Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero's place in the series timeline was confirmed during its New York Comic Con 2021 panel.
Akio Iyoku, an executive producer from Shuiesha, the production company responsible for the Dragon Ball manga and its various spinoffs, attended the convention via live video feed. He confirmed that the upcoming film would take place after the events of 2018's Dragon Ball Super: Broly and prior to the 28th World Martial Arts Tournament, known in Japanese as the Tenkaichi Budokai.
Iyoku added that the "Granolah the Survivor Saga" was still ongoing in the Dragon Ball Super manga, and did not specify whether or not the film would take place before or after that particular arc.
The 28th World Martial Arts Tournament is colloquially known as the "End of Z" for capping off the saga of Goku and his friends in Dragon Ball Z. It features Goku clashing with Uub -- the peaceful reincarnation of his old enemy Majin Buu -- and deciding to train the boy to become Earth's next defender.
The "End of Z" technically occurs ten years after the fight with Majin Buu, leaving a large window of time open for unexplored Dragon Ball adventures. All of Dragon Ball Super's various storylines in both anime and manga form take place within this decade-long gap. The trailer of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero previewed at New York Comic Con showed some telltale hints firmly placing the movie within this time frame as well. One of these was a brief glimpse of Pan, the granddaughter of Goku, at about kindergarten age -- which is slightly younger than she appeared in the "End of Z." The other was a split-second appearance of the legendary Saiyan Broly, whom Goku befriended at the end of Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
Other returning characters in Dragon Ball Super: Super Heroes will include fan-favorites like Vegeta and Piccolo, who will train Pan in the martial arts, similar to how he trained Goku's son, Gohan. The movie will contain a mixture of elements from the series' past -- including the appearance of the Red Ribbon Gang from the original Dragon Ball -- as well as new characters, such as the mysterious Gamma 1 and Gamma 2.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero will be the 21st animated film in Akira Toriyama's long-running martial arts franchise. The movie is on schedule for a 2022 release in Japan, with an international debut planned soon afterwards.
Source: New York Comic-Con
