WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the Dragon Ball Super manga, by Akira Toriyama, Toyotarou, Caleb Cook and Brandon Bovia, available now in English through Viz Media.
In a series as popular as Dragon Ball Super, there are always going to be fan debates about anything and everything. "Goku vs. Vegeta" is, by far, the most prominent debate in Super these days, and a recent poll by Viz Media shows that Vegeta has overtaken Goku as the series' most popular character amongst the fans. Fresh off his new, godly transformation in the battle against Granolah, Vegeta is finally getting the respect that his tremendous growth in Super deserves.
After his character arc from villain to anti-hero in Dragon Ball Z, the trend of Vegeta getting the most compelling growth continues in Super. Vegeta has gone from an anti-hero to a genuine hero, even more so than Goku. A family man who fights for his son refuses to leave his pregnant wife's side, keeps his promises and rights his past wrongs, Vegeta is truly his best self. Goku, on the other hand, has been a pretty stagnant character, only interested in battle, constantly putting the universe in danger and neglecting his loved ones.
While it may seem strange to harp on character development in a series about screaming and punching people, Vegeta's inarguably superior character arc is the real reason why he has surpassed Goku as a fan-favorite character. Vegeta has changed so much that his accomplishments are rewarding, whereas Goku has stayed the same, so his accomplishments only maintain the status quo.
One of the best things that Super has done for Vegeta's character is that he has stopped riding Goku's coattails when it comes to power-ups and new forms. The Tournament of Power was the first indication that the Saiyan Prince was finally beginning his own journey, declaring that Goku can keep his Ultra Instinct and that he will find his own strength. He then proceeded to achieve a new, more powerful level of Super Saiyan Blue that Goku has still never reached.
The fans' overwhelmingly positive reaction to Vegeta's new form in the manga, a result of his training under Lord Beerus in the ways of Destruction, is indicative of the problem of Vegeta following in Goku's footsteps, and why it's for the best that those days are over. In the past, it was certainly cool to see Vegeta achieve new forms as he caught up to his rival, but it was never surprising or overly exciting. There's nothing quite like the hype of a new form's debut in Dragon Ball, yet these dramatic and internet-breaking moments were always Goku's privilege, never Vegeta's.
What makes Vegeta's new form even more impressive is that he achieved it through training, as opposed to Goku's habit of reaching a new form when the plot requires it. It's still not entirely clear how absorbing the Spirit Bomb gave Goku the ability to move without thinking in the Tournament of Power, which makes his initial rise to the imperfect form of Ultra Instinct visually stunning, but kind of lame from a storytelling standpoint. However, unlike Goku, Vegeta wears Saiyan armor, not plot armor.
Dragon Ball Super has a tradition of Goku and Vegeta confronting a villain yet opting to take turns rather than fight together. Usually, Vegeta goes first and immediately has the place where his tail used to be handed to him so that Goku can observe and avoid making the same mistakes. For the second arc in a row in the Super manga, Vegeta gets some respect when Goku goes first to receive the inaugural spanking from the villain so that the Prince may fare slightly better during his own turn.
Fans of Dragon Ball Super have been clamoring for Vegeta to defeat a villain for ages. Even though Granolah is clearly not the villain of this arc, Vegeta stands poised to succeed where Goku spectacularly failed by defeating the universe's new strongest mortal. How Vegeta's new form stacks up against Granolah's is unclear for now, but win or lose, Vegeta has more than earned his time in the spotlight as Super's most popular character. As long as he doesn't do his infamous thumb gesture, he should be just fine.
