which is related to several godly powers like Super Saiyan God and the Kai-O ken. Goku managing to appear untransformed with the aura shows he has started to realize his powers of pure destruction.
  • Someone did become a God of Destruction, but it wasn't Goku, it was Toppo.

Frost will use the Golden form or at least a variant of it in the tournament.

Champa will grant him amnesty and he might repair his reputation if he fights for him, especially if he manages to kick some arse. One reason for bringing in Golden Frieza is to obviously show the fighting potential of his race. If Frost even wants to stand a chance and not get squished like he did with Goku, Vegeta and Hit he will have to unlock his ultimate evolution because it's very unlikely he will be successful in using his cheat poison, Bonus point if he actually does use his cheat poison and Champa disintegrates him on the spot.

• It won't necessarily be golden, as Frieza chose that color to mock the Saiyans. It could be silver instead, in order to give off the impression that he's a Knight in Shining Armor.
• Or Frost will instead get a Fourth Transformation into a Final Form like Cooler's Final Form.
• All of them are jossed. The closest thing he gets is his 100% form, and that was because Frieza tricked him. Like Cabba, he could learn the transformation.

Whatever similarities the "destroy all evil for the sake of justice" has with Zamasu is deliberately made to deceive the viewer.

It is actually a reference to the Pride Troopers who destroy all kinds of evil "for the sake of justice".

The whole losing means your universe gets destroyed is nothing more than "hype". Regardless of the outcome nobody is going to get hurt and everything will be more or less the same with some slight insignificant changes just like the tournament between universe 6 and 7.

Again this could be a cheap gimmick used to make sure all the fans watch all of the new episodes. Of course there is going to be an epic battle but no one is in any real danger, otherwise their wouldn't be rules to protect the fighters such as no killing and weapons. Heck you don't even have to K.O your opponent just knock them out the ring just like in that preliminary in the "Bojack Unbound" movie.

• I personally want the universes to be "destroyed" in the sense that Zen-o fires the gods of destruction and Kais of the losing universes, and disowns them all.
  • Semi-jossed. The losing universes are indeed wiped out, but Zen-o planned for the winner to wish them back.

Universe 7 will win the tournament and Goku will use the wish to either bring back universes 13-18 or bring back ALL OF THE UNIVERSES Zen-chan destroyed.

He will do the former so he will have some strong opponents to fight because "hey" that's who Goku is, also if he does this it will most definitely open a whole new arc with the "evil gods" and if were super lucky "evil angels". How is the first possibility different from the second, well this is how. If Super Shenron brings back all the universes Zen-chan destroyed it will also bring back all of the universes FUTURE ZEN-CHAN DESTROYED, and don't forget Future Zen-chan destroyed Trunks's universe which Zamasu was a part off. So unless Goku is really specific he could open a Pandora's box on top of making everyone mad at him already for not wishing them all of the stuff he promised them.

• Alternatively Goku will wish that everyone in universe seven has their desires fulfilled.
  • Confirmed that the wish was used to revive the universes Zeno destroyed during the tournament, but jossed as to who made the wish, since Android 17 ended up winning.

Buu will wake up in time.

Leading to Master Roshi being excluded instead. Of all the fighters he's probably the weakest, and hasn't had significant showings asides from partnering with others. Goku will hedge his bets and decide that, as evil as Frieza is, they're better off with him and Buu. It would also allow Frieza to finally have interaction with Buu, which was sorely missed in the Resurrection F arc.

• An alternate to this WMG is that Frieza will be successfully recruited, but Buu will wake up just before the tournament and it will prompt Beerus to Hakai him.
• Jossed.

Frieza AND Cell will represent the U7 team and Buu will wake up.

In all honesty Tien cannot stand on par with anything a true galactic level and after hearing about the other team and witnessing the Legendary Super Saiyan Goku will realize they need all the power they can get no matter what. He'll ask Beerus to boot Tien and Roshi off the team thank to them being by far the weakest and along side Whis train Cell and Frieza within the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to remove Frieza's stamina problem and get Cell caught up with the other characters. It would give awesome interaction between the three most famous Big Bads in Dragon Ball's history. Along with having Frieza and Cell play the Token Evil Teammate albeit in different ways — Frieza learning Pragmatic Villainy while Cell indulging his inner Blood Knight.

• Well, Frieza's confirmed to appear, except he's replacing Majin Buu instead of Tien. Still no word on Cell though.
  • Unfortunately jossed.

Frieza and Buu will both compete!... through special means.

Instead of just dropping a contestant, Buu will wake up after Frieza starts his one day resurrection, and decide to absorb him like Super Buu did back in the Buu saga and become the motivated but loyal "Frieza Buu" allowing both Buu and Frieza to participate!... In a fashion.

• Jossed.

Frieza will get to wish for his own resurrection on the Earth Dragon Balls...

Of course, he's already been brought back with the Earth Dragon Balls once before and cannot use them to come back again. Oops!

• Wasn't that limit removed when Dende took over?
  • No. It was the one thing Dende couldn't change. The Namekian Dragon Balls don't have that limit (as long as you didn't die of natural causes).
  • Moot point. He got revived by Whis.

Universe 7 won't win the tournament

Related to all the possibilities about the universes not really being destroyed. If you recall the original Dragon Ball, Goku actually has a history of losing tournaments and get motivated to become even stronger by that. If we exclude the non-canonical otherworld tournament, actually, his only actual victory has been against Piccolo when it was the only way to stop it, otherwise he either plain lost (against Roshi and Tien) or had a backup plan (Gohan and Monaka, even if the latter came from him acting out of wrong information about his power level), and it all started because Goku was bored since he didn't have enough strong opponents, so it would fit both the series and his arc. And that will also have a nice perk: Goku will be allowed to exploit Exact Words, denying Frieza his resurrection, since he promised to do it "if we win and our universe is spared". Then, due to the promise made to King Yemma, he'll let him go back to the afterlife from the void between universes, so he won't go back to Earth's afterlife.

• Jossed. Android 17 is the victor.

Goku will remember about King Kai and revive him with the Super Dragon Balls.

Much to everyone's horror.

Universe 10 fighters will be actually good at fighting

It would be an inverse twist of Monaka.

• Played With, as Napappa and Obuni are actually good fighters, they are just overshadowed by, well, everyone else.

Yardrats exist in every universe.

We see a Yardrat in the universe 2 team instead of universe 6 as expected so it's likely that they are one of the few mortal races that traveled and settled in other universes, the ones that taught Goku instant transmission may be colonists from another universe.

• The Instant Transmission could be the basis for how they managed it-they figured how to extrapolate teleporting between large distances to travel to other universes.

There will be a Brick Joke with Majin Buu.

Two months after the tournament he will wake up ready to fight in the Tournament Of Power and head to Capsule Corps to join the tournament.

A draw will be involved, however it will be Frieza and Frost who pull it off.

The two have already met, and fittingly for such narcissists they get along with their other oni. While it's possible Frost does value his universe unlike Frieza, he's still a Manipulative Bastard who's good at PR. The two will come to the conclusion of an above theory that a draw might be in their best interests. Not with all the universes mind you, but at least their own. While Frieza would rather let everyone else rot, Frost is a valuable ally and would want to make sure Universe 6 survives as well to keep him around. It also means that if Goku doesn't honor his wish to be revived(not even Goku is that stupid), there's the chance no matter how small that someone will and he has a chance of not suffering eternally in Hell.

Frost's motives are less to have Frieza around, and more to regain his Villain with Good Publicity status. He doesn't really care, unless it serves his purposes. And by helping save other universes, he'll be able to regain that publicity. Granted many will know he's been a sneak, but it's enough to spin doctor to his favor and slowly regain his reputation. And that is where Frieza and Frost will put heads-the former would rather as little universes remain to satiate his bloodlust and/or get rid of potential threats his paranoid mind might see, but the latter would rather save as many universes as possible so as to come off as much of a hero as he can, and seem more genuine.

That being said, while somewhat concerned Frieza will decide it's more of an advantage and not betray Frost. Though he will be keeping his eyes on him, and more so Zen'o because he's the bigger threat to his existence. While the other heroes plan on how to deal with the Adorable Abomination that is Dragonball's God equivalent(and possibly the Grand Priest), Frost will focus on increasing his popularity, and Frieza for crawling back to power. All the more making him a far greater enemy to Goku than before, having traded Smug Snake traits and fear for Beerus to a developing Magnificent Bastard ready to control gods and men one way or another.

The universe 7 Time Rings

After Universe 7 wins the tournament, Goku will have hit a major Heroic BSoD. Not only has he played an indirect role in multi-versal genocide, but for some reason Frieza gets to be resurrected. That is until he remembers that the Kaioshin have their own Time Rings uses them to not only stop his past self from visiting the Zeno, but to warn the other universes so that they can get their acts together.

Universe 7's plan to save the day.

Universe 9 has been wiped out after losing, showing that the Zen'o are serious. Goku's plans of simply convincing him otherwise or not thinking he'd go through with it won't work anymore. Seeing the rest of the universes die out would be too depressing and it'd come off as selfish if they didn't consider the other universes' value compared to their own. A wish to restore the universes, if even possible depending on how powerful the erase was, would simply piss the Zen'o off and probably get themselves erased with the newly restored universes. A tie would probably just delay things.

So what's the solution? When all is said and done, Goku will ask Zen'o to let the other universes have one more day to get their affairs in order and say goodbye to their families. Since a day doesn't really matter to him and they're going to do it anywhere, they agree. The Super Dragonballs are gathered and the following wish is made-"I wish all the universes who lost the Tournament of Power are safely merged with Universe 7!" With that, all the universes that weren't already destroyed (sorry Universe 9) combine into a huge universe.

With the influx of the population its average mortal level would now exceed 7, thereby meaning Zen'o won't be motivated to destroy it. Even if it somehow isn't at 7, Zen'o did promise to spare the universe that won. This merged universe is still Universe 7, and he can't risk killing the winning universes. Even if he considers it a new universe, it's too early to test whether it should live or die.

With this act, Goku will restore his reputation to the other universes, ultimately proving himself a hero when push comes to shove and avoiding as much death as possible. From a narrative perspective, this allows a number of story potentials. The main one being the different gods trying to figure out how to order this new universe, and that encountering other universes we've seen like Universe 6 will be an easier endeavor.

Majin Buu will get an arc in Super

after screwing up two important tournaments by sleeping through them and inadvertantly leading to the resurrection of a galactic tyrant, Buu will start to feel worthless and struggle to prove his merit by hunting down frieza and killing him again.

Goku is going to use a multiversal-powered Spirit Bomb to kill the Zen'os.

Zen'os power is weaponized Fanon Discontinuity

building on the recurring theory that the Zen'os represent the audience, their power to erase anything from existence and act like they never exist is like how fandoms tend to treat events, episodes, arcs or even series like they didn't happen as a jokish form of coping with them. Zen-o's version is the same except it actually gets rid of those things.

How Zen'o can be defeated.

Zen'o has so far shown to be the definition of Story-Breaker Power, and due to his volatile personality makes him a constant danger to the Dragonball Multiverse. How do you stop such a being without introducing someone even stronger? Have him face someone of equal strength and hope they take each other out. And thanks to Goku, that form exists in the equally volatile Future Zen'o. Though friends, the two Zen'o have a few differences. Most notably, Present Zen'o is a lot closer to Goku than Future Zen'o. The present version found someone who treats him casually and made him fascinated with tournaments, the future version is off the heels from destroying the multiverse and has just met Goku.

If Universe 7 loses, Zen'o might want to keep it around because of his fondness for Goku. Future Zen'o wouldn't care as much, and the two would argue. Either the Grand Priest or Frieza(leading credence to him wishing [[A God Am I to rule over him) will goad them on, resulting in the two fighting. Completely equal in power, the two destroy each other. Assuming such an act doesn't break reality it'll leave the throne in Heaven empty and the Grand Priest the new Omni-King, while all the other gods shocked and horrified that the closest thing Dragonball has to God being erased from existence.

With the Grand Priest as the new King of Everything this may be really bad, though unlike Zen'o there may be a tiny chance of stopping him. Or maybe the Grand Priest isn't evil but still has a vulnerability. Either way, the change in the cosmic hierarchy will have massive ripples, and Frieza's plan to rise up in power would have a shot.

For bonus points, the Omni-King's power could have a No Ontological Inertia effect, which could be used to restore both the tournament universes and the six universes destroyed prior. That way the different universes could still be around for future story effect without resorting to the predictable "Goku uses the Super Dragonballs" ending. Their destruction resulting in Death Is Cheap for the multiverse would also manage to avoid Status Quo Is God, due the fundamental change in the god hierarchy even if it's just the top two dead instead of fourteen.

The final two universes that will be still standing at the end will be universe six and seven.

Universe six is the only universe that has not lost any fighters and will be the final bosses of the tournament, against universe seven which it has been shown that universe seven will survive the tournament.

• Jossed. Universe 6 bit the dust before 4, 3 and 11.

Zeno's got parents and he's gonna be in trouble when they find out what he's up to

They were the original immortal Gods, created the universes and made several of them for him to play with along with the angels to help babysit their son. The Angels then grew the gods. The gods in turn helped seed the mortal realm with life. Those angels have to come from somewhere, unless they're beginning-less, which is doubtful. Given his infantile nature, I seriously doubt if Zeno's got the skills or intelligence to create a universe on his own.

So they're gonna soon find out Zeno's playing extremely carelessly with no awareness of the kind of destruction and kill count he's causing and he's going to get an earful for not understanding the value of life. They might even undo the destroyed universes and bring everyone back at the end of the day

It's also likely that no one except the grand priest or the angels themselves knows of this fact.

The winning universe will be allowed to live, but the members of that universe that were eliminated will still be erased

Using U7 as an example - As of this point Krillin is the only eliminated member of U7. U7 wins the tournament, but then the Grand Priest will state that whoever has been eliminated will be erased. This will be the "terrible" thing that is rumored to happen at the tournament, and being that Goku loses his best friend again, this will trigger his Limit Breaker form.

• Jossed, which is a good thing since said eliminated fighters included Goku and Vegeta.

Universe 7 will lose the Tournament of Power.

It's a Foregone Conclusion that Universe 7 will survive, and it's easy to assume Universe 7 will win because if a universe loses it is erased. However it's possible that something could prevent the Zen'o from going along with erasing them. Maybe their fondness for Goku lets them spare them, maybe Whis will help spare them, maybe something will interrupt things or it will get erased but something undoes the erasure. Also, it should be noted that Goku rarely wins a tournament. Universe 6 may win instead given they lasted the longest without eliminations, and Champa could repay the favor to Beerus by helping spare his brother.

• Jossed

Goku and Jiren will fuse to face whoever is the true villain of the arc.

Because two incredibly powerful mortals fused together against either the Grand Priest or the Zenos would be awesome.

• Jossed, unfortunately. Jiren is the final boss.

Cus will become an Anti-Villain in retaliation for losing Universe 10.

In the same vein as the above-mentioned "The Grand Priest wants revenge on Zen'o" WMG. It's clear that she — unlike Mojito — cared about her Universe; therefore, she'll finally snap and attempt to use the Super Dragon Balls for either a cosmic Reset Button or a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the Zen'os.

• Adding to that, it's possible that some of the more empathetic angels might join in to stop the madness. This would probably include Cus, Whis and maybe Cukatail given he's shown to be shocked at universal erasure.
• Jossed. She doesn't do anything else before Universe 10 is revived.

Toppo will fight Frieza.

He's been the most vocal at believing that Universe 7 are evil, due to Bergamo's rousing speeches and the scapegoat position of Goku. It would be interesting to see how he'd react to Frieza, who is everything he perceives as evil about that universe. As for Frieza, he'd be sick to his stomach with Universe 11. Plus their thematic similarity to the Ginyu Force would be an amusing call-back. While Toppo would probably beat him in a proper battle considering Golden Frieza is equal to SSB Goku while Toppo is equal to SSB Goku with 10x Kaioken, Frieza's a sneaky son of a bitch and could use this against him. His current partnership with the even sneakier Frost would help, and since Toppo is an apprentice to a God of Destruction there's a possibility of getting information he can use against them and Beerus later on.

It's likely that at least a good portion of the universes in the tournament will survive. Or the universes will all be restored, possibly the six destroyed long ago. Jimeze mentions he hopes to fight Gohan again, suggesting characters already expect that more than 5 universes will remain after the tournament. Frieza's hopes are that the childish nature of the Omni-Kings will keep multiple competing universes alive, primarily Quitela and Beerus. He can use Beerus' hatred of the mouse to infiltrate him, and expand on there. The hopes are to usurp the position of God of Destruction and/or find weak spots he can exploit, while using the free time to increase his already formidable power. Get in their good graces so he eventually has the power to overcome them, all on his long game to eventually become the most powerful being in creation.

In short, Frieza is trying an Indy Plot and taking every opportunity he can get to manipulate the gods, all with a Faux Affably Evil attitude to conceal the full extent of his desires and ambitions. He's well aware these ambitions could end with his destruction, but as his prior fate is being stuck in a cocoon in Hell with no army to revive him, there's literally nothing left for him to lose.

• Confirmed, if you consider the the horribly one-sided beatdown Toppo gave Frieza to be a fight...

Frieza is giving Goku his energy in a Call-Back to Namek.

At the end of Ep 110 when Frieza whisks Goku away and is aiming a ki blast at him. But instead of killing him, he's going to give him his energy just as Goku gave him energy before Namek's explosion. It may even go as far as him giving him all his energy and thus sacrificing himself in the process, just like how Goku's time on Earth was cut short during the Buu saga because he burned up all his energy going to Super Sayian 3.

• Confirmed, out of Pragmatic Villainy: he doesn't want to deal with Jiren himself.

Goku will be eliminated from the tournament late in the game after an important victory, leaving his teammates to finish the job

Dragon Ball Super has had something of a streak of non-conventional victories. Goku failed to defeat Beerus and Earth was only spared because he put up a good fight, Universe 7 only won the tournament against 6 because Hit threw the match against Monaka and Zamasu was defeated by a combination of Trunks and Zeno nuking the universe. It’s unlikely Goku will get the ring out that officially wins Universe 7 the tournament, but he will get the most important one nonetheless.

• Considering how exhausted he was after the Ultra Instinct transformation, that's pretty plausible.
• Confirmed. He and Frieza sacrifice themselves to ring out Jiren, leaving Android 17 the victor.

Damom and Gamisaras are not strong fighters. They are good at hiding, and there main purpose is to hide so there would be more of Universe 4 fighters when Tournament of Power ends.

• Confirmed, except for their purpose (Which they failed at).

The Zen'o in the living room.

While most predict the universes will be restored, there's the problem that the two Zen'o and the Grand Priest might retaliate against it since the wish spits in the face of their entire agenda. Question is, how will they be convinced to not just destroy the universes again, if it's even possible to undo the destruction left by the Top God of Dragonball?

• The power above Zen'o, likely his father, will show up and chew Zen'o out for being so reckless, making sure the universes can be restored. He will be revealed as the creator of the universes, and may even do the restoration himself.
• It will be pointed out that if there are too many universes to run, they could split the authority up between the two Zen'o and the Grand Priest. The Grand Priest can govern the ideal universes(1, 5, 8 and 12) given he's the Hypercompetent Sidekick, and as counterparts to each other the Zen'o could govern twin universes of each other. Present Zen'o could have Universes 7, 9, 10 and 11, Future Zen'o could have Universes 2, 3, 4 and 6. Of course this is assuming that the two Zen'o aren't already sharing the work load, implying he was only going to let two universes live originally.
• They will appeal to Zeno's childish nature, bargaining that if the universes are all spared they can have an even bigger tournament later. 5, 10 years later maybe? That would tie into the end of Dragonball, where it will turn out Uub is being trained to help with this. As for this theoretically second Tournament of Power, it could be a universe proving itself against the four ideal universes. If they can win with that disadvantage, Zen'o will think they're cool and deserve to live. Or maybe they'll use the opportunity to resurrect the six universes he destroyed eons ago, under the argument they probably had a bunch of cool fighters.
• The wish won't be to revive the Super Dragonballs, but to imprison the Zen'o. Assuming that's possible, of course. The phrase will be "I wish the Zen'o were sent to a place where they cannot harm the universes!". As a result, they'll be transported to the void that was once Future Trunks' timeline. It stands to reason that if a human time machine can travel to that void, so can a wish by Super Shenron. Zeno's power doesn't seem to extend beyond the timeline, as Future Zeno's erase failed to reach Goku and friends when they traveled out of that timeline, plus there being Zen'o for each timeline suggests he is still bound to it. They'll be stuck there until they finally learn to appreciate the value of life and no longer act so willy-nilly.
• Zen'o themselves will have a Heel Realization, seeing that with everyone being so dedicated in fighting the universes deserve a second chance. He will spare them.
  • Jossed. Zen'o planned for the universes to be revived all along. They're overjoyed when Android 17 makes his wish.

Universe 3 are a Not-So-Harmless Villain group.

Despite being the Butt-Monkey group, numbers-wise they're doing pretty good for themselves-with six members as of Episode 112, only Universe 7 is further in the lead. Universe 10 followed expectations of being losers, and so far Universe 3 is the least developed. The gimmick and twist of Universe 3 will be that it turns out that while some of the team are weaklings, the rest are rather tough. As they were introduced early, Narirama and Nigrisshi may have been the red herrings to throw people's view of Universe 3 off guard. Maji Kayo, he was there to demonstrate Jiren's might. The remaining six will prove a lot more effective, and throw people off-guard by knocking out one of the Universe 7 fighters-probably one of the android twins. Maybe even two, putting them in the head and adding tension for Universe 7.

It's possible their poor performance could even be explained by Paparoni controlling them for whatever reason. Maybe he's put a Restraining Bolt so they obey him, or he's just inept at leadership. Maybe Nigrisshi was a rival he purposefully weakened. Some of the robots could even have a Fusion Dance into an extremely powerful warrior, showing quality is better than quantity in this case. Most likely, the fighters are being Willfully Weak so they can get a reading on the opponents. That's why despite getting owned, the fighters haven't been pushed off the stage-they're more than capable of fighting and handling themselves, they just aren't ready. Plus it's about numbers-the team with the most numbers will survive, of which they have the second most. This is probably why they're focusing on Universe 7-as the team with the most numbers, they are the most threat. All they need is one or two more eliminations and they're set.

• Semi-confirmed: Individually they are still mostly joke characters, but four fighters end up fusing into someone so powerful half of Universe 7 has to combine their power to stop them.

Gogeta will appear.

While he's a Canon Foreigner so far, that could change considering Vegeta would know the fusion dance. The technique would still follow the rules of the tournament, and there'd be no Potara Rings at hand for the more powerful Vegetto. Why would he appear? As part of his further development, Vegeta will realize that Jiren is too strong to overcome and with Universe 7 at risk, he'll swallow his pride and ask Goku to do the stupid dance. Either being ready to use this or some other new technique/form is what Vegeta has been keeping secret. Even if it only lasts a minute or two, that's still a good episode of Gogeta.

• It's been hinted in previews that Kale and Caulifa will fuse via Porta, so it's a possibility that Vegito may also appear.
  • Jossed - no Fusion Dance was performed (since it's revealed that eliminating a Fusion counts as two eliminations - hence the reason why Goten and Trunks weren't brought onboard as Gotenks, and why Androids 17 and 18 didn't fuse into Android 35).

Dr Rota was a last minute edition.

Hence why he's a Joke Character. Champa already knew that Saiyans and Namekians were strong, but had no idea what other species or groups might be promising fighters. Like his brother he was panicking that he couldn't find a tenth fighter. Unlike his brother he already had a Frieza type and doesn't know he could get Backup from Otherworld, so he just picks a random fighter and doesn't care how strong they are, so long as he has ten fighters and doesn't get disqualified/erased right away. Dr Rota was filler, which is why he didn't react when he inevitably got knocked out. He's probably not the only God of Destruction who got some rando to qualify.

Vegeta will unlock a new Super Sayian Blue form.

It's already hinted in the 10th end credits. As to what it is?

• Mastered Super Sayian Blue (as in the manga)
• Super Sayian Blue 2
• A different form of Ultra Instinct (Perhaps Ultra Instinct but he has to be in SSB, unlike Goku who is in base form while in Ultra Instinct)
  • Confirmed. It's Super Saiyan Blue Evolved.

Vegeta will win and will wish to revive the all the universes erased by the Zenos.

Which will bring back all the universes erased in the Tournament of Power, as well as Universes 13 to 16, and Future Trunks universes that were erased by Future Zeno, however this will also bring back Infinite Zamasu.

• He could get around that by wishing "I wish everything the Zen'o have erased except those I hate back", which would also serve to prevent Frost from coming back. He did something similar in the Buu arc so Babidi wouldn't be revived, though it's unclear how that'd apply to the Future Timeline since it won't be erased for 16 years(and won't have to deal with Goku Black and Zamasu's genocide for 2).
  • Android 17 ended up winning and reviving the universes that were erased. But 13-18 are still gone.

Dr Rota has the ability to induce cardiac arrest.

He's an actual doctor, who has the ability to act as a walking defibrillator. His technique can stop and/or restart someone's heart, regardless of their species. That's how good he is. It's also why he was chosen for the team despite being a Joke Character-his technique is a Story-Breaker Power since everyone asides from the robots and Magetta has a circulatory system he can exploit. Hell, it would have even worked on Jiren if the timing was right. The one problem is that it takes time to charge the attack so it induces a heart attack. The no kill rule? As Frieza pointed out he's not responsible for what happens to someone outside the ring. Dr Rota's attack might kill them in a few minutes, if he pushes them out of the ring before they die or resuscitates them just before dropping them off the edge, it's not his problem. The big problem with this is that Dr Rota is a doctor first and foremost. The responses needed in a tournament aren't his forte, and got him knocked out as a result.

Dr Paparoni is evil.

He has a strong Mad Scientist vibe, and most of the time in this series they're evil like Dr Gero or Dr Myuu. He has some sort of mental control on his teammates, which is rarely a good thing. Chances are he's an evil Mad Scientist, the Dr Gero of his universe. However just because he's a villain doesn't mean he doesn't care about his universe, and is more Affably Evil and light-hearted. Nigrisshi was a heroic rival scientist he ensnared. The reason he suffered The Worf Effect is because Paparoni was being petty and used his control to turn off his enhancements. The Super Dragonballs would've been used for something nefarious like world domination. Ea and Mosco know he's a villain, but since he's not Frieza-level evil they're less worried about him.

People who die in the World of Void suffer a Cessation of Existence.

Despite planning to erase 70 of the participants, the two Zen'o have a no kill rule. This doesn't make much sense since it's not like they value individual or massive human life, and Frieza shows that you can "almost" kill people and knock them out with the same effect as killing people does-that is, a Curb-Stomp Battle that'd make it less interested and thus ruin their entertainment(not that they'd think that far ahead). Allowing killing wouldn't really affect it, it just means the team that wins(meaning survives) might have fatalities, which could be recovered with the Dragonballs. So why establish it anyway? Simple; someone dying in the Void means they are less than dead. It's outside space and time, there's no afterlife. And when people die, they end up in the closest afterlife. Frieza was in Earth's Hell, and Goku and King Kai(who should know how the afterlife works) expect Cell to be in their Snake Way rather than the one from Cell's timeline. As such, anyone who dies will suffer the same Cessation of Existence that the losers of the tournament would. Which is only what the losing team is meant to happen, not a potential member of the winning team. This is why Android 17 is not at the end of Z-dying in the Void means he no longer exists, and can never come back.

• Please, let this theory be wrong. I can't handle another Cruel Twist Ending.
• While we don't know for certain yet... it seems 17 is still alive, so we don't have to worry about that, at least.

The Tournament of Power is the set up for a series reboot.

Since it's quite likely Super is being prematurely canceled. It's quite likely that Goku getting knocked out and Jiren getting death beamed. Is a set up for a continuity reboot. This series has not shied away from controversial endings and huge body counts like the Future Trunks saga. And the Tournament of Power arc could be getting set up into a scenario similar to Stone Ocean Where the series got rebooted and continued in an alternate timeline.

• Possibly Jossed for now. Frieza saves Goku from getting eliminated.

Monaka will appear in the final episode in this arc.

Bulma will ask Beerus to invite him to Trunks' birthday party. So Beerus will invite him to the party, only for Monaka to refuse because he really is sick.

17's wish has also restored Universes 13 to 18

He's wished for all the universes that were erased to be restored. What if Super Shenron interpreted the wish as also including the six universes that, sometime in the past, were erased by Zen-O on a whim? It would open a lot of possibilities for new places, allies and enemies in future arcs. Just imagine if it was revealed the past erasure was, in fact, caused by a tournament similar to the one of this last Super arc, but that ended with the winner making a selfish wish and dooming his own universe too.

Universes 13 to 18 never existed.

The "he erased six universes" is actually a lie by Whis and the other angels. We only hear about it from him, and he's a Trickster Mentor. Sure, Beerus believes it, but Whis has probably existed long before he was even born. Possible before anyone in the current divine hierarchy existed. And it's not like its brought up again, even in the Tournament of Power. Zen'o might have been Obfuscating Stupidity and planned a Secret Test of Character longer than we think, so a story was started that he destroyed six universes in a fit of rage. By the time of Beerus, everyone believed it. That way Gods of Destruction have an incentive to behave and Zen'o is feared. There may have even been universes that were erased, but they were completely uninhabitable and mere exercises in power. Or he did destroy six of the twelve universes, got the angels to turn back time so they weren't destroyed and record it.

Universes 13 to 18 did exist.

The reason they weren't brought up isn't because Super Shenron didn't revive them-17 wasn't specific with what he wished for, and we know the dragons can be literal. Rather it's because these universes are a Fish out of Temporal Water-they've been non-existent for possibly millions of years rather than the <48 minutes of the losers of the tournament. The powers that be are trying to recover from the shock of being so out of date with the rest of the multiverse. The reason we don't hear of the angels from these universes is that they are either chilling in wherever the Grand Priest lives for all this time, or were erased as well because they were part of what made Zen'o mad enough to erase the six universes in the first place. Probably trying to turn the universes against them, which is why they weren't spared.

Future Zen'o is mainly responsible for the Tournament of Power. Spoiler alert for the ending.

The Secret Test of Character was a response to the Future Trunks' timeline and what Zamasu did. While Present Zen'o had the idea of judging the multiverse and see if it should be kept around, nothing severe enough had popped up. In the future timeline, the various incarnations of Zamasu ruined that multiverse and Future Zen'o was forced to Mercy Kill it. It made him more cynical and feel he needs to do something about the system pronto so the present multiverse doesn't end up being corrupted and hopeless. Future Zen'o suggested this to Present Zen'o, but they got distracted because they finally had an equal. When the Super Dragonballs were usable again, Goku told them of the tournament and it gave Present Zen'o the idea of how they would judge the multiverse. Initially it was going to include all 12 universes, but the Grand Priest pitched in and said they should focus on the universes with low mortal levels. If the lower universes prove virtuous, it means their virtue stands out even more. The Grand Priest claimed that Zen'o always planned on it because they didn't want Goku to be blamed for the multiversal Humanity on Trial (didn't work). That's the real reason why Universe 10 still exists 1000 years into the future-not necessarily because it was still Goku Black's timeline at that point and/or Zen'o would have eventually gotten around to it, but because he never had reason to do it. At least until something horrible happens, which is probably why Universes 13-18 were erased as suggested above.