What if the Freeza arc had a Return of the King climax?

[WittyUsername]

This is a thought that occurred to me recently, but considering that Freeza is supposed to have an entire empire at his disposal, and the crux of the arc is him invading a planet and slaughtering its inhabitants, what if the climax was an all out war in the style of Lord of the Rings, rather than a one on one fight?

Basically, what if the Dragon Team succeeded in using the Dragon Balls to revive their fallen friends and the Namekian people earlier on, and then the final battle involved Freeza and his army battling it out with Goku, his friends, and the Namekians? Would that have been interesting to see?

[Yuli Ban]

It absolutely would've been interesting to see and knowing the trajectory of the franchise now, it's probably something we will see in Toyotaro's manga or a future Xenoverse or spiritual sequel thereof.

That's just not what the series itself was about. Loads of kung fu stories had epic backdrops like this but the climactic fight was usually a one or two-on-one even with an almighty warlord in possession of vast forces of evil.

[MyVisionity]

Yeah that all sounds too epic for Dragon Ball.

If Freeza had an entire army at his disposal, the Z-Senshi would lose. There was never any need for too many soldiers because Namek had such a small population, and with only so many warriors.

Ultimately in a series about martial artists you end up with one on one fights.

[Polyphase Avatron]

Yeah that all sounds too epic for Dragon Ball.

If Freeza had an entire army at his disposal, the Z-Senshi would lose. There was never any need for too many soldiers because Namek had such a small population, and with only so many warriors.

Ultimately in a series about martial artists you end up with one on one fights.

The movie version of Resurrection F had some good fights with Freeza's army.

[SupremeKai25]

An Army vs. Army battle?

In a shonen?

Especially in Dragon Ball, where this is possible?



Yeah, I'm afraid the power-creep has gotten too heavy to allow army vs. army battles. Anyone could quite literally blow up the enemy army with one ki shot, even fucking Yamcha.

[MasenkoHA]

It just doesn’t seem very kung fu to me. One man against an entire army? Yes absolutely. Army vs army? Nah

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I've often wondered how they will handle Freeza in the future, I'd be open to something like this whenever Super 2.0 comes out as we've never had a war arc in Dragon Ball.

[Polyphase Avatron]

Again, the closest thing we've gotten to this is the battle in Resurrection F. And that was entertaining.

[Yuli Ban]

Again, the closest thing we've gotten to this is the battle in Resurrection F. And that was entertaining.

In fact, it was the most entertaining part of the movie.

It just doesn’t seem very kung fu to me. One man against an entire army? Yes absolutely. Army vs army? Nah

No, it works for kung fu and especially Wuxia, due to the fact many stories take place in Chinese history— and you don't have to be a scholar to know that Chinese history is incredibly bloodsoaked from massive wars. The key is that the army vs. army plot has to be either a subplot or in the background entirely so that the focus remains on the two-plus main fighters.

Heck, I'd go so far as to say even many Western fantasy and action stories work best when they keep the actual war in the background. Most large-scale war scenes have to be really well-paced and planned to work. Lord of the Rings made it work because it was trying to be a sort of pseudo-mythological English epic from the start.

[UltraInstinctRorikon]

I would LOVE a war and I hadn't realized DB lacked this till now. I hope this actually does happen in the series at least once now. Then all the chars can get to shine.

[90sDBZ]

This makes me think about the Alabasta and Skypiea arcs from One Piece. They could still have Goku vs Frieza as 1v1 while everthing else happens in the background.

Perhaps it is a bit too overdramatic for Dragon Ball, but it's an interesting idea.

I'll also say I love the Z Fighters vs Frieza's army in RF. It's just really fun to watch.