The Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie USA release date has been confirmed for August 19, 2022, the middle of the Summer 2022 anime season.
The DBS: Super Hero movie will arrive in more than 2300 theaters in the United States and Canada with tickets on sale from the official website starting July 22, 2022. The film will also be released in select US-based IMAX theaters.
Just like the DBS: Broly movie, there will be a Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero English dub in addition to a movie theater premiere with Japanese audio and English subtitles.
The Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero release date in Japan is on June 11, 2022. It was originally scheduled for April 22, 2022, but then it was delayed due to the Toei Animation hack in March 2022 where the studio’s computer systems were hijacked by malware.
On May 10, 2022, Crunchyroll and Toei Animation announced that the new Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO movie will be distributed by Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
The DBS: SUPER HERO movie will be coming to movie theaters across the globe in all continents, including North America, Latin America, Europe, Australia/New Zealand, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
- Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Central America, Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay: August 18, 2022
- United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Zambia, Vietnam: August 19, 2022
- India, Indonesia: August 26, 2022
- Malaysia, Brunei: August 30, 2022
- Philippines: August 31, 2022
- Singapore: September 1, 2022
- Taiwan: September 8, 2022
- South Korea: September 15, 2022
- Thailand, Hong Kong, Macao: September 29, 2022
Additional global release dates for the film will be announced soon.
“For more than 30 years, the Dragon Ball franchise has delighted fans around the globe who have followed the world’s greatest warriors who defend Earth from forces of evil,” said Rahul Purini, President of Crunchyroll. “We’re thrilled to partner with Toei Animation to bring fans the latest chapter of Dragon Ball Super to the legion of super fans eager to continue the adventure and to grow the anime audiences who are discovering it for the first time.”
This article provides everything that is known about the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie USA release date and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.
The Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO story
This is the story summary for the DBS: SUPER HERO movie as described by Crunchyroll:
The Red Ribbon Army was once destroyed by Son Goku. Individuals, who carry on its spirit, have created the ultimate Androids, Gamma 1 and Gamma 2. These two Androids call themselves “Super Heroes”. They start attacking Piccolo and Gohan… What is the New Red Ribbon Army’s objective? In the face of approaching danger, it is time to awaken, Super Hero!
“An all new movie since Dragon Ball Super: Broly is currently in the making!” Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama wrote. “Just like the previous movie, I’m heavily leading the story and dialogue production for another production for another amazing film.”
Additionally, the film will be directed by Tetsuro Kodama. Composer Naoki Satou is creating the music. Chikashi Kubota is the animation director, while Jae Hoon Jung is the CG animation director.
Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO English dub cast
The Japanese voice actors for the DBS: SUPER HERO movie include:
- Masako Nozawa (Gohan, Goku and Goten)
- Toshio Furukawa (Piccolo)
- Yuuko Minaguchi (Pan)
- Ryou Horikawa (Vegeta)
- Mayumi Tanaka (Krillin)
- Aya Hisakawa (Bulma)
- Takeshi Kusao (Trunks)
- Miki Itou (Android 18)
- Bin Shimada (Broly)
- Kouichi Yamadera (Beerus)
- Masakazu Morita (Whis)
- Hiroshi Kamiya (Gamma 1)
- Mamoru Miyano (Gamma 2)
- Miyu Irino (Dr. Hedo)
- Volcano Ota (Magenta)
- Ryota Takeuchi (Carmine)
In an email correspondence, Crunchyroll announced the Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO English dub voice cast to Anime Geek.
- Kyle Hebert (Son Gohan)
- Sean Schemmel (Son Goku)
- Robert McCollum (Son Goten)
- Christopher R. Sabat (Piccolo)
- Monica Rial (Bulma)
- Christopher R. Sabat (Vegeta)
- Sonny Strait (Krillin)
- Eric Vale (Trunks)
- Kara Edwards (Videl)
- Jeannie Tirado (Pan)
The new Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO English dub voice cast includes Zach Aguilar as Dr. Hedo, Aleks Le as Gamma 1, Zeno Robinson as Gamma 2, Charles Martinet as Magenta, and Jason Marnocha as Carmine.
Why the Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO movie USA release date is in August 2022
As of the last update, Toei Animation, Sony Entertainment, Crunchyroll, or any company related to the production of the anime has officially confirmed the exact Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO USA release date. On June 14, 2022, it was confirmed that the DBS: Super Hero movie is coming out in USA movie theaters in August 19, 2022.
November-December and May-July are typically considered the best timing for a tentpole film to have a chance at being a blockbuster premiere whereas January and February are considered the “dump months” for bad movies. So, it was always unlikely that the DBS: Super Hero movie release date would be in early 2022.
Another factor is that the coronavirus pandemic is impacted by seasonal weather changes. Since movie theaters are more likely to be open during the hotter summer months it’s the best target for blockbuster movies.
The international release with a Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO English dub is being planned out to optimize its chances in USA theaters and other countries like the UK, Canada, and more. The anime production committee and the company which buys the international rights will want to avoid competing with a big-name American movie that’ll overshadow the Dragon Ball Super movie 2022.
For example, the Demon Slayer: Mugen Train USA release date was in April 2021. Setting it slightly ahead of the May blockbusters was probably the wisest move, although the timing was largely forced by COVID-19 restrictions and the re-opening of American theaters.
On the other hand, unlike Demon Slayer the Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO US release date is still within a month of the Japanese theater premiere. The Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie premiered in Japan in mid-December 2018, whereas the U.S. release date by FUNimation was mid-January 2019.
Despite being considered a dump month, Broly set box office records for an anime movie. Based on this history, the Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO movie USA release date is apparently being timed for optimal exposure against the competition rather than wait until November 2022, which is why it’s coming out in August 2022 despite that time frame being outside the optimal target.
Keep in mind this August 2022 movie premiere was probably not the original plan since the DBS: SUPER HERO movie was delayed in Japan. The original plan was probably June 2022, which would have been better since kids are out on summer break.
Dragon Ball Super Moro story arc waits for Dragon Ball Super Season 2?
Fans had long speculated whether the new Dragon Ball Super movie 2022 would adapt the Moro story arc from the Galactic Patrol Prisoner saga in the Dragon Ball Super manga. After all, it’s the next manga story arc after the universe tournament of power arc that was in Dragon Ball Super Season 1.
The new Super Hero movie is definitely going in a different direction and Toriyama also confirmed that the Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO 2022 movie will have an original story… and an “unexpected character”! Which was probably a reference to the androids of the Red Ribbon Army.
Another character design showed Pan being noticeably older in comparison to the Tournament of Power arc. In the current Dragon Ball timeline, Dragon Ball Legends, DBS: Broly, and then the Moro arc takes place after the Tournament of Power in that chronological order.
Thus, based on Pan’s age relative to the timeline it seems like the DBS: Super Hero movie has a major time skip so it takes place sometime after the Moro arc.
The Dragon Ball Super Moro story arc is much more likely to be adapted by a new Dragon Ball Super Season 2 anime TV series. To put things in perspective, the tournament of power arc was 16 manga chapters long and corresponded to 55 anime episodes, whereas the Moro arc is 26 chapters.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for the DBS manga which may pertain to Dragon Ball Super Season 2.
Therefore, the Moro arc is simply too long to wedge into the limited runtime of a DBS movie. At the same time, the manga’s version of the tournament of power arc came out after the anime, so it’s difficult to make such comparisons since the anime detailed everything while the manga forged ahead to new grounds.
The Dragon Ball Super manga is currently in the Granolah the Survivor arc. The story arc is very interesting since it has a bounty hunter attempting to steal the dragon balls to exact revenge on Frieza for destroying his people.
Let’s just hope the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero 2022 movie leads to an announcement of Dragon Ball Super Season 2. Stay tuned!