Hello, everyone! I know it's been a while since my last analysis blog, but now I'm back! Yeah, I know, I say that a lot, don't I? Well, think of it as me going into a long slumber and waking up every now and then to grace you with my presence, which brings us to our subject matter this time around...
Background
Puts on best Kyle Hebert impression
Ah-heh-hem!
Time and time again, Earth's strongest warriors have prevailed against those who have threatened the Earth and its inhabitants. From King Piccolo to Majiin Buu, it seemed that there was nothing out there that could stop the super-warriors known as the Z-Fighters. But the likes of Goku and Vegeta have been waiting for when a being even stronger than Buu would arrive, and diligently prepared themselves for when that day would come.
But little did they know, that being would be far more powerful than anything that appeared before, even the strongest beings like Super Vegito paled in comparison to his enormous power. Only the arrival of the Super Saiyan God awakened from within Goku proved to be a worthy opponent for this being, and even still,Goku had lost. All of the planet's finest warriors were effortlessly cast aside by this seemingly unstoppable force.
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| "This is what happens when mortals don't share their pudding!" |
However, while he did challenge the Z-Fighters and won't hesitate to extinguish life and planets on a whim, this does not necessarily make him evil. Rather, he is a force of nature that exists to maintain the natural order.
While he does seem like a sociopath in the sense that he will destroy beings or planets over petty things such as losing a game or not liking food, or just finding them annoying in general, well... if you're at all familiar with Greek mythology, gods are petty like that. However, he does care about the well-being of his universe as a whole and will defend it against anyone who attempts to threaten it (including Goku at one point). He also seems to have a soft spot for Earth and it's inhabitants, as in the ending of Battle of Gods he blew up a small pile of rocks and joked "There, I destroyed earth" and has become friends with Bulma since she gives him food, the secret to winning any cat's love.
Beerus' design was based on an Egyptian hairless cat (called a Sphinx, no less), and in true catlike nature, enjoys little beyond eating and napping, and doesn't like being bothered when he's doing either. His likeness, role, and demeanor are also inspired by Anubis, the Egyptian God of Death (There are even Kali and Ganesh stand-ins in Dragonball Super, I'm just waiting for Buddha to show up for the Journey to the West and Monkey King references to come full circle). It is also revealed that there is an entire multiverse with more gods out there, 12 in total, and Beerus is the GoD of Universe 7, the one the Z-Fighters reside in.
Now, you may be thinking "How could a being that powerful and significant have existed all this time without anybody ever mentioning him?" Well, that's unfortunately what happens whenever some new plot point is introduced, such as when we discovered Goku was actually an alien. However, there is a legitimate explanation. The Supreme Kais made it a rule of thumb to keep his existence a secret so none of the universe's fighters would attempt to challenge Beerus or otherwise annoy him-especially Goku-, thus risking the universe. And while Vegeta did see Beerus on... Vegeta (the planet) standing over... Vegeta (the King), he didn't really know who he was or anything about him at the time, to him he was just some weird alien who threatened his father. Also, if you pay attention, there are actually subtle hints sprinkled throughout previous stories in Dragonball, suggesting that Toriyama had probably been planning his appearance for a while (but that's delving into fan theory territory). I'll get to those later in the Feats and Abilities sections.
In case you were wondering...
That being said, I will be using all of them as reference material.
Powers and Abilities
Energy Manipulation/Godly Ki
Given he is a Dragonball character, Beerus can tap into a metaphysical energy source to augment his strength, durability, and speed as well as grant him flight and of course your obligatory energy blasts and balls. However, since he is a deity he uses something a little different from the standard Ki we've seen used in Dragonball. He uses something far more potent that sets him apart from other Ki users which prevents them from being able to sense his presence. Though it has no real name, this divine energy is referred to as "Godly Ki" by the characters. Tapping into this power is what allowed Goku and Vegeta to reach their Super Saiyan God forms.
Spheres of Destruction
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| I don't care if he is a low-tier character in FighterZ, he's fun as hell to play as |
The Spheres of Destruction are highly volatile energy balls that Beerus can summon that act very similarly to Gotenks' Ghost Kamikaze Attack. Only instead of needing someone to touch them for them to detonate, he can command them to do so at any time, and can flick, kick, and bat them around without having to worry about them blowing up on him. He can summon them anywhere for a surprise attack on his opponent. They can also follow around and surround or bombard his enemies while he is attacking, like Vergil's Summoned Swords.
After-Image/Multiform
Beerus also has access to the After-Image, a technique that involves moving fast and leaving behind a projection of yourself to trick opponents (see Goku vs Cell) as well as the Multiform Technique, or at least something similar to it, which grants him "shadow clones", as it were, that can act independently.
Cosmic Awareness
Gods of Destruction seem to have some degree of cosmic awareness that allows them to tell when they are being watched or sensed by other beings.
Sealing/BFR
As it turns out, Beerus was the one who sealed the Elder Kai in the Z-sword, meaning he has the ability to seal people inside objects. Whether this means he can only do so with certain objects or under certain circumstances is unclear, though considering Elder Kai was using this as an example of his power suggests that he can do it freely.
Martial Arts
It should go without saying at this point, but Beerus is also proficient in martial arts, trained by his attendant Whis. He has such skill and precision that he was able to take out the Z-Fighters with a pair of chopsticks, using joint manipulation and pressure points.
Pseudo Ultra Instinct
Throughout Super, Whis hints that Goku and Vegeta would show considerable improvement if they could remove the drawback of thinking and subconscious hesitation, they'd be considerably faster and unpredictable in battle. For instance, Hit can stop time for 0.1 second, though for someone as fast as him a millisecond means an entire world of difference. That, on top of a subconscious hesitation on the part of the saiyans, delays their reactions and impedes their fighting prowess by a considerable amount. Thankfully, there is a state of being known as Ultra Instinct used by angels such as Whis and Vados and subsequently taught to Beerus, which removes those limitations. Here is a video explaining Ultra Instinct in detail. In layman's terms, it's basically a more advanced, godly version of the Kaioken, only a bit different in philosophy, and without the drawback of wearing down on the user's body. The reason I referred to it as "Pseudo" Ultra Instinct in Beerus' case is because unlike Goku, he hasn't fully unleashed it and can only tap into it. (But Beerus is still so much faster and stronger than Goku that it almost doesn't matter, and in all fairness nobody has pushed him to the brink of death in order to completely awaken it.)
Hakai
And now onto the reason that the Supreme Kais and lesser so-called gods shit their pants at the mere mention of Beerus, and what gave him the nicknames 'Hakai-Shin' and 'Beerus the Destroyer'. True, his tremendous power is one reason to be feared, but there is one thing that will always cement his place as God of Destruction: the ability known as Hakai. Actually, it's referred to as Destruction in the English dub, but it doesn't quite cut it in terms of explaining what this actually is, also Hakai sounds way cooler. When Beerus uses Hakai, it completely erases the target not only on the physical, but also spiritual level. It's beyond the power of the Eternal Dragons, even Super Shenron (yes, that's a thing now, as ridiculous as it sounds) to revive the being or object that is erased. No afterlife, no resurrection, no reincarnation, you're just straight-up gone.
The only way to avoid the erasure is to create alternate timeline versions of yourself, but this must be done beforehand as the Hakai itself cannot be undone.
Well, there are certain limitations, for example it cannot be used to destroy other gods. But beyond that, it can essentially be used on anyone or anything, even planets and ghosts. As Whis puts it, "Nothing is beyond Lord Beerus' power to destroy."
Feats
So, remember in that video where King Kai said Beerus "could destroy the universe if he felt like it"? Well, Dragonball is no stranger to hyperbole and villain boasting, but as it turns out, that's actually no exaggeration.
Ah, the famous forum-busting punch, one scene that set the entire internet ablaze.
As you can see here, Super Saiyan God Goku and Beerus' punch sent out ripples that shook most of the known universe. This of course would also apply to Beerus' durability.
Here, he fights Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta after he mastered the form and closed the gap between he and Goku. This was also after Vegeta destroyed the Hyperbolic Time Chamber from the inside, which, if you recall, is infinite space. Does that mean he has infinite destructive capacity? Well, clearly not since he still isn't strong enough to beat Beerus, so to avoid over-complicating things, we'll just call this a universal feat (recall that our universe is also described as infinite). Mah boi Veggie getting them mad gains, I'm so proud...
After
he defeated Vegeta, he commends him for his efforts and states that if
he were in another universe, he might be a worthy candidate for God of
Destruction. As it turns out, he wasn't just offering Vegeta some
solace, this statement tells us where he stands in comparison with the
other gods, and the exhibition match with the other GoDs in the
Tournement of Power preliminaries shows us that Beerus is one of the top
tier gods in the Dragonball multiverse, if not the strongest. Also
fitting that it would come down to a game of cat and mouse. Yeah, I see
what you did there, TOIE.
Super Saiyan God Goku gets brutalized by Beerus. Given Goku's characterization in Super, I probably enjoy this scene way too much...
Has such control and precision with his power, he is able to destroy half a planet with a tap of his finger.
Toys with Super Saiyan 3 Goku.
Deflects attacks with one finger and dodges lightning.
We
also have Beerus to thank for King Kai's planet being so small. At one
time, it was roughly hundreds of times larger, but Beerus blew it up
when he was salty about losing a game against King Kai, forcing him to
rebuild from the leftover fragments. Remember what I said about gods
being petty?
Is MFTL based on scaling to Whis, who carried the two to King Kai's planet from Beerus' realm (which would have to sit at the edge of the known universe,
as it's further away then the Supreme Kai's planet) within 22 minutes,
which would yield RIDICULOUSLY high numbers (The edge of the known
universe is roughly 46.5 billion lightyears away from Earth). Now, it
can be argued that this was only possible through the staff, and Whis is
still Beerus' superior in terms of power and speed, however he would
still have to steer around celestial objects. Not to mention, this is
pretty much the only speed feat we can really use for the god tiers of
the verse, anything lesser they would scale to is essentially a bit
feat. And with Beerus clearly being MUUUUUCH faster than the
relativistic to lightspeed Z-Fighters, it's not too much of a stretch to
say Beerus is MFTL.
Weaknesses
Beerus may be one of the top tiers in his verse, but he has one of the LAAAAAAAAAAAAAMEST drawbacks ever. because Super just had to ruin something else that was quality
If
you kill all the Supreme Kais in a universe (which is basically just
Shin and the Elder Kai in Universe 7's case), that universe's God of
Destruction will die as well. Meaning, yes, basically any of the
Z-Fighters or villains could preemptively assassinate Beerus if they
felt like it.
As
said before, his Hakai ability cannot be used on other gods, and it can
be avoided with potent enough time manipulation. Omniking Zen-Oh also
has erasure hax that are far greater and seem to supersede his, so while
extremely effective, it's not the be-all-end-all.
Beerus
also may be immortal, but it's more of a "lived for billions of years
and continue to" immortality rather than "can't die" immortality. He can
be killed, provided you're strong enough or have potent enough hax like
the Omniking.
Intangibles-wise, Beerus is also extremely petty and ill-tempered, and thusly can be baited into a combat scenario.
Summary
Advantages
- Universal+ Destructive Capacity and Durability
- MFTL
- Billions of years of experience
- Martial arts training from Whis, the fastest and most powerful being in Universe 7
- Godly Ki
- Spheres of Destruction
- Afterimage and Multiform
- BFR
- Paralysis
- Erasure Hax
- His break-dancing skills are unrivaled
Disadvantages
- Can be killed by killing the Supreme Kais (though it likely won't be applied in a combat scenario)
- Hakai has some limitations
- Ill-tempered and petty, has no patience
- No match for Gohan Blanco
Potential Opponents
Galactus
Thematic,
and even! Both are universal and MFTL. Both are purple, not technically
evil but have threatened the Earth on multiple occasions forcing its
heroes to fight them off, and both are cosmic beings that stand above
most mortals in their respective universes. It would also be fun to see
how their personalities play off each other, for example Galactus eating
a planet and Beerus getting mad because it had one of his favorite
foods, or something like that.
Crazy Hand
This
was an idea presented by RadioactiveCaffein aka HomestuckLover, and I
actually like it a lot. Master Hand created the Smash Bros. universe,
and Crazy Hand is the more destructive and chaotic counterpart. Also,
it's a giant disembodied hand fighting a purple anthropomorphic cat
deity, so why not, dare I say, go crazy?
Anubis
I've
seen Goku vs Sun Wukong, so why not pit Beerus against his mythical
folklore counterpart? Maybe he gets riggity-rekt (Idk, does he? I don't
know that much about Egyptian lore), but it's a neat idea.
Got any suggestions for me you think would work? Let me know in the comments below!
In the meantime, thank you all for reading, and a special thanks to LousyTactician for the amazing title idea.
And another very special thank you to ThorG1058, who made me the trailer for next time:
