We open on a 2D animated recap (using a line filter much like Broly, but whose general aesthetic I would suspect based on the movie pamphlet is all down to animation supervisor Chikashi Kubota, as he’s credited directly for some of the genga there) of Goku’s fight against the Red Ribbon Army, as well as the history of the androids and Cell. Red’s son Magenta (at one point we see framed pictures of Red and Col. Violet, independently, on his desk, so make of that what you will) has spent his time hoping to bring about the resurrection of the Red Ribbon Army, using Red Pharmaceuticals as a front. He and his second-in-command Carmine have been emboldened by learning of Dr. Hedo, the grandson of Dr. Gero.
After the history lesson, we cut to Hachimaru (Dr. Hedo’s bee-shaped spy robot) following Carmine’s car into the Red Ribbon compound, hidden away under a holographic lake/basin. Carmine delivers a video presentation on Dr. Hedo to Magenta—taking great pride in having produced the entire video himself, complete with credits; a running gag. In the video we see a brief family tree for Dr. Gero including Vomi (Android #21, in several games), and Gevo (#16), as well as an unseen second child who is one of Dr. Hedo’s parents. Magenta asks if he’s a doctor in the academic or medical sense, to which Carmine replies he has credentials in both. Unable to find steady work in laboratories due to his controversial research, Dr. Hedo is currently incarcerated for having exhumed several bodies to turn into androids and have run a convenience store for him, in order to shore up research funds. Magenta and Carmine decide to meet him outside the prison upon his release.
Dr. Hedo gets out of prison, dressed in a superhero-style onesie and cape, inmates jeering at and tossing garbage at him from behind the gates. He tosses a bomb into the gates behind him, which explodes when he’s a short distance away. Carmine and Magenta pull up in a car and invite him in. He reveals he already knows who they are, and had been using his spy robot to trail them ever since Carmine first came sniffing around the prison.
In the car, Magenta proposes that Hedo come work for them. Dr. Hedo is reluctant, knowing that Red Pharmaceuticals is just a front for the Red Ribbon Army. His grandfather’s connection to them caused trouble for his parents and him. Although he’s interested in their generous research salary, he also takes issue with their supervillainous aims of world domination—he’s a superhero maniac. Carmine attempts to threaten Hedo with a handgun, but Hedo reveals that he’s injected himself with serum that toughened his skin to withstand a certain degree of shock (which also helped him avoid being bulled in prison). In addition, Hachimaru, which lives in a compartment on his glove, carries a lethal sting—even cyborgs aren’t immune, so long as there’s some element of their human biology left intact. This also helped him ensure that any would-be bullies in prison died under “mysterious circumstances.”
Magenta appeals to his sense of superheroics and informs him that they believe Capsule Corporation is serving as the headquarters for a collection of aliens set on world domination themselves, and that the androids and Cell were part of a plan to stop them. He pulls out footage of Freeza vs. Trunks as proof. Carmine plays some triumphant superheroic music on the car stereo to set the atmosphere, and Hedo finally gets on board. He agrees to contribute his research in the hopes of creating the ultimate android superheroes.
Six months later:
Pan is training with Piccolo in the woods. She wants to learn how to fly and shoot ki blasts like Goten and the others, but Piccolo insists she has to get the basics down first. She struggles with attempting flying for a bit, but fails to get off the ground. Piccolo assures her it’s nothing to worry about and will come in time—she’s only three after all. Plus, she has the blood of a Saiyan. Pan asks if it’s true her father could really be stronger than her grandpa, as she’s never seen Gohan fight. Piccolo says that he could be, but he isn’t so sure about him with how he is right now.
Pan runs off to kindergarten at superspeed, and Piccolo returns to his house.
Piccolo gets a call from Videl asking him to pick Pan up from kindergarten, as she’s busy preparing her martial arts school for a tournament, and Gohan’s engrossed in his research for an important presentation. She offers him food, but Piccolo reminds her he only drinks water. She promises a nice stuffed animal instead, and we cut to the pile in his home. “Why stuffed animal...?”
Piccolo pays Gohan a visit at Gohan and Videl’s home, and questions his inability to go pick up Pan. Gohan talks about how busy he is with research—they’ve recently found an ant who can turn golden and strength itself in times of danger, just like Super Saiyan! Piccolo isn’t interested; he asks him if his research is more important than family, and implores him to at least train a little sometimes, as they never know when new threats might show up. Gohan protests the need to keep training, as things are peaceful right now—and besides, if worse comes to worst, Goku and Vegeta are around. Piccolo throws a punch at Gohan, who blocks it—he hasn’t gotten *that* rusty. Piccolo socks him in the stomach with another blow, then changes Gohan’s clothes into the traditional Piccolo dogi and weighted cape. Gohan collapses under it. Piccolo encourages him to keep it on, although Gohan argues it makes it hard to work. Piccolo agrees to pick up Pan, and Gohan promises him some stuffed animals as payment, to Piccolo’s chagrin.
Piccolo returns to his home to meditate, only to be attacked by Gamma #2. He recognizes Gamma as an android from his lack of ki and the Red Ribbon logo. Piccolo asks who he is, but Gamma #2 dramatically reveals that it has to remain a secret. Gamma #2 calls him Demon King Piccolo, to which Piccolo protests that he’s “just” Piccolo. Gamma #2 asks what that means, but he isn’t telling. Piccolo also says he remembers the Red Ribbon Army from “back when he was God.” Gamma #2 has questions about that too, but Piccolo won’t reveal any more. Gamma #2 tells Piccolo he’s just decided to alter his mission objective from subjugate target to kill. The two fight.
Gamma #2 believes he’s killed Piccolo with a blast, and leaves. Piccolo, having just managed to dodge Gamma #2’s attack and slip away in the dust clouds, trails the android back to the Red Ribbon base. Piccolo subdues a guard and steals his uniform as a disguise.
Piccolo follows Gamma #2 to a control room where Magenta, Carmine, Hedo and the two Gammas are holding a meeting, with a number of soldiers standing guard. Gamma #1 chastises Gamma #2 for not confirming the body, and reveals a faint figure escaping from the smoke via camera footage. Magenta is incensed; if this blunder reveals their plan to enemy, they’ll have to hasten their plans. He orders Dr. Hedo to finish his work on “Cell Max,” but Hedo insists the two Gammas can finish the job on their own. Carmine isn’t so sure, and runs down the list of threatening, stronger opponents who remain—such as Goku (the “mid-level-boss of the organization”), Vegeta, Majin Boo, and Mr. Satan, whose true strength remains unknown. In addition, there’s Son Gohan, who they have reason to suspect killed the original Cell rather than Mr. Satan. Dr. Hedo is reluctant to activate Cell Max, both for his non-heroic appearance and the fact that he doesn’t like having relied on his grandfather’s research to make him. In addition, his control system isn’t finished, meaning he could easily turn on them all.
Overhearing the conversation about Cell Max, Piccolo slips away to contact Bulma by phone. He asks if Goku and Vegeta are around, but they’re off training with Beerus. He asks Bulma to contact Whis. In the meantime, he goes to Karin’s for Senzu.
On Beerus’ planet: Broly and Goku are engaged in a training match (both in base form). Broly starts to get carried away and unleash his green ki again, which causes Goku to ask him to back down. He has to learn to control it. Broly powers down and apologizes. Meanwhile, Vegeta has been meditating by himself for some time. Goku chastises him for being lazy, with the number of strong goalposts still out there (Jiren, Gods of Destruction, etc.), but Vegeta says this is a form of training too. He asks if Goku noticed that at the Tournament of Power, their and Jiren’s gap in power may not have been so great in the traditional sense. However, Jiren was able to save all his energy for specific instances of attack. This allowed him to put out greater offensive power, while also saving his strength. He’s focusing on becoming able to fight the same way. (Side note: This dovetails—potentially coincidentally—fairly well with Jiren’s mantra of never putting out more power than necessary in the manga.)
Whis applauds Vegeta for catching on, and proposes a training match. Vegeta refuses if Broly will be participating, as they’ll all be in trouble if he gets carried away again. Whis instead has Broly watch, so he can see a battle in which the two fighters are controlling their own power, and has Goku and Vegeta fight without transformations, energy attacks, or other specialized powers.
Beerus, meanwhile, has woken up from four months of slumber, and found the trio of Lemo, Cheelai and Broly living on his planet. Goku offers that this was the best way to keep Broly safe from Freeza. Beerus allows Lemo to stay after sampling some of his cooking—he did odd work for Freeza’s army including custodial and cooking duties. He allows Cheelai to stay simply because he finds her cute. Whis notes he has rather cliched tastes. Goku wants a meal before the match begins, so the group go off to have an elaborate dinner courtesy of Lemo. Whis is fired as chef, Beerus states. Lemo’s in.
Beerus, Lemo, Cheelai and Whis settle in with some tubs of Earth ice cream to watch the fight unfold. Broly watches intensely. During the match, an ice cream tub flies onto the top of Whis’ staff, preventing him from noticing Bulma’s calls.
Back on Earth: Karin offers Piccolo the only two Senzu he has. Piccolo gets a call back from Bulma, saying she’s had no luck contacting Whis. Piccolo goes through the list of other potential recruits: Majin Boo is hibernating, Androids #17 and #18 carry the risk of the Red Ribbon Army knowing some sort of weakness, and Gohan won’t be ready in time. He’ll have to do something himself.
Piccolo recalls the Namekian Elder having unlocked Gohan and Kuririn’s potential, and flies up to Dende to asks if Dende can perform a similar process for him. Dende says he can’t—only Namekians of a certain age have that ability—but he could upgrade the Dragon Balls to be able to do so. He pulls out some water and the Shen Long statue, and performs an upgrade ritual. Piccolo says he had no idea you could do things like that back when he was God, and Dende notes that Piccolo/God left Namek a long time ago. Piccolo is worried about collecting the Dragon Balls in time, but Dende notes that Bulma likely already has them gathered. She’s been gathering and using them for small, trivial wishes periodically to keep them inactive and prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. Piccolo flies down to meet Bulma.
At Capsule Corporation, Piccolo takes the first wish and has Shen Long unlock his latent potential. Shen Long does so, dropping a mirror down so he can see his appearance changes, and notes that he also “threw in a bonus.” Bulma takes the second two wishes for a minor butt lift and some extra eyelash volume. Piccolo berates her for using the wishes for such trivial requests. Bulma realizes to her horror that they could have used a wish to bring Goku and Vegeta to Earth. When Piccolo chastises her again, she points out that he hadn’t thought of it either, and he sheepishly flies back to Red Ribbon HQ.
Back at the base, eager to hasten their plans, Magenta and Carmine devise a plan to lure in Son Gohan next, and have the Gammas finish him off. Knowing he has a daughter, they decide to kidnap her to lure him to the base, to avoid unveiling themselves to the public. Piccolo, still in his Red Ribbon uniform, sneaks back in and makes the excuse that he slipped away to the toilet. His neighboring soldier asks if he’s okay—he looks green—and tells him to let him know before it becomes an emergency again.
Piccolo volunteers himself to go on the mission to kidnap Pan as he “happens to live in the area,” and is also familiar with Pan, as she’s a bit of a local celebrity, being Mr. Satan’s granddaughter.
Piccolo is paired up with a burly soldier, #15, for the mission. Piccolo figures that going through with a staged kidnapping may be what it takes to snap Gohan back into action. Seeing Piccolo’s distress over going through with the plan, #15 says he knows about his stomach issues, and to please hold it until they land.
15 arrives at Pan’s kindergarten, but is instantly knocked unconscious by her when he tries to claim he’s there to take her home. She recognizes Piccolo by his ki, and he takes her and the unconscious #15 back into the Red Ribbon plane, explaining to the kindergarten teacher that it’s a security drill for Pan. Inside the plane, Piccolo reveals his plan to her, puts her in handcuffs they both know she can easily break out of, and delivers her to Red Ribbon base.
Pan feigns terror in a recording the Red Ribbons plan to use to lure Gohan in, and Piccolo and #15 show up at Gohan’s house to deliver the message. Despite Pan having seen through his disguise right away, Piccolo is disappointed to see that Gohan doesn’t notice. Gohan is unperturbed by #15 holding him at gun point, effortlessly flicking the weapon out of his hand and asking him to leave, until #15 pulls out the footage of Pan. Gohan flies out of the window and powers up into Super Saiyan, creating a massive creator under a wing of his home that causes the whole house to topple. In a panic, #15 apologizes and politely asks Gohan to come along, ensuring him Pan is still unharmed.
Gohan arrives at the base and immediately rushes toward Pan, who is waiting at the top of a tower behind a crowd of soldiers, the high-ups, and the Gammas. Gamma #1 does battle with him. Gohan is fighting an uphill battle as a Super Saiyan 2, until Piccolo and Pan feign a performance in which he acts like he’s a soldier lifting her up by the collar and threatening her. Gohan goes Ultimate, and begins to gain the upper hand. Piccolo and Pan are both surprised by the Gammas protesting Piccolo harming Pan.
Gamma #2 is ordered into the fight as backup, but Piccolo intervenes to stop him, using his new, awakened form. Gamma #2 reveals he had more power still, and puts Piccolo on the back foot again. Momentarily defeated and falling into a crevice in the base, Piccolo remembers Shen Long’s words about “throwing in a bonus.” A sigil alights on his back, his skin turns reddish-orange, his antenna stand on end, and he grows bulkier. In this newer, even stronger form, he flies back up and quickly puts Gamma #2 down.
Pan breaks free of her cuffs and begins plowing through Red Ribbon soldiers. Magenta and Carmine see the Gammas losing and start to retreat. Threatened by Pan, Carmine fires a hand gun at her, with Pan dodging all of his shots. Outraged at Carmine’s actions, the Gammas finally realize they’ve been had, and cease their fight with Gohan and Piccolo. Pan knocks out Carmine, while Magenta slips away. Dr. Hedo follows him.
The battle seemingly over, everyone regroups, now with the Gammas in tow. Bulma arrives, having brought Trunks, Goten, Kuririn and #18 as backup. Piccolo is surprised to see Goten and Trunks have grown so much since they last met. Gohan notes that Saiyans remain small until they hit a certain age, at which point they have a radical growth spurt. Gohan searches around for his glasses. Piccolo asks if his eyesight gets better when he transforms. (Implication: Yes.)
Inside the base, Magenta prepares to awaken Cell Max. Dr. Hedo tries to intervene. Magenta shoots Dr. Hedo, a moment he’d “been waiting for,” and begins to undo more of Cell Max’s restraints. Dr. Hedo gets up, reminding him about his serum-toughened skin. Megenta reveals that he’s gone through some upgrades as well—if not to the extent Dr. Hedo could cook up. He removes his jacket and shirt to show the cybernetically enhanced body underneath. He prepares to fight, but is stung on the back of the neck by Hachimaru, whose poison begins killing him. While Hedo gloats, Magenta uses his last moments to undo the final locks on Cell Max.
While Cell Max begins to break free from his chamber, Gohan asks Piccolo what’s up with the new form he showed, and Piccolo notes that Shen Long was quite generous with his “bonuses.” Gohan asks him to give it a name, like Super Saiyan. Being told by Gohan he was orange (he himself hadn’t realized), he arbitrarily decides on “Orange Piccolo,” played like a bit of a joke.
The sky darkens, and Cell max, a gigantic, red creature resembling second-form Cell with wings, explodes form below the base. (Played by Norio Wakamoto via a series of guttural grunts and screams ... So, played by Norio Wakamoto.) Gamma #1 shields an unconscious Dr. Hedo from the explosion.
Sensing the fight to come, Piccolo tosses one of the Senzu to Gohan, but he fails to catch it without his glasses, allowing it to fall into a crevice. (So there’s some official backing for the long-standing fan reading of him missing the Potara toss because he needed corrective lenses.)
Goten, Trunks, #18, the Gammas, Piccolo and Gohan fly into combat against Cell Max, while Kuririn stays back with Pan and Bulma. Tired form his previous battle, Gohan can only go Super Saiyan (or 2 ... hard to tell).
The Gammas reveal that Dr. Hedo had built a weakness into the top of Cell Max’s head. They’ll have to penetrate it to kill him. However, doing so will also trigger an explosion that they’re unlikely to survive. Still, the gang resolve to aim for his head. With no one able to make much collective progress, and Cell Max shrugging off even a Makankosappo from Piccolo aimed directly at his weak point, Goten and Trunks attempt to fuse. They slip up, producing the fat version of Gotenks. Gotenks attempts to Super Saiyan, but fails. After being pinballed around from Cell Max to several other characters, he headbutts Cell Max directly on the weak point, producing some cracks on Cell Max’s head. Piccolo notes this is “the first time a failed fusion has ever been useful.”
Gamma #2 plans to sacrifice himself to deliver the final blow, gathering all his energy from above, and driving himself through Cell Max. With the cooperation of the rest of the team, Cell Max is put in a position for the charged-up Gamma #2 to strike, but he’s blocked at the last second, only managing to take off Cell Max’s arm. To escape the resulting explosion, Pan finally learns to fly.
Enraged, Cell Max tries to stomp the unconscious Dr. Hedo and Gamma #2’s lifeless body, but Piccolo intervenes, returning to his Orange form to hold up Cell Max’s foot. Kuririn reminds him of his gigantification technique from the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, and encourages him to use it now.
Grown giant but still in a tough fight with Cell Max, Piccolo puts his hopes in Gohan, telling him that he’ll hold Cell Max in place long enough for Gohan to get in one, full-power attack on the weak point. He offers Gohan the last Senzu (having some difficulty finding it in his belt now that he’s grown to giant size). Piccolo engages in an uphill battle with the one-armed Cell Max, with support form the others, while Gohan charges his power.
Cell Max manages an attack that seems as if it’s killed Piccolo, causing Gohan to awaken past Ultimate into a new form resembling Super Saiyan 2 (longer, spikier hair, a more pronounced bang, red sparks) with white hair and red-irised, black-pupiled eyes. Gohan lays some attacks into Cell Max, overwhelming him. Cell Max begins charging a massive (nearly Earth-sized) ball of energy, which he collapses into a concentrated attack. Piccolo recovers and holds Cell Max in place. Cell Max tosses his energy ball, and Gohan performs a Makankosappo, running through both Cell Max’s attack and his head. Cell Max falls to the ground and explodes, while the gang retreat from the blast.
In the aftermath, Pan runs up to Gohan and Piccolo, in their new white and orange forms respectively, being surprised by their appearances before they revert to normal. Gohan and Pan embrace. Piccolo congratulates Gohan. Gohan notes that even had his father and Vegeta been around, they may not have been able to defeat Cell Max. Piccolo says that’s exactly why it’s important for Gohan to stay prepared.
Gamma #2’s body, drained of energy, disintegrates as Dr. Hedo and Gamma #1 watch. Piccolo states that in the end, Gamma #2 really was a superhero. Dr. Hedo rejects this—they’re all the ones who are superheroes. Dr. Hedo is repentant, but also states that he knew he was being used and chose not to care. Bulma offers the repentant Dr. Hedo and Gamma #1 places at Capsule Corporation—Dr. Hedo’s skin serum may prove useful in cosmetic research.
Pan happily flies around everyone, and we cut to credits. During the credits, Kinto'un flies over settings from the film in a series of still illustrations. We see a flustered Videl arrive back at her lopsided house.
In a post-credit scene, Vegeta and Goku, both so exhausted they can hardly move, finally finish their fight. Vegeta tosses a slow-moving, weak punch into Goku, who finally topples over, followed shortly by Vegeta. Vegeta happily remarks that he finally won. Beerus has fallen asleep. Cheelai is happy that their dull fight is finally over, but Lemo and Broly have both been moved to tears.
