Future Trunks

Future Trunks is the half-Saiyan, half-human son of Vegeta and Bulma from an alternate future and a hero from Dragon Ball Z.

Early Life and Becoming a Super Saiyan
Trunks was born in Age 766 and in his timeline, Goku died due to a heart virus shortly after he was born. Six months later, all of the other Z-Fighters except Future Gohan were killed in a battle with the powerful Androids, 17 and 18. The two proceeded to rampage across Earth for the next thirteen years and Trunks eventually became Gohan’s student so he could help fight the androids. He tried to help Trunks become a Super Saiyan, which was the only chance he had of fighting the androids. But he had yet to undergo the trauma usually needed to perform the transformation into Super Saiyan form. As 17 and 18 launched another attack, Trunks and Gohan went to fight them, but due to his lack of experience, Trunks ended up cornered by 18. Gohan took the hit to save him, losing his arm in the process, causing a severe lack of confidence in Trunks. He continued to try and reach the Super Saiyan form, but still kept failing to do so. After 17 and 18 began attacking again, Gohan knocked out Trunks so he wouldn’t interfere, knowing that the androids would kill him if he tried to fight. But despite his abilities, Gohan was unable to fight them both and 17 and 18 eventually killed him. Trunks found his body, which finally pushed him enough to transform into a Super Saiyan. He spent the next three years training to avenge the friends and allies he’d lost to the androids, but could never beat them. After barely avoiding getting destroyed in one battle, Bulma showed Trunks a time machine she’d been working on. She hoped he could use it to prevent Goku’s demise and prevent the future they lived in from coming about.

Delivering a Warning
Trunks used the time machine to head 20 years into the past so as to warn Goku and the other Z-Fighters of the coming android threat, as well as give Goku medicine that would cure his heart virus. Upon arriving, Trunks came across Frieza and his father, King Cold, who’d come to Earth seeking revenge against Goku by destroying those he cared about along with Goku himself. Frieza didn’t think that the young Trunks was much of a threat and at first was content with letting his soldiers handle it. However the half-Saiyan easily took down all of them, much to Frieza’s irritation and Trunks, taking his Super Saiyan form, gave him three chances to try and take him down. Every attempt was easily countered by the young Super Saiyan, causing Frieza to get more and more frustrated. Finally he attempted to use his Supernova Death Ball, which at first seemed to work, but Trunks actually just caught the attack. He taunted Frieza by jokingly saying he must have “dropped it” and the warlord blew up the ball with an energy blast in another attempt to kill Trunks. However even this didn’t do anything to the young Super Saiyan, who fired a Burning Attack at Frieza from behind, making him jump into the air to dodge it. Trunks then slashed him in two with his sword, before slicing him into smaller pieces and blasting him into nothing. The young Super Saiyan was then approached by King Cold, who offered him a place at his side. But Trunks refused and the alien asked to see his sword, so the half-Saiyan gave it to him. However King Cold actually believed the young Super Saiyan had only beaten Frieza because he had the sword and attacked him with it. Trunks easily caught the blade and fired an energy wave through King Cold’s chest. He begged the young Super Saiyan not to destroy him, offering him planets to rule, but Trunks finished King Cold off with a final energy blast. After destroying King Cold’s ship, the half-Saiyan approached the Z-Fighters, telling them where Goku would land. They went to wait and though the Z-Fighters asked him numerous questions, Trunks politely refused to answer. After Goku finally landed, the half-Saiyan asked to speak with him privately, telling him about the coming threat of the androids, as well as that he was Vegeta and Bulma’s son. Trunks gave Goku the antidote to the heart virus he would get, then told him not to reveal any of this to the other Z-Fighters since if Vegeta and Bulma found out about him, he might not be born. Trunks then headed back to the future, not realizing he had inadvertently caused things to happen differently.

Rise of the Androids and Cell
After the androids finally did appear, Trunks went back to the past but found Androids 19 (only his damaged head since Vegeta destroyed him) and 20. Since these androids were not the ones he’d always fought, Trunks realized that this timeline was starting to deviate greatly from his own. He met up with the Z-Fighters, but Android 20, who was actually Dr. Gero’s brain in an android body, activated Androids 17 and 18. However the two rebelled against Gero, killing him, and activated Android 16. Since the Z-Fighters had spent three years increasing their strength because of Trunks’ warning, the androids had been built so they were stronger as well. Vegeta tried to fight Android 18, but was unable to combat her and Trunks leapt to try and help, only to be struck down, get his sword snapped, and be thrown into his father. After Cell revealed himself, Trunks and the others decided to train in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, where they could get a year’s worth of training in a single day. The half-Saiyan went in with Vegeta and as they trained together, Trunks believed he’d surpassed his father by reaching the Ultra Super Saiyan form, while Vegeta did not. However, seeing the level of his father’s Saiyan pride, he decided to hide this new power out of the fear of upsetting Vegeta, though unaware that his father chose not to reach that form. After training, Trunks left the Time Chamber and went to face off against Cell, who’d managed to absorb Android 17 and attain his Semi-Perfect form. They managed to find him as he was attempting to absorb Android 18 and Trunks watched as Vegeta completely devastated Cell as an Ascended Super Saiyan. However Cell managed to talk Vegeta into letting him absorb 18, so he could obtain his Perfect form and be more of a challenge. Knowing he couldn’t let this happen, Trunks interfered and fought Cell himself, but as he tried to stop the android from absorbing 18, Vegeta started blasting him away. Finally the half-saiyan blasted his father so he could stop Cell, only for his efforts to be in vain when the android managed to finally absorb 18, transforming into his Perfect form. Vegeta took him on and during the fight, he said that Cell was hiding his power and he knew Trunks was hiding his too. Krillin asked the half-Saiyan why he didn’t use his hidden power and he replied that he didn’t want to upset his father by surpassing him. After Vegeta was finally defeated by Cell, Trunks changed into his Ultra Super Saiyan form, planning to destroy the android. He was able to deal significant damage to Cell and kept increasing his power, not realizing the weakness of his new form. Though the Ultra Super Saiyna form granted Trunks much greater physical strength, the increased muscle mass resulted in a high sacrifice of speed. He hadn’t noticed this during training due to his inexperience and Vegeta had in fact become able to use this form, but chose not to knowing the weakness of it. By that point, Trunks’ speed was not only greatly decreased, but maintaining the form was much harder due to the energy consumption. Cell now had the upper hand, despite having less physical strength than Trunks and the half-Saiyan lost hope.

Cell Games
However Cell had become interested in how much stronger Trunks had become in the period of only a day. Thus he told the half-Saiyan that in ten days, he’d have a tournament called the Cell Games and the Z-Fighters should prepare themselves in that time. Trunks told the others about the Cell Games, before he spent another day in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to get in another year’s worth of training. But he didn’t gain as much of a power increase as last time and after the 10 days passed, Trunks went with the other Z-Fighters to the location of the Cell Games. After Gohan began fighting Cell, the android generated small clones of himself, the Cell Jrs, which he had fight Trunks and the others in order to draw out Gohan’s hidden power. Trunks, like most of the others, was unable to take on the Cell Jrs and eventually detransformed form his Super Saiyan form. However this helped Gohan enter the form of Super Saiyan 2, allowing him to overwhelm Cell. Eventually the android tried self-destructing to wipe out everyone, Goku got him away using his Instant Transmission, sacrificing himself in the process. But Cell survived, since one of his cells remained, letting him regenerate, now more powerful than ever due to the Saiyan cells in him. He returned to Earth via instant Transmission and upon arriving, fired a Full Power Death Beam that killed Trunks. This had a great impact on Vegeta and he threw everything he had at Cell, revealing he did in fact care about his son, though his assault did nothing to the android. After Cell was finally destroyed by Gohan, Trunks was brought to Kami’s Lookout and revived thanks to the Dragon Balls. When he found out how Vegeta reacted to his death, the half-Saiyan was shocked and proud of his father.

Bringing Peace to the Future
After celebrating the destruction of Cell with the others, Trunks was saying his goodbyes when he was acknowledged by his father. He returned to his own time to finally stop the androids once and for all and reunited with Bulma, telling her about all that had happened to him. Suddenly a news report came on about the androids and Trunks went to face them in Super Saiyan form, now far more powerful than he was before due to all his training in the past. He arrived just in time to prevent 17 from killing an innocent man and 17 and 18 attacked him, thinking it’d be just as easy to beat him as before. However Trunks was easily able to fight them off and eventually blasted 18 away to nothing. 17 was shocked by this and threw himself at the half-Saiyan one last time, only to be struck down and obliterated with an energy blast. Though the androids were gone, Trunks knew there was still one last threat that had to be dealt with: his timeline’s Cell. After three years had gone by, Cell was wandering around, looking for 17 and 18 when he came across Bulma and Trunks, who was going to the past to tell Goku and the others of his success. As Trunks prepared to leave, he sensed Cell and had his mother leave, before facing off against the android. The half-Saiyan taunted Cell with what he knew of the alternate timeline and revealed he’d destroyed 17 and 18. The android wasn't worried about Trunks, but he managed to easily take on Cell upon becoming a Super Saiyan. The half-Saiyan declared that the android had to be destroyed and grabbed his tail, throwing him high into the air. Cell, realizing he had no chance against Trunks, prepared to use the Kamehameha attack to blow up the entire planet. However the young Super Saiyan fired a powerful energy blast at Cell before he could use the Kamehameha, destroying the android completely. Trunks then went back to the past to thank Goku and the others one last time.

Super Android 13!
Trunks went with Master Roshi, Krillin, and Oolong to a beauty pageant, but ended up regretting it when they had to wait for six hours until it started. However they realized they’d mixed the days up, Future Trunks and the others met up with Goku, Gohan, and Chi Chi for lunch at a shopping center. But when Androids 14 and 15 attacked, Trunks helped get the civilians to safety, before going back to help Goku fight the two androids. They went to a barren arctic area to fight to avoid destroying the city and Trunks began to grow concerned for Goku when he began getting tired. However Android 13 showed up as well and after exchanging a few words, the half-Saiyan fought 14 and 15 while Goku faced 13. Trunks found it hard to fight the pair, but Vegeta showed up, taking 15 while his son battled 14. After transforming into a Super Saiyan, Trunks was able to slash 14 in half as Vegeta destroyed 15 as well. But 13 was able to absorb components from the fallen androids to transform into Super Android 13. Trunks tried to save Vegeta from the super android as he smacked the Saiyan prince around, but was blasted away by Super 13. Later as Goku was generating a Spirit Bomb, Trunks attacked the super android again only to get his sword shattered and knocked out. However Super 13 was finally destroyed by Goku with use of a Spirit Bomb.

Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan
Trunks was at a picnic with Krillin, Gohan, Master Roshi, Bulma, Vegeta, and his younger self, enduring Krillin’s terrible karaoke singing. Suddenly a ship arrived with a group of soldiers led by a Saiyan named Paragus, who told Vegeta he wanted him to act as the king of his new Saiyan empire. Though Vegeta was uninterested at first, he decided to go when Paragus asked him to defeat the Legendary Super Saiyan, who’d been ravaging the South Galaxy. Trunks was suspicious of this and told Vegeta he shouldn’t go, but when his father wouldn’t listen, the half-Saiyan decided to go as well, if only to convince his father he had to go back to Earth. After arriving, Trunks looked around the planet with Gohan and Krillin, discovering that the planet was covered in ruins and Paragus was using Shamoian slaves to maintain the palace. Trunks, Gohan, and Krillin stopped one of Paragus’ men from whipping one of the slaves, then gave the starved Shamoians food and tried to get information. They learned that the Legendary Super Saiyan was indeed real and devastated their home planet. The next morning, Trunks, Gohan, Krillin, and Master Roshi revealed Paragus’ deception to Vegeta, bringing along the slaves to prove it. After Broly was revealed as the Legendary Super Saiyan, Paragus revealed it had all been a deception. Trunks went to help Goku and Gohan fight Broly who had entered his Legendary Super Saiyan form and gone completely berserk. He transformed into Super Saiyan form, but was easily hit around by Broly though Piccolo gave him a Senzu Bean. Trunks and Gohan attempted to use a double Masenko attack against Broly, only for it to do nothing and the two were clothes lined by the Legendary Super Saiyan. After Vegeta finally snapped out of his shock at Broly’s power and joined the battle, Trunks cheered him on. However the Legendary Super Saiyan beat down Vegeta and his son rushed to help him, only to be punched in the head. Trunks eventually began transferring his energy to Goku, allowing him to finally defeat Broly and they managed to escape the planet before it was destroyed by Comet Camori.

Bojack Unbound
Trunks went to compete, along with Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien Shinhan went to compete in a World Martial Arts Tournament thrown by billionaire, X.S. Cash. After the first round, Trunks faced off against Tien, managing to beat him and advancing to the semi-finals, along with Gohan, Krillin, and a normal human fighter. However instead of facing off against the fighters Cash hired, Trunks and the others fought against minions of the alien warlord, Bojack. Trunks faced off against Kogu, who managed to gain the upper hand on him at first and the alien tried to finish the half-Saiyan off. However Trunks transformed into Super Saiyan form, blocking his sword strike and breaking the blade, before killing Kogu with a punch to the stomach. He wondered what was going on, but was attacked from behind by Bojack, who knocked him out. As Piccolo was being overwhelmed by Bojack, Trunks recovered and fired a barrage of energy blasts at him. The alien warlord protected himself with his Psycho Barrier and the half-Saiyan charged at him. However Trunks was caught in Bujin’s psycho threads, draining his energy and making him change back to normal. Bido tossed a sharpened piece of metal at the half-Saiyan, but it was intercepted by Vegeta throwing Trunks’ sword to him. Later on, Trunks attempted to help his father fight Bojack but Zangya and Bujin intercepted him and beat him up, before Bojack’s Galactic Buster hit his chest. However Gohan managed to transform into Super Saiyan 2 form to defeat Bojack and his gang and he, Trunks, and Krillin were sent to the hospital to recover.

Personality
Trunks is very serious and cautious, due to the world he grew up in and having not grown up with his father, as well as polite and good-mannered. He usually thinks certain things matter and others don’t due to being from the future (though he’s usually right). However Trunks is surprised on a deep level when things happen differently from his timeline. He has demonstrated some cockiness, though only rarely, and in combat, he is usually serious and determined.

Powers
Trunks has demonstrated a high level of power despite being young and possesses superhuman strength, speed, endurance, and durability. He can manipulate energy in the form of energy blasts and flight and has demonstrated skills in swordsmanship. Trunks also has a number of techniques that he sees, such as the Burning Attack, where he performs a number of rapid arm movements. He then holds his hands out in front of him with his index fingers and thumbs forming a diamond shape and fires a powerful blast of energy from his hands. Another is the Finish Buster, where Trunks holds his hands up above him, charging a golden energy sphere above him, before bringing his hands forward, firing an energy beam from it. Another of Trunks’ techniques is his Heat Dome Attack, where he holds his hands above him as a dome of energy surrounds him. He then fires an enormous energy blast from the dome up above him. Another technique Trunks uses is his Buster Cannon, where he draws his hands behind him, charging an energy sphere in each one. He then brings them together in front of him, firing a powerful blue and white energy beam. Trunks has the ability to transform into Super Saiyan form, where he becomes far more powerful to the point he could kill Frieza and King Cold with apparently no effort. Later on, Trunks advanced to the Ascended Super Saiyan form, an advanced version of the Super Saiyan transformation. This gives him a much greater deal of strength and power than in the normal Super Saiyan form. Trunks also gained the ability to use the Ultra Super Saiyan form, another version of the Super Saiyan form and a forced increase in the power output and physical strength of the transformation. However the increased muscle mass of the Ultra Super Saiyan transformation results in a great decrease in speed, so the form causes more harm than good.

Trivia

 * Bruce Faulconer, composer for the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Z, has stated on his website that Future Trunks is his favorite character. Christopher Sabat, a voice actor for many characters, has agreed that Future Trunks is his favorite, aside from Vegeta.


 * Future Trunks’ favorite food is convenience store bento.


 * He is one of the few primary Z-Fighters that has never made use of the Kamehameha wave.


 * Future Trunks’ name is a parody on boxers.


 * He was the last character to have his power level scanned with a scouter, by one of Frieza’s soldiers who saw it as only 5, due to the fact he was suppressing his power.


 * Angelo from Dragon Quest VIII bears a strong resemblance to Future Trunks and since Akira Toriyama was the game’s art director, it’s possibly Trunks was his design model.


 * In Dragon Ball Z Budokai 2, Future Trunks had the ability to transform into a Super Saiyan 2 and in Dragon Ball Heroes, a Super Saiyan 3.