'Dragon Ball Super' debuts explosive 'Super Hero' footage at NYCC 2021; teases 'new and fresh visuals'

Dragon Ball Super surprised fans at New York Comic Con on Thursday with the first-ever footage from next year's Super Hero movie. The short clip, which you can watch here, teases an appearance from the Red Ribbon Army, as well as two brand-new characters known as "Gamma 1" and "Gamma 2" (eat your heart out, Dr. Seuss!).

Appearing live from Tokyo and speaking through a translator, executive producer Akio Iyoku confirmed that the story takes place 10 years after Goku's defeat of Majin Buu. "Every time we make a new movie, we like to update the visuals," he said. "Every time you see a new Dragon Ball movie, you are experiencing the newest version of Dragon Ball. We are committed to giving the best quality and newest version possible."

"One of the themes we wanted to portray in this film was the theme of pop," added producer Norihiro Hayashida. "In Japanese, we use 'pop' to describe that are fashionable, cool, beautiful — something that's contemporary and modern. Together, with the director, we really researched some unprecedented uses of movement, colors, and textures. So we've made some really sophisticated artwork for this film."

"There's a lot of new characters and so, we had a lot of new movements we could play with. We could really make something unique and special this time around," echoed Iyoku. "There's a word in Japanese ... which, when you translate it into English, means 'joy of eyes.' While looking at something, it gives you happiness and thereby, stimulates all five of your senses. I truly believe this is a film that will make you experience ['joy of eyes']."

The panel also included two pre-recorded interviews with Toshio Furukawa (Japanese voice of Piccolo) and Masako Nozawa (Japense voice of Goku). Furukawa extolled the movie's "drama parts" and "battle parts," stating that “the quality of each is quite high." Nozawa described the battle sequences as "absolutely amazing.”

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero will premiere in Japan sometime in 2022. Plans for distribution in North America are still in the "negotiations" phase, according to Hayashida.

"I believe it is my purpose in life to create truly awesome things," he said. "I'm willing to give my all to make sure this movie comes to completion and give you a movie that just exceeds all of your expectations ... For this new movie, we've introduced so many new technologies. We have so many new and fresh visuals here that I hope you can really experience firsthand at the theater."

Click here for SYFY WIRE’s full coverage of New York Comic Con 2021