The popular video game Super Dragon Ball Heroes has been so successful that it has also inspired an anime series. This mini-anime features non-canonical adventures tying together all the various series and films with the wider Dragon Ball franchise. As fan-favorite characters take on powerful villains from different timelines and universes, the versions of Goku and the Z Fighters recruited by the Supreme Kai of Time's Time Patrol all bear the moniker "Xeno." Here is what that strange distinction actually means.
While the Time Patrol and Xeno Future Trunks revisit classic moments from across the Dragon Ball franchise -- including those no longer considered canon, like the multitude of Dragon Ball Z movies and the entirety of Dragon Ball GT -- the adventures of the Time Patrol technically take place in an entirely different continuity. The Time Patrol and Xeno iterations of the characters were introduced in the 2010 video game Dragon Ball Online and would go on to play a prominent role in Dragon Ball Xenoverse and Dragon Ball Heroes. And as fan-favorite characters like Xeno Goku and Xeno Vegeta joined the Time Patrol to protect the growing number of timelines from evil threats, the nature of their reality's connection to the main Dragon Ball continuity is right there in the "Xeno" name.
Xeno, not to be confused with Zeno, the Omni King that presides over the Dragon Ball Multiverse, is a name given to the Time Patrol version of the Dragon Ball Universe in the Xenoverse video games, with Xeno implying "other" or "stranger." The Time Patrol was formed after the villainous Towa and Mira tampered with the timelines for their own nefarious ends. The Xenoverse is a set of universes and timelines that were affected by the villains, breaking off from the main Dragon Ball continuity that continued to thrive and grow even after Towa and Mira were eventually defeated by the Time Patrol, as seen in Super Dragon Ball Heroes.
Super Dragon Ball Heroes brings in Xeno versions of the Z Fighters after the events of Dragon Ball Super, with iterations of Goku and Vegeta recruited to save Xeno Future Trunks after he is imprisoned on a prison planet. There are subtle differences between Xeno Goku and his canonical counterpart, with Xeno Goku having a slightly different hairstyle and peaking at Super Saiyan 4 instead of Super Saiyan Blue. Xeno Vegeta similarly has much of the same background as his canon counterpart, but wears different armor and has subtle changes to his personality.
The Xenoverse and its growing number of Xeno variants offer an interesting twist on the Dragon Ball franchise while bringing together fan-favorite elements for an epic anime jam session. A reasonable enough facsimile of the main continuity, the Xeno characters are an in-universe way to have the events of Super Dragon Ball Heroes happen without it affecting canon in any direct way, instead operating in its own pocket multiverse. And while the Xeno versions of the various Dragon Ball characters may appear like the main versions, the Xeno moniker makes it clear that these are actually different characters from a divergent multiverse, despite all the apparent similarities they may have to the main continuity.
