The Dragon Ball series has many fight scenes and with so much action going on it is only natural for some characters to face defeat, lose some parts of their body and even die.
Now, we all know just how strong the series’ characters were, and among such characters was Gohan, the son of Goku.
Not only was he one of the strongest characters of the series but he was also a prominent character. So, it was not a surprise that whenever Gohan would go on a battle, he would draw fans’ attention toward him.
Now, if you have been following the series, you might have come across the fact that in one of his battle, Gohan loses his arm.
Most of the fans are already familiar with Gohan losing his arm but what most don’t realize is the fact that it was not Gohan but his future counterpart from the alternate timeline.
In this article, we are going to discuss who exactly Future Gohan was and what happened to him to cost him his entire left arm.
Who was Future Gohan?
While most fans talk about Gohan, some are still confused over the fact that Future Gohan exists. Well, it is very understandable as he is from an alternate timeline.
Future Gohan (未み来らいの孫そん悟ご飯はん Mirai no Gohan) was the alternate timeline counterpart of Gohan that appeared in the timeline in which Future Trunks lived.
Showcased as a twenty-three-year man in Trunk’s original future timeline, Future Gohan was the only Z fighter, who survived the attack of the Androids 17 and 18.
Since most of the fighters were annihilated, Gohan tried to avenge the death of his friends, and even his father, Son Goku died of a heart virus, he was the only one Chi Chi had.
Gohan believed that the horror had to be stopped so to go up against the Androids he started to train Vegeta’s son, Trunks so that one day he would be strong and be of help.
How did he lose his arm?
Future Gohan lost his arm in his fight with Android 17 and Android 18 when trying to protect Trunks from their attack. So exactly what happened in the battle and how did he fall? To know exactly what happened, we have to look into their battle.
Future Gohan Vs. Androids
After Goku died due to the lethal virus, and the murders of the Dragon Team by the androids, Future Gohan realized that the Dragon Balls had become useless forever.
As the last survivor of the Z fighters, Future Gohan’s life altered drastically due to the death of Future Piccolo and Future Kami. The death of his friends sparked his transformation into Super Saiyan.
It was during The History of Trunks that one day the androids, Android 17 and Android 18, attacked the theme park, Super World while Gohan and Trunks just happened to be flying overhead.
Seeing the destruction caused by the androids, both Gohan and Trunk headed toward the park to battle them. However, once they reached the park, Gohan instructed Trunks to stay out of the fight.
After leaving Trunks to safety, Gohan transformed into his Super Saiyan form and quickly gained the upper hand despite getting a few hits from Androids 17. However, it was just a short victory as Gohan was overwhelmed promptly by Android 18’s intervention.
Seeing his mentor in trouble, Trunks quickly rushed towards the scene in an attempt to assist Gohan but things didnt go as planned as Trunk was soon targeted by Android 18.
In an attempt to finish Trunks, Android 18 delivered a powerful energy blast to the young warrior. However, before the powerful energy blast could even hit Trunks, Gohan quickly rushed in and took the attack for him, saving Trunks’ life.
After successfully saving Trunks from the energy blast, Gohan carried him and tried to find a place to hide. After searching for a while, Gohan along with an unconscious Trunks hid behind the ruins.
Meanwhile, the androids kept looking for them but couldn’t find them until they decided to bomb the entire area in hopes of driving them out.
The powerful bombing was enough to send the park in more rumbles, but Gohan managed to protect Trunks and stay hidden, but at the cost of his left arm, which got completely blown off in the bombing.
The combined powers of both the Androids were overwhelming as the bombing injured Trunks and even caused Gohan to lose his arm. However, Gohan had the chance to restore his arm using the Senzu Bean but gave it to Trunks, saving him from death.
After the fight, Trunks woke up and brought unconscious Gohan back to Capsule Corporation, where Bulma treated his wounds. The two soon resumed their training after they were healed, which pushed Trunk into becoming a Super Saiyan.
Did Future Gohan go against the Androids after losing his arm?
Gohan complimented Trunks on his improved skills, whereas Trunks exclaimed that it was a shame that Gohan didnt have his left arm from the earlier battle with the terrible Future Android 17 and Future Android 18, who had killed all of Gohan’s friends. Trunks’ father after Goku had died from a Heart Virus.
Nevertheless, Gohan was glad that he was alive and still able to fight. The first time when Future Gohan went up against the Androids, Gohan lost his left arm, and his student, Trunks was nearly killed. However, after some time the two went up against each other once again.
Gohan and the Androids went up against each other once again during the day of training when the androids attacked the nearby Pepper Town. Gohan prepared himself for the battle as Trunks begged him to fight alongside him.
However, because Trunks nearly lost his life in the last battle, Gohan knocked Trunks out to avoid Trunks being nearly killed again, or worse. With just one arm, Gohan headed toward the city alone and ambushed the androids.
Despite his handicap, Gohan was still able to put up a long and suspenseful fight against the combined power of the androids.
Did Future Gohan get his arm back?
No, he didn’t get his arm back. Future Gohan lost his arm after losing a battle with 17 and 18 while trying to protect Trunks.
While he had the Senzu Beans, which were able to heal any injuries and save lives, Gohan didn’t use them himself but rather gave them to Trunks. After the last bombing by the androids, both Gohan and Trunks were in critical condition, with Gohan losing one of his arms.
If he wanted, Gohan could have easily used the Senzu bean himself and restored his arms but because he cared so much for Trunks, he decided to give it to him so that he could avenge Gohan if something was to happen.
Also, because the Senzu Beans were not utilized so much and took a long time to grow for just a single Senzu, they were very rare and Gohan happened to have just one of them, which was the last one in the world as stated by one of the androids.
Senzu Beans (仙豆 Senzu, lit. “Hermit Bean”) are mystical beans with immense rejuvenation properties in the Dragon Ball franchise.
Did he die?
Going up against the Androids once again, Future Gohan tried his best to keep his defenses up. The androids were very strong as they kept on blasting the buildings, which kept on interrupting Gohan’s vision.
While Gohan was having a hard time trying to go up against the Androids, Android 17 complimented Gohan for surviving their last encounter over a year ago, but not minding 17, Gohan stated that he would destroy the Androids as his power had greatly risen since their last fight.
While admitting that they had only used their half-powers, both the androids, kept on blasting the city and knocking Gohan down. Even after knocking Gohan down, they continuously blasted him with continuous energy waves, which ultimately killed him.
While Gohan was fighting the androids, Trunks was left unconscious and upon waking up he soon realized that he couldn’t feel Gohan’s ki. Trunks searched the whole city only to find Gohan’s dead body lying in a pool of blood and water.
Trunks couldn’t believe what he saw, seeing his mentor’s dead body lying in front of him in a pool of blood, his rage burst out and he transformed into a Super Saiyan for the first time.
Now, the anime and the manga chapter are slightly different from each other. The first battle against the androids where Gohan got his first facial scar and severed his arms was never shown in the manga but Trunks was already able to transform into Super Saiyan.
Also in the manga, Android 18 never even joined the battle, and 17 alone killed Gohan before trunk was even able to awaken and find Gohan’s corpse in the debris. In the anime, during this scene, there was rain, and no rain was shown in the manga.
So, although Future Gohan appeared mostly in the flashbacks, his spirit was destroyed when Future Zeno erased Future Trunks’ timeline to eliminate Infinite Zamasu once and for all.
An image of Future Gohan appeared when Gohan arrived to wave Trunks goodbye, causing the latter to reminisce about the times he and Future Gohan shared.
Hence, even if he was eliminated from the current timeline, Future Gohan’s soul still existed in the second alternate future timeline created by Whis(in the anime) or Future Trunks (in the manga).
Did Future Gohan become the weak?
Before his death, Future Gohan was deemed one of the strongest characters in the entire series. When compared to his present counterpart, Gohan, they weren’t that far apart in strengths.
Although both of them were the same, the Present Gohan in the Cell Saga was superior because unlike the Future Gohan in the Android Saga, Present Gohan had trained with Goku and Piccolo for years.
However, after losing his arm Gohan still was believed to be stronger than Trunks at that moment but he wasn’t as good of a fighter as a fully healed and well-trained SuperSaiyan Trunks with both arms.
Also, in his mystic form, he was the strongest at the end of the DBZ but after the battle with the androids, he lost the ability to turn Super Saiyan 2 and was mercilessly defeated and killed by them.
Further, Future Gohan kept on losing many battles and even Tagoma was able to pierce him with a ki blast and Frieza could shoot ki blasts through his Super Saiyan Gohan.
So, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that after losing his arm, Future Gohan did get weak and eventually was killed because he couldn’t defeat stronger opponents.
Does the current Gohan also lose his arm?
While both Gohan and Future Gohan are the same, only just from a different timeline, their events differ from each other.
While the Future Gohan from the Android saga lost his left arm while protecting Trunks from the androids’ attacks, Present Gohan also lost his arm in his final battle with Cell.
But Present Gohan didn’t “actually” lose his arm like his future counterpart, but only lost the use of one arm when he went up against Cell, trying to save Vegeta from a blast that was aimed at him with intention of killing him.
So, it is very important to make it clear that it was the Future Gohan, who lost his arm but not Gohan, although he did lose the use of one arm.
Deemed to be the strongest in the whole anime series, losing one of his arms surely marked the downfall of Future Gohan, but still he was loved by many and is one of the most popular characters of the series till today.
While the story of Future Gohan ended with his death in the battle against the androids, fans can still see Gohan. Now with a new and stronger form, Gohan Beast, are fans excited to see Gohan? -They sure are.
