Dragon Ball: How The Series Missed a Massive Opportunity With Hit

Key Takeaways

• Hit was a powerful warrior but was underutilized after the Universe 6 arc.
• Fans loved Hit’s unique time-stop ability and his cool demeanor.
• Hit missed opportunities for further development and transformation in the Tournament of Power.

Dragon Ball Super introduced a huge number of characters into the franchise, many of whom are still loved to this day and are considered fan favorites. The biggest influx of these new characters was in the Tournament of Power arc which saw most of the universes fight against one another for survival, though some of these multiversal fighters were introduced even earlier on in the series.

One of these combatants was Hit, a deadly assassin from Universe 6 who proved himself to be powerful enough to contend with Super Saiyan Blue Goku and Vegeta. However, after seeing his performance in the Tournament and the lack of screen time he got after it, many fans of Dragon Ball believed that the series wasted the character, so let’s see why this may be the case!

Who Was Hit?

Why do fans like this character so much?

Hit is the greatest warrior in all of Universe 6, even when taken in conjunction with other powerhouses such as Kefla or Cabba. Born over 1000 years ago, he has been an assassin for centuries and is known around his entire universe for the mastery of his craft, since he has successfully eliminated every single one of his targets with only one quiet, quick, and clean strike.

When he was shown for the first time, fans immediately knew that he was the heavy-hitter of his universe, something that he quickly proved when he took out Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta with relative ease. Though he is hardly the only cold and stoic character that has ever been introduced within the Dragon Ball franchise, there is a specific aura about him that draws fans in. His coolness is just one of the reasons why he is remembered so fondly though, since his special abilities and techniques are some of the best the series has ever shown.

You showing your cards tells me that you’re young.

Hit has the unique power to briefly stop time, causing his opponents to stop moving and opening them up for his deadly offensive attacks. Though time-stop is a fairly common ability in fiction, Hit was one of the few practitioners of it in the Dragon Ball franchise, so to see a unique way of fighting go up against what the heroes have been doing for years was refreshing to see.

Moreover, Hit was just a really cool character. Hot only were his cold demeanor and ruthless attitude towards his opponents loved by fans, but also the fact that he was very respectful as well, even though he generally considered weaker people to be below him.

Hit’s Time In The Series

How Dragon Ball wasted this character

For the time when Hit was the central antagonist of a story arc, he was an incredible character who felt like a hurdle that was very difficult for the heroes to overcome due to his unique and extremely powerful abilities. Until Goku used Kaioken x20 on top of his Super Saiyan Blue transformation, he couldn’t really stand up to Hit, showing that this character was the one he needed to defeat to ensure Earth stays in Universe 7.

However, many felt that in the Tournament of Power arc, Hit was considered to be an afterthought and more of a tertiary character. Due to Jiren’s overwhelming presence and unmatched power, he was treated by every other universe as the one to take out, which only meant that, for the most part, the threat or importance of most other characters in the Tournament was greatly diminished.

By having their backs taken easily, people accept that they’re going to die. That’s why I stand behind them. My attack is a single strike from the front. That’s my rule.

Although Hit was a massive problem for the Z-Fighters back in the Universe 6 arc, he was relegated to the role of challenger just as everyone else was, leading to his eventual role in the Tournament of Power being very small comparatively. Due to Jiren’s incredible power, Hit was eliminated from the Tournament rather unceremoniously.

The series missed quite a big opportunity with Hit since he held the power and popularity to be a far bigger character than he ended up being. Whether he would have a far more central role as a villain in the Tournament or even as a potential ally for the Z-Fighters for a future arc, Hit’s expertise and potential power-up could have been a huge hindrance or aid to the heroes.

Since transformations are one of the most iconic factors of the Dragon Ball franchise, having Hit undergo one would have been an incredible moment for the series. This transformation could potentially grant Hit even greater control over time manipulation and could have made changes to his already stellar character design, finally bringing him to a relative scale to where the heroes exist in the current story.

However, all hope is not lost! Despite being on an indefinite hiatus (at the time of writing), Dragon Ball Super is far from over, and, after finally concluding the manga retelling of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, the possibilities for where the series can go in the future are endless! Many in the community do believe that the concept of the multiverse will be shown again and when that happens, Hit will almost definitely return to the fray as well!

Dragon Ball can be streamed on Crunchyroll.