If you’re a Dragonball addict like me, then there’s a good chance that you’ve had your spirts lifted and genitals tickled at the revelation that the manga has started up a brand new arc!
The Galactic Patrol Arc began recently, picking up the action right after the events of the Tournament of Power that gave up the grey alien-inspired and overpowered Jiren. Without time for a break, series heroes – and men who don’t understand the term “rest day” – Goku and Vegeta are confronted by the Galactic Patrol who are often mentioned but barely seen throughout Super with only the “super-elite” Jaco appearing in the early arcs… So these space boy scouts rock up and take away the sleeping Majin Buu, insisting that they need the Supreme Kai trapped within him who hard-core fans will know is the reason that Buu is the tubby happy creature he is. The reason for this unsolicited holiday to space? The greatest enemy of the Kai’s has returned.
After beating around the bush for a while about this enemy we finally got a name and some back story. Moro, a terrifying presence in the galaxy – Moro is introduced as a dark magic user and a prisoner for the Galactic Patrol for the past 10,000,000 years after he was defeated by the combined might of the 2 strongest Kai of the time. Now you may be thinking ‘why wasn’t he just executed then and there if he was so evil’? Well the simple answer is that they couldn’t… He’s too strong for them, and keeping him held is only possible because he couldn’t access his full powers.
You see Moro has a unique energy source in that he EATS THE LIFE ESSENCE OF PLANETS! That’s right, Dragonball has introduced their own version of Marvel’s largest villain, Galactus. The new boy, however, does have a fairly unique design from the classic world-eater, with Moro being possibly based on occult figure Baphomet. With his goat horns and legs, and a body covered in shaggy fur, it’s clear that the manga is going for a very satanic vibe to pair up with his use of dark magic in a break from the usual Dragonball villains, who lean into sci-fi designs and just using energy attacks; Moro is promising to bring a lot of new ideas to the table that haven’t been touched properly. Obviously to fans of the series, the last time we saw a magic user it was Babadi, a wrinkled green prune in a cape who used his magic to revive Majin Buu, and perhaps most famously brainwash Vegeta into the angry and very vengeful Majin Vegeta… So magic is coming back in a big way and it looks like it’s going to mess with the heroes in ways they can’t easily stop.
Let’s compare Moro against the last big bad, Jiren, then. The ‘roided power ranger was the first time that both Goku and Vegeta have been utterly dominated by an opponent, with only Goku’s timely usage of Ultra Instinct turning the tide and weakening him enough to be defeated by the strange tag team of Goku and Frieza… So Jiren represents the pinnacle of physical strength and Ki; Moro on the other hand so far seems to be relying more on his intelligence and magical abilities having avoided direct combat – It should be noted though that he’s clearly physically powerful as no one has been able to kill him in 10,000,000 years, and not for lack of trying! So far some examples of Moro’s abilities have been his creation of a Spirit Bomb-esque ball of energy which he made after draining New Namek’s life force, however, after making this ball, rather than throwing it like Goku would, he absorbed it and became a much greater challenge to Vegeta during their battle, proving that as he absorbed life energy his power rises dramatically!
Following this revelation, Vegeta tried to up the game and turn Super Saiyan to even the odds, but found he couldn’t muster the energy to trigger the form; it was Goku who realised that Moro was also draining their energy, not just the planet’s. This to me is the real threat that the evil space goat represents, since there hasn’t been a villain yet that the pair can’t transform to fight, and taking this safety net of power away is a crushing blow!
With his tricky magic and unique powers, I’d say that, while he’s not as much of a direct threat like Jiren was, Moro is still a terrifying creature and will probably continue to give the Saiyans trouble… Especially after it was shown that his motive on New Namek was to gather the Dragonballs and wish himself to be back to his prime… He’s already a monster! Imagine the boost in strength he’ll attain with his young body back! I can’t wait!