Web Video / Dragon Ball DC

"Goku and Superman. Heroes of the East and the West. Beings of immeasurable power. Fashion icons. Their influence on pop culture, animation and the comic book medium is of a magnitude few others could ever hope to reach. And as such, this has led to the two figures being compared. A lot. Both smiling alien refugees growing up with Earth as their adopted home world, saving the world as young men countless times, and attracting a group of similarly powerful friends through their example, bane of those with hair troubles, you get the idea. Pretty similar, but with some key differences that may not be initially apparent. So what if… they swap places? What would happen if the planet Krypton traded positions in the multiverse with planet Vegeta, leaving the Saiyan race in the DC Universe? Well, a lot would happen. Like, a lot."

Dragon Ball DC is a web video series that started off as What If? Saiyans Were In DC made by the youtube channel Geeks For Fun exploring the if the Saiyans from Dragon Ball were characters in the DC Universe. Very quickly it became the channel's most popular video series.

The series is divided into different sagas:

• Origins Saga: For decades, the Saiyans terrorized the universe until being destroyed by the hunter known as Rogal Zaar. But the destruction of Planet Vegeta was not the end for their race. One young Saiyan survived by being rocketed to Earth by his parents, where a kindly couple took him in. The others were cast adrift into the wide universe... and would meet a much darker fate...

• The Saiyan Saga: A Whole-Plot Reference to the Saiyan Saga of Dragon Ball, with Raditz, Nappa and Vegeta all attacking at once. Also starts the point where the series' narrator switches from calling the main character Goku to using his in universe name Kakarot Kent.

• The Entity Saga: With many heroes and countless innocent people dead, Kakarot and the surviving heroes embark into space in hopes of find the Emotional Entities and using them revive those who died. Along the way there are many adventures, and many perils.

• The Super Saiyan Saga: The people who died on Earth have been brought back to life, but Kakarot has been lost in space after his battle with Rogal Zaar. Thus he begins a trek through space, having new adventures as he goes. Back on Earth, Vegeta is beginning to question what he will do with his life after his defeat. To top it all of, Lex Luthor is campaigning for president and is planning to reveal a child Super Saiyan as the world's protector.

• The Doom Saga: After Kakarot's year-long jaunt through space, he finally returns to his home of Earth, where much has changed in his absence; Lex Luthor has taken the office of the US president, and Superboy has assumed the mantle of Earth's protector. But even as Kakarot is eager to return to his old life, a new complication arises: he's dying.

Along with these, the series has side videos;

• A Very Kakarot Christmas: A Christmas Episode with Kakarot spending the holidays with his friends.

• The Story Of A Pig: A story detailing when Kakarot was still on the Kents' farm and helped a small pig.

• The Jenny and Larfleeze Show: A podcast with Jenny Olson and Larfleeze. Hilarity Ensues.

Has a character page that is currently under construction.

Compare with Dragon Ball Steven which has a similar premise with the Dragon Ball characters and puts them in setting of Steven Universe.

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Dragon Ball DC provides examples of:

• Abusive Parent: Lex Luthor is this to Superboy. When talking about his appearance, he talks about how the boy should be look to make people trust him, having a discussion like he's talking about a machine, while Superboy is standing in the same room. When Superboy tries to ask questions, Luthor coldly rebuffs him. He does have some moments where he give his son a compliment but he's still very controlling.
• Adaptational Badass: Wonder Woman. While undeniably a badass normally, this series establishes a much greater gap between her and most other heroes on Earth with her actually managing to hold out against Vegeta, while most other heroes lost against Nappa and Raditz. During the Super Saiyan Saga when they spare, she still managed to fight him on equal terms since she had trained to keep up with the training he had been doing, though he was far more powerful than her as Super Saiyan.
  • While Kakarot ultimately loses against Vegeta, unlike in canon his Deadly Upgrade means he isn't suffering as a strong a Heroic RRoD and Vegeta actually needed to turn into an Oozaru to defeat him.
  • The Super Saiyan state itself is this. In canon it just acted as a power boost. Here it's power also allows the user to tap into the Emotional Spectrum without even using a Lantern Power Ring.
  • Word of God is that the entire Saiyan race is far more powerful without Frieza trying to make sure they don't become too hard to control and the greater number of alien races in the DC universe who can challenge them, leading to the Saiyans getting beaten back initially in their invasions but the survivors continously growing more powerful. We see this when Kakarot transforms into a Great Ape and nearly defeats a Green Lantern.
• Adaptational Heroism: Nappa, after his defeat and he's subjected to Lasso of Truth, he actually proposes the idea to Vegeta that they can live outside of serving Darkseid. Sadly he's killed by Vegeta for the suggestion.
  • Broly. The character wasn't evil in his movie but was still an Anti-Villain. Here due to meeting the main characters under different circumstances he is an ally from the beginning.
  • Paragus, despite initially appearing to be an Adaptational Jerkass, undergoes a Jerkass Realization and Heel–Face Turn.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Kakarot acts more heroic than his canon counterpart, the narrator comparing him to the more heroic depiction the original English dub of Dragon Ball Z.
  • Raditz is still evil, but in contrast to in canon where he was a Hate Sink who didn't think twice about murdering his own brother he has some redeeming traits. Here when tortured by Darkseid he was actually hoping for his brother to save him, and only grew to hate him because he never came.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: Kakarot's basic power set is still present, but the power up he gains in the Saiyan Saga is changed from using the Kaioken to the Wrath State. His teleportation is changed to tapping into the Violet Light to teleport to something he has a feeling of love towards.
• Adaptation Distillation: The death of Goku's adapted parental figure and him hitting his head are merged into one event where Kakarot turns into an Oozaru and unknowingly kills Jonathan Kent before he's reverted back to normal, during which he falls and hits his head.
• Adaptation Expansion: Raditz and Nappa have more fleshed out personalities than in canon.
• Adaptation Name Change: Son Goku is still referred to by his canon name by the narrator even though he notes that due to be adapted by the Kents, nobody would call him that in universe. By the Saiyan Saga when Goku accepts that he is a Saiyan and proudly states his name is Kakarot Kent, the narrator refers to him as Kakarot for the rest of the series.
• Adapted Out: Superman isn't present, with Kakarot taking up some of his traits.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Unlike in canon, Raditz's death is this. Kakarot tries to reason with him and convince him to leave Darkseid's service. Raditz is sadly too strongly indoctrinated, rejects the offer, and goes as far as using a seld destruct attack in failed attempt to kill Kakarot. After seeing Raditz die, Kakarot laments that he couldn't save his brother.
• All for Nothing: Rogal Zaar lived to exact revenge on the Saiyans. Seeing Kakarot, he threw everything he had in attempt to kill him, fighting him a planet with traps arranged to face any type of enemy. He even arranged for the planet to explode in the event of his death, but Kakarot escaped the planet, rendering that pointless.
• All-Loving Hero: Kakarot, naturally. He tries to befriend most everyone he comes across, and even tries to reason with Raditz and laments his death.
  • Wonder Woman is more intelligent variant. She is less naive than Kakarot but states she does love all things, and even expresses a desire to redeem Vegeta, even with her frustration with his stubbornness.
• Alternate Self: The start of the Saiyan Saga mentioned that among villains, Kakarot had fought this universe's version of the Crime Syndicate. Caulifla is also stated to be Kakarot's counterpart from her Earth.
• Alternate Universe: This is using the DC universe so it's to be expected. The start of the Saiyan Saga stated that the Justice League had battled the Crime Syndicate, which included a Mirror Universe version of Kakarot. During the Super Saiyan Saga, Kakarot saves an inhabitant of the Fifth Dimension from accidentally erasing the universe, and asks her to send him back to Earth... but since, from a fifth-dimensonal perspective, one Earth's as good as another, Kakarot ends up in this continuity's version of the DC Comics Bombshells universe, with a tough-talking Saiyan gangster named Caulifla and her girlfriend Kale fighting Nazis in the '40s.
• Always Someone Better: Like in canon, Vegeta proves this in his fight with Kakarot. Kakarot's use of the Wrath State lets him hold his own but ultimately Vegeta still wins by turning into an Oozaru. The form gives him the edge in power, and he doesn't lose his sense to it like Kakarot does.
  • Broly is implied to be this Kakarot. Kakarot initially thought he was this to Broly, until he got a feeling for how strong Broly was when he got angry and rethought it.
  • Vegeta suffered a Break the Haughty due to this from Darkseid. Darkseid allowed one of Vegeta's assassination attempts to succeed, only for Vegeta to realize he only killed an avatar. The true Darkseid was something he could never overcome, no matter how strong he became.
• Arc Words: Episode 2 of the Origins Saga has "Darkseid is." They occur every moment one of the Saiyans on Apokolips crosses the Despair Event Horizon, or in Vegeta's case, it causes him to cross it.
• Artifact Title: The series is called "Dragon Ball DC" due to crossing over Dragon Ball and the DC Universe, even though being set in the latter means the Dragon Balls don't appear.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The Wrath State. It grants Kakarot greater power when uses it, but it takes up ki to keep the form in check so he doesn't lose himself to it. On top of that the angry from it means he lacks the focus and finesse his attacks normally possess.
  • When experimenting with Super Saiyan transformation, Kakarot finds that like in canon he can power up to the point it increases his muscle mass. He finds the added bulk would slow him down too much, just like in canon, so he decides against using it. He does pull the ability out against Mongul because his anger made him loss control, but he was so far above Mongul that the lack of speed didn't matter.
  • Acting as a host for Emototional Entity. It grants a massive increase in power, but using that power quickly exhausts the host.
• Bait-and-Switch: When the Butcher breaks free in the Entity Saga is senses a host. Given Broly's anger at seeing Paragus side with Mongul, it looks like he will be the host. Instead it's Mera, thanks to her rage over her husband's death.
• Big Bad: Thus far we have had a different one for each saga.
  • Vegeta during the Saiyan Saga. Like in canon, he leads the Saiyans attacking Earth, with Darkseid acting as the Greater-Scope Villain.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: Rogal Zaar and Sinestro for the Entity Saga. Rogal Zaar sees one of the view surviving Saiyans out in space and seeks to kill him. Sinestro starts off as Sealed Evil in a Can before manipulating the heroes into allowing his release. The two villains have apparently worked together in the past, and when Sinestro is free he attempts to help Rogal Zaar kill Kakarot.
  • The Super Saiyan Saga lacked a character in this role. Villains appeared but none that acted as a villain for the entire saga.
• Beam-O-War: Vegeta's rage over Kakarot challenging him causing him to try to destroy the Earth, forcing Kakarot to push himself beyond his limit to stop him.
  • After training the Super Saiyan Saga, Kakarot and Kyle Rayner decide to test themselves with a nonlethal beam struggle. Kyle wins.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: To ensure Vegeta's obedience, Darkseid allowed one of his assination attempts to suceed. Then he showed his true nature to Vegeta, the evil that exists in the minds of every being across the universe. This showed Vegeta that he could never defeat Darkseidk, not matter how strong he became.
  • Kakarot wins his Beam-O-War with Vegeta, but his left with no more ki to keep the Wrath State in check so the power runs out of control and he is reduced to a mindless berserker. Vegeta in response transforms in a Great Ape, becoming too strong for Kakarot even in the Wrath State on top of being in full control of his actions.
  • Rogal Zaar kills Batman right in front of Kakarot. The sight of his friend's death causes him to transform into a Super Saiyan and crush Rogal Zaar. Even Rogal Zaar's last gambit where the planet he was one would explode in his death failed as Kakarot teleported off it.
  • Aquaman dies fighting Nappa, but managed to make him bleed, allowing Batman to defeat him with an injection of nanites.
  • While Batman's plan was able to defeat Nappa, the Powered Armor he brought was destroyed.
• Bullying a Dragon: Broly is kept in check by Paragus being held prisoner by Mongul. Paragus in turn, like in canon, uses a shock collar on Broly when he feels he gets out of line, and after Broly helped Flash and Mera steal the Butcher, Paragus had him tortured. Mongul points out that none of these things have any effect on Broly, his submissive is entirely voluntary and if he were to stop bending over for Paragus he could easily kill him and Mongul.
  • The Injustice Gang forms in the Super Saiyan Saga to kill Vegeta, arguing he deserves to die for what he did in the Saiyans' attack on Earth. A group of Earth supervillain whose underlings destroyed a major city and killed members of the Justice League. The group did come prepared with members who no physical forms of attack but when those were first used on Vegeta they had no effect. The only reason he didn't kill Scarecrow for attempting such an attack was because the armor put on him by the Amazons restrained him with more force if he thought about killing someone.
• Cerebus Rollercoaster: Just like Dragon Ball.
  • The Origins Saga starts off with a mostly fun story with its version of Goku growing up on Earth in the DC Universe, though it does have a couple serious moments. When it covers the backstory for the other three Saiyans, it is far more serious.
  • The Saiyan Saga is mostly serious. Kakarot is nearly murdered by Raditz, the Saiyans ravage the Earth, killing millions, including some superheroes, before they are narrowly defeated.
  • The Entity Saga swings between the two ends of the Sliding Scale of Silliness vs. Seriousness. The actual search for the Entities starts off lighthearted with the heroes running into Larfleeze and Kakarot befriending him. Once Flash and Mera travel to War World, the arc gradually gets more serious, with Batman dying against Rogal Zaar.
  • The Super Saiyan Saga is mostly lighthearted when focusing on Kakarot's adventures in space, though it does get more serious in his encounter with Mongul. Vegeta's half on Earth is far more serious.
• Composite Character: Kakarot Kent takes up roles of both the canon Son Goku and Superman, being raised by the Kents and becoming the hero of Metropolis.
  • Superboy is one of Son Gohan, being a young but powerful Saiyan, and obviously of Comic Book/Superboy with his name. He also takes one traits from the Son Gohan from Dragon Ball Z Abridged with his Badass Bookworm traits.
• Cool Versus Awesome: Batman is possessed by Parallax in the Entity Saga, forcing Kakarot to stop him. This leads to clash of martial arts between an enhanced Franchise/Batman and Son Goku.
• Creating Life Is Bad: Averted. Kakarot comes across a planet that was a lifeless rock until Kyle Rayner used his White Lantern Ring to create life on it. This is presented as a scene of wonder and a show of his new power.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The Saiyans dish out this to everyone they come across in the Saiyan Saga, Nappa only being defeated thanks to a trick by Batman.
  • Kakarot, after learning to unlock power from All Yang, dishes out one against Raditz. He is later on the receiving end of one from Oozaru Vegeta.
  • Broly is introduced doing one in Mongul's Gladiator Games, beating a villain an opponent who had previously given Wonder Woman a tough fight. We later learn that all of Broly's matches were this, every single opponent unlucky enough to step into the ring with him had been defeated in a single blow.
  • Once Kyle Rayner gets a feeling for using his powers, he delivers one to Sinestro thanks to Ion's power, sending him flying into space.
  • Kakarot is initially facing this from Rogal Zaar, until Batman's death causes him to become a Super Saiyan. After this the fight is completely one sided in his favor, Rogal Zaar can't hit him, only managing a hit when Kakarot allowed it to demonstrate that even if his blows could connect he couldn't hurt him. The fight is so bad that Rogal Zaar chooses to kill himself to prevent Kakarot from doing so.
  • Kakarot dishes out an even more brutal one on Mongul, his rage causing him to transform into the Awesome, but Impractical bulkier Super Saiyan form. The lack of speed makes no difference because Mongul is too outclassed to actually do any damage.
• Deadpan Snarker: The Lemony Narrator.
• Death by Adaptation: Batman.
  • The Kents. Jonathan is killed by Kakarot during his rampage as an Oozaru, and Martha dies of old age.
• Decomposite Character: Frieza's role in split between Rogal Zaar and Darkseid;
  • Rogal Zaar takes the role of the villain who exterminated the Saiyans, and acts as the villain during the series equalivent of the Namek Saga, right down to killing a friend of Goku's, and causing him to become a Super Saiyan.
  • Darkseid acts the Evil Overlord who the surviving Saiyans served under.
• Despair Event Horizon: All three Saiyans brought to Apokolips suffer this;
  • Raditz is sent to Granny Goddness's Orphanage of Fear as a boy where he's subjected to her various forms of torture. He knew his brother was still alive and called out hoping he would save him, but he no resuce ever came. In time this caused Raditz to envy and despise his Kakarot for getting sent to a comfortable life on Earth while he suffered on Apokolips.
  • Nappa was sent to Darkseid's Gladiator Games. When he thanked Darkseid for giving him the chance to fight, Darkseid cut his tail off to remind of his place.
  • Vegeta was raised as Darkseid's son, who beat him on a regular basis to force him to accept his role as Darkseid's servant. Vegeta attempted to kill Darkseid every day, until one day Darkseid allowed him to suceed. Only to show him that what he killed was just an avatar while giving showing Darkseid's true nature. Seeing that Darkseid was something he could never surpass with any amount of training, Vegeta submitted to his will.
• Driven to Suicide: Rogal Zaar during his fight with Kakarot. Realizing that he has no chance of beating Kakarot as a Super Saiyan, he kills himself to avoid the shame of a much hated Saiyan killing him. Kakarot allows it, not caring how the villain died.
• Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Planet Vegeta is destroyed through unspecified means at the start of the series, the hint being that Rogal Zaar's case to the rest of the universe convinced the higher powers to do it.
  • At the end of the Entity Saga, Rogal Zaar had the planet Sinestro lured Kakarot to rigged to explode in the event of his death. After he took his own life, the planet exploded.
• Entertainingly Wrong: When Kakarot wakes up at the start of the Super Saiyan Saga, he sees the beautiful scenery around him and assumes he's dead an in heaven. When he hears Mogo's voice, he assumes it's coming from a tree. Mogu is amused before revealing he's the entire planet that Kakarot is standing on.
• Fantastic Racism: Most the universe despises Saiyans for their atrocities. So much so that even though Kakarot hadn't attacked them, the Thanagarians and Tameranians form a coalition to kill him, which ironically leads to them nearly destroying themselves when one of their weapons almost killed their sun until Kakarot reignited it.
  • The attack by the Saiyans has led to most of Earth despising them, especially with Lex Luther driving up the sentiment.
• For Want Of A Nail: The Son Goku of this universe develops into a more heroic character due to his different experiences in this universe.
• Fusion Fic: Of Dragon Ball and the DC Universe with the characters from the former being moved into the latter, and some elements of the Dragon Ball universe being absorbed in the DCU.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Darkseid. He sent the Saiyans to Earth, and the danger he poses remains a threat that hangs over Vegeta, but thus far he hasn't gotten directly involved in the plot.
• Humanoid Abomination: Darkeid. He appears as alien dictator, but he is in truth every evil thought and act that pervades the universe. Vegeta painfully admitted that no matter what he did, he could never surpass him, and even when still on Earth, he is not truly free from Darkseid.
• Humans Need Aliens: It's a Fusion Fic of two franchises that lived and breathed this trope, so it's to be expected.
• I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: APOKOLIPS. The planet's name is a spelling for the end of the world. It's every bit as bad as it sounds, life there is hell even for Saiyan.
  • War World. It's not a planet sized warship like in the comics, but it's still not a place with an inviting name.
• Inspite Of A Nail: Some things that happened in canon still happen;
  • Nappa is still killed by Vegeta.
  • Kakarot choses not to return to Earth as soon as he can.
• Irony: Lex Luthor uses the alias SUPERMAN after his supposed Heel–Face Turn. Superman's Arch-Enemy is using his name.
• Jerkass Has a Point: When Luthor is quizzing Superboy in the Super Saiyan Saga one what to do in response to a disaster, one question Superboy gets wrong is what to respond to first. He assumes it's save people in danger, but the answer Luthor was looking for was saving the buildings, pointing that normal emergency respondents can save people but only he has the power to save entire buildings. He is callus about it, especially since he is disappointed Superboy got even question wrong, but he has a point.
• Jerkass Realization: Paragus seeing Kakarot, the Super Saiyan of legend, talk Broly out of killing him, causes him to question everything he believed in about his own values. He realizes what a terrible father he had been and admits he deserved to die.
  • Vegeta has this when trying to say he deserves Wonder Woman, while holding the Lasso of Truth. Instead he is forced to accept that he deserves nothing.
• Knight of Cerebus: The Origins Saga starts off mostly lighthearted and fun when covering Kakarot's backstory. Once it gets the other Saiyans, it gets much more serious.
  • One an individual character basis, Vegeta is this. Even after his defeat, very few moments with have any sort of levity on top of him being a Jerkass who, initially, cares about nothing but himself. Moments that set up his Character Development are especially emotional.
  • Mongul. Prior to him the Entity Saga was a mostly fun MacGuffin hunt where the first obstacle encountered was Larfleez, who Kakarot was able to befriend instead of fighting. Mongul on the other hand is introduce as a tyrant ruling a planet, and his introduction is followed up by the audience meeting Broly and learning of his dark backstory. He proves this again when he appears in the Super Saiyan Saga for much the same reasons. On top of that he traps Kakarot in a Lotus-Eater Machine which he knew caused him a great of pain to come out of, and he relished it.
• Large Ham: A hat for the Saiyans, sans Broly, though they are nothing next to Larfleeze.
• Lemonynarrator: The narrator is a Deadpan Snarker who lampshades a lot of things.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: The Black Mercy. When Kakarot is subjected to it, he's experiencing a world where both Kents are still alive, and he's living a family life with them and Raditz, whose made a Heel–Face Turn and joined the family.
• The Man Behind the Man: Lex Luthor is implied to have formed the Injustice Gang to kill Vegeta.
• Mythology Gag: Batman defeats Nappa using microscopic robots that convince him he's locked in a battle with an unbeatable adversary, just like with his contingency plan for Wonder Woman in JLA: Tower of Babel.
  • The Saiyan Saga is a Whole-Plot Reference to the Saiyan Saga in Dragon Ball.
    • Right at the start, Kakarot suffers a Curb-Stomp Battle from Raditz.
    • Aquaman loses a hand fighting Nappa, just like Tien died, and later dies from his injuries.
    • Batman arrives to help against Nappa using the same Powered Armor he used in Batman: Endgame. Just like that story, it's turned to scrap, but allows Batman to employ his plan to beat his enemy.
    • Nappa is killed by Vegeta after he's defeated.
    • Kakarot returns more powerful than ever, shocking the villains and delivering a Curb-Stomp Battle, though this time it's against Raditz instead of Nappa.
    • Kakorot's fight with Vegeta plays out beat for beat the way it did in canon, with Vegeta having the upper hand at first and Kakarot having use the Wrath State where his counterpart used the Kaioken. The attacks gives bursts of power but he starts to suffer from the Heroic RRoD. Vegeta's Villainous Breakdown causes him to attempt to blow up the entire planet, forcing Kakarot into a Beam-O-War to stop him. Like in canon, Kakarot wins, but at the cost of pushing himself too far, and worse, Vegeta turns into a Great Ape and defeats him.
  • The Entity Saga has the main characters going into space to try on a hunt that will allow them to bring back those who died in the Saiyans' attack on Earth, just Dragon Ball's Namek Saga.
    • Kakarot becomes the host for Adara and launches massive blast reminiscent of the Spirit Bomb at Rogal Zaar, blasting a giant hole in the ground. Just like when the Spirit Bomb was used against Frieza, it's a Hope Spot, only slowly him down.
    • Batman is killed by Rogal Zaar, and the anger from it causes Kakarot to become a Super Saiyan. Just like how Krillen's death at Frieza's hands in the Namek Saga caused Goku to become a Super Saiyan.
    • The planet Kakarot fought the villain on explodes and he narrowly escapes after defeating the villain.
  • During the Entity Saga, Wally West references how he was formerly the sidekick to Barry Allen, taking over after his death, like how Wally did after Barry's death in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
  • The Super Saiyan Saga sees Mongul use the Black Mercy on Kakarot, who finds himself in a dream world with his ideal life. Just like how Mongul used the same trick on Superman in For the Man Who Has Everything. He even has the same dialogue when explaining what he did and is trapped by the Black Mercy himself.
  • Kakarot chooses not to return to Earth as soon as he could.
  • Like in the comics, Lex Luthor runs a campaign to become president of the United States of America. By the end of the Super Saiyan Saga, he's been elected and sworn into office.
  • Kakarot's journey through space in the finale of the Super Saiyan Saga has number of nods to All-Star Superman.
    • The main character is a Showy Invincible Hero.
    • Kakarot meets the time travelers Samson and Atlas, who don't think much of him at first until he inflicts a, albiet non lethal, Curb-Stomp Battle on them like Superman did.
    • Like Superman, Kakarot flies into a star to keep it from going out.
  • At the start of the Doom Saga, Kakarot learns that he is dying from a virus, just like at the start of the Cell Saga.
• Never Hurt an Innocent: Rogal Zaar appears to operate on this trope, trying minimize the death of civilians in his pursuit of the Saiyans. But ultimately subverts it as he does decide to kill him when Kyle insists on standing in his way of killing Kakarot, simply out of annoyance.
• Not His Sled: After his defeat in the Saiyan Saga, Vegeta attempts to escape back to Apokolips, with Wonder Woman standing ready to kill him like Krillen was in the canon Saiyan Saga. She is talked out of killing him, but unlike in canon, Vegeta chooses not escape because returning in failure means he will be subjected to the Omega Sanction.
  • The Super Saiyan Saga sees Broly stop taking Paragus' abuse and is about crush his father in the space ship he was attempting to escape in, just like how the original Broly killed Paragus in Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan. But he's talked out of it by Kakarot at the last minute.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Rogal Zaar. He was created to destroy the Saiyans and avenge races they exterminated, and was going after a race who was a threat to the universe. But during the Entity Saga, he is trying to kill Kakarot, and innocent Saiyan who hasn't hurt anyone. And when a powerless Kyle Rayner stands in his way, Rogal Zaar eventually loses his patience and tries to kill him. After Batman dies taking a hit aimed at Kakarot, the enraged Saiyan asks how many people have to die before Rogal Zaar is satisfied, and he states he will kill as many as it takes.
• Odd Friendship: Quite a few emerge due to the nature of the crossing of franchises;
  • Kakarot befriends Batman and Wonder Woman in Origins. The Entity Saga sees him add Larfleeze and Kyle Rayner.
  • The Entity Saga also sees Wally West befriend Broly.
• Outside-Context Problem: The Doom Saga has the Riddler menace Gotham City again. Par the course. Something unexpected is that he's teamed up with Titano and an evil speedster named Godspeed. Both are established menaces to the DC universe but they are far from the type villains who ussually terrorize Gotham. If the Saiyans weren't present, Riddler's plan would suceeded.
• Ring of Power: The Green Lantern Ring (formerly a Trope Namer that is now disambiguated) appears, along with its Evil Counterpart. The Super Saiyan Saga states that the other Lantern Corps have started to emerge.
• Ship Tease: The Origin Saga teased the possibility of romance with Kakarot and Wonder Woman, but then her love interest Steve Trevor was introduced.
  • Kakarot has since had this with Lady Shiva, with him using The Power of Love to teleport back Earth.
• Shout-Out: The series makes some nods to Dragon Ball Z Abridged.
  • When Vegeta faces the Injustice Gang in The Super Saiyan Saga, the narration state their bad jokes were about the most damage any of the earthlings had done to him since he faced te Justice League, in a knod to Vegeta's fight with Semi-Perfect Cell when Vegeta admitted a legimately clever insult by Cell was the closest thing to damage he had done the entire fight.
  • Gohan takes on his genius intellect from the agribged series
  • In Gohan and Kakarot's fight, Kakarot at one point dodges a series of punches, which causes the increasingly frustrated Gohan to exclaim "STOP DODGING" in a reference to the Running Gag where Abridged Gohan was "trained" by his instructors exclaiming "DODGE" before hitting him.
  • The Doom Saga sees King Kong Copy Titano climb up Wayne Tower in a moment that the narrator even states is something right out of King Kong. In order to fight him, Damian brings out a giant robot Tyrannosaurus rex name Juliet, leaing to a Primate Versus Reptile Behemoth Battle referencing the, at the time of airing, upcoming MonsterVerse Godzilla vs. Kong. Juliet even uses Mighty Roar of the Monsterverse Godzilla.
• Sorting Algorithm of Evil: So far subverted to the point of being inverted. Vegeta, the first Arc Villain in the series, was too powerful for Kakarot was only defeated thanks to the aid of his allies an unexpected help from Lex Luthor. None of the opponents encountered in the Entity Saga proved as strong, Rogal Zaar was noted outright to be weaker than Vegeta. Instead the threat he posed came from him employing hit and run attacks while utilizing a number of traps and gadgets he prepared. But by the time most of Kakarot's allies arrived to help against him, they were weak from taking part in fights to obtain the rest of the Entities. The Super Saiyan Saga lacked any villains who posed a physical threat to Kakarot, the closest brush he had to with death came from when he reignited the sun of the Thanagarians and Tameranians, after their attempts to kill him nearly destroyed it.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Paragus isn't killed like in his two anime incarnations. Broly is about to kill him, but Kakarot talks him out of it.
  • Raditz and Nappa do die in the Saiyan Saga, but are brought back to life at the end of the Entity Saga.
• Wham Episode: Due to the short number of episodes, many.
  • Saiyan Saga Episode 1, the Saiyans have attacked, and many of Earths heroes have been killed.
  • Saiyan Saga Episode 2, Kakarot has returned with greater power and defeats Raditz. Nappa is killed by Vegeta. Vegeta himself is taken down by combined efforts of Lex Luther and the Justice League, and choses to remain on Earth to avoid punishment from Darkseid. And at the end, Kyle Rayner shows up saying he knows how to revive everyone killed by the Saiyans.
  • The Entity Saga Episode 2, Sinestro manipulates Kyle Rayner, Kakarot and Batman into freeing him and takes Hal Jordan's ring from Kyle. And Rogal Zaar was on the planet he lured them to.
  • The Entity Sage Episode Finale, all of the emotional entities are gather and Kyle Rayner revives everyone who died in the Saiyan Saga including Nappa and Raditz. Batman is killed by Rogal Zaar which drives Kakarot to become a Super Saiyan. While he defeats Rogal Zaar the planet was rigged to explode in the event of his death. With Kakarot's appearant, Lex Luther is revaled to have this universe's version of Gohan as his son and plans to make him the new protector of Metropolis.
  • The Super Saiyan Saga Episode 3, Vegeta is left alone with the Lasso of Truth and admits he cares about Wonder Woman. When trying state he deserves her while holding the lasso, he instead is forced to say that he deserves nothing. The moment causes him to become a Super Saiyan.
  • The Super Saiyan Saga Finale, Kakarot returns to Earth, and Vegeta actually seems to be considering Diana's offer about turning over a new leaf. Lex Luther has been elected president and is sworn into office. Superboy is no longer a secret, revealing himself to the public at Luther's inaguration.
  • The first episode of the Doom Saga reveals that Kakarot is dying from a virus he contracted during his travels in space.
• World of Badass: It's the DC Universe. Word of God is that due to being such a World of Badass with more enemies could challenge the Saiyans, they all grew much stronger than in canon.
• Would Not Hurt A Child: The Green Lantern sent to Earth to investigate a Saiyan decides to leave Kakarot alive after cutting off his tail and seeing that he was just a baby.
• Worf Had the Flu: Kakarot's friends arrive to help him against Rogal Zaar, but since they are all worn out from the fights to obtain the Entities, they aren't able to provide enough help to win and are forced to retreat back to Earth.

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