WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Dragon Ball Super Chapter 77, "Bardock, Father of Goku," by Akira Toriyama, Toyotarou, Caleb Cook and Brandon Bovia, available now in English through Viz Media.
In the grand scheme of the Dragon Ball franchise, there's not a lot we know for sure about Bardock, Goku's father. Both the non-canon Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - Father of Goku movie from 1990 and the "Dragon Ball Minus: The Departure of the Fated Child" story in Jaco the Galactic Patrolman revealed a very specific slice of the Saiyan's life, showing how he came to send Goku to Earth. Now, though, the Dragon Ball Super manga has given fans their best look yet at Bardock -- and he's pretty much just Goku.
Dragon Ball Super Chapter 77 deals with Freeza and the Saiyans conquering Planet Cereal. Initially, the Saiyans arrive in their Great Ape forms. Among them is Bardock. Overall, Bardock doesn't seem to do a whole lot in the battle. However, he does end up spotting Muezli and her son -- Granolah -- hiding in a church. When he goes to approach, a Cerealian destroys the moon, forcing all the Saiyans to revert back to their regular form. Still, the Saiyans continue killing people until only Muezli, Granolah and a Namekian named Monaito remain.
Bardock approaches Muezli and Granolah. She responds by attacking him, and this causes Bardock to flashback to sometime prior, when he returns home to see his wife, Gine. She berates Bardock for having been gone for so long that he missed the birth of his son. Bardok remarks, "Oh! That explains why your tummy's flat again." They then name this new child Kakarrot.
Once Bardock snaps out of his memory, he decides to cover for Muezli and Granolah. He brings them to Monaito in hopes of protecting them from death. Soon, the story jumps back to the present day, and everyone confirms that, yes, Bardock was Goku's father. Vegeta even notes, "In any case, your soft-hearted nature clearly runs in the family."
It's clear Bardock is more than just physically similar to Goku. Instead, they share a desire to help others, even if Bardock's desire to do good isn't as advanced as Goku's due to his upbringing and he's a bit rougher around the edges. However, the two also seem to share another pretty hilarious similarity: They're terrible fathers. Goku has become somewhat infamous over the years for being a bad dad, so much so that other characters have called him out for how he neglects his family in favor of training. Gine berating Bardock for missing the birth of his son sounds exactly like interactions that Goku has had with Chi-Chi. So when it comes to Bardock and Goku, the father is definitely like the son.
Dragon Ball Super Chapter 78 releases on Nov. 19 in English through Viz Media.
