WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Dragon Ball Super Chapter 78, "Gas's Wish", by Akira Toriyama, Toyotarou, Caleb Cook and Brandon Bovia, available now in English through Viz Media.
Up until now, the Heeters have acted on the periphery of Dragon Ball Super's Granolah the Survivor arc. While their machinations kickstarted the arc's plot, pitting Granolah and the Saiyans against each other, they've done so from the shadows, preferring to scheme and plot rather than engage directly in combat.
All that changes in Chapter 78, "Gas's Wish", in which the interstellar crime family finally makes a move. Elec, the Heeters' leader, makes a wish courtesy of the Cerealian Eternal Dragon, Toronbo, to make his younger brother Gas the strongest in the universe -- the same wish Granolah previously made. After this, Gas heads to the battlefield, making quick work of Goku, Vegeta and Granolah courtesy of his newfound power.
The ensuing showcase of Gas' new strength makes him one of modern Dragon Ball's most intimidating villains. Able to apparate ki-imbued weapons, Gas's fighting style is merciless as he goes for the kill multiple times against the heroes. It takes all the waning strength they can muster to defend against his savage attacks.
Gas marks a major change of pace from the usual Dragon Ball villain who likes to toy with their opponent, often enjoying the thrill of battle as much as our heroes do. For Gas, the matter is solely business -- he's got a job to do, and he'll do it as efficiently as possible.
However, it's not Gas's fighting style that makes the Heeters some of the most loathsome villains in the entire franchise -- it's the actions of his older brother, Elec. Despite Chapter 78's title, the wish in question is Elec's more than anybody else's. When he discusses the matter with Gas, the latter makes it clear he's happy as he is and doesn't require the wish to finish the job.
Elec insists otherwise, pressuring Gas into going along with things by playing to the younger brother's desire to be useful to his family. It's an insidious piece of manipulation on Elec's part, but what makes it worse is the condition of the wish. As Granolah discovered when he made his own wish, becoming the strongest came at a cost -- he was forced to sacrifice the majority of his own lifespan to attain such power.
Thanks to this condition, Elec has now doomed his brother to an early grave, all for the sake of safeguarding his own position. Elec plays the part of a caring older brother, but really he's all too happy to sacrifice his siblings to achieve his goals, whether they want him to or not.
What makes Elec especially loathsome is that aside from him, the Heeters genuinely seem to care about each other and their duty to their eldest brother. Up until this point, they didn't seem completely irredeemable. Elec's actions changed all that, making it clear that familial love has no place in the Heeter Force -- except as a means of manipulation. Like their rivals the Frieza Force, all that matters is attaining raw strength, no matter the cost.
It's taken a long time -- nearly an entire year in the real world -- for the Heeters to come to the forefront of Dragon Ball Super as villains, and now that they've taken center stage, they certainly don't disappoint. Between their previous actions and now Chapter 78's multiple turns, Dragon Ball fans are sure to remember the diabolical siblings as some of the most detestable antagonists across the series' long history.
