2026 Dragon Ball Predictions

[TechExpert2021]

We're a month away from the end of 2025!

What are your predictions for the Dragon Ball franchise in 2026?

My previous predictions:

█ = Prediction correct
█ = Prediction partially correct
█ = Prediction incorrect

• Dragon Ball Daima will end after 20-30 episodes in late March 2025. Ended on February 28, 2025, with 20 episodes.
• Funimation/Crunchyroll will release a new steel-book BD set of DBZ (reusing the 30th Anniversary BD masters for the discs).
• Funimation/Crunchyroll will also release new steel-book BD sets of OG DB and DBGT (reusing their respective Brick DVD masters for the discs).
• More non-English dubs of Daima will be coming out.
• The English dub of DB Daima will make its network premiere on Adult Swim's Toonami. Premiered on June 14, 2025, at 12:30 AM, with each episode premiering on the block every week.
• A new Dragon Ball JRPG game focused strictly on DB Daima will be released sometime in 2026 or 2027.
• The Dragon Ball Super manga will continue until 2027 or 2028.
• A manga based on the Dragon Ball Super Divers card game will be released (and later a Dragon Ball Super Divers promotional anime).
• Dragon Ball Project: Multi will be released in mid-2025. Later revealed as Gekishin Squadra. Released on September 9, 2025.
• A new animated DB theatrical film will be announced and released in 2026.

My new predictions:

• A remake of the original 1986 anime will be announced and will premiere in 2027.
• The Dragon Ball Super manga will continue after the hiatus ends.
• Crunchyroll/Funimation will give Dragon Ball Daima a home video release.
• Crunchyroll/Funimation will give the original 1986 DB anime a new home video release using Toei's new upscaled Dragon Box remaster of the series that is on Hulu.
• A manga and promotional web anime based on the Dragon Ball Super Divers card game will be released.
• The new Dragon Ball game that'll be announced on January 25, 2026, during the Dragon Ball Genkidamatsuri event will be either a Budokai reboot, a kart racing game, or Xenoverse 3.

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You can also review your predictions for the Dragon Ball franchise in 2025 and see what went along for the franchise that year.

[Grimlock]

[*]A manga and promotional web anime based on the Dragon Ball Super Divers card game will be released.

Very unlikely. The arcade game unfortunately isn't telling stories, so there is nothing to adapt into an anime and manga.

[JulieYBM]

Dragon Ball Super (2015 comic) will return to serialization.

A new film will be announced.

That's about it. 2026 is the 40th anniversary of the first television series, so that will also probably get some sort of special event or promotional thing.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

A remaster (AI upscaled with some redraws ala DB Kai) of the original DB anime will be announced and broadcasted in 2026.

Sequel to Dragon Ball FighterZ is revealed and set to release on 2027.

The SUPER manga will remain on hiatus throughtout 2026.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I've wanted a remake of the original Dragon Ball for quite some time. Ditto a new English-friendly home video release. I'd like to think either or both will be announced next year, but I honestly wouldn't put any money on it. I'm expecting for the 40th anniversary it will just be more streaming releases.

A new movie is a safe prediction however, probably with another new artstyle and a story none of us will expect.

The Super manga will also probably return and we'll get a conclusion to Black Freeza.

Daima will get a 4K/Blu-Ray release from Crunchyroll, probably in steelbooks or some other collectable edition.

[SupremeKai25]

A new Super movie seems like a safe bet.

2018 = Broly

2022 = Super Hero

2026 = ?

I'm guessing they will address the Black Freeza cliffhanger in a movie (and Toyotaro will later make a manga adaptation of course). Also, I think having Broly and Freeza appear in all the Super-branded movies would truly bring everything together and make it feel like an actual trilogy.

[MasenkoHA]

The new Dragon Box upscale remaster on Hulu will get a home video release by Crunchy

Daima will get some sort of special release (Steelbook?)

New Dragon Ball game that covers material from the original manga will get released

[IntangibleFancy]

Pessimistic:
Project #1: Dragon Ball and/or Z remake
Project #2: Either a Dragon Ball SD series like AOT Junior high or Rock Lee & HNP, or the project won't even be a animated at all
Video game project: Dragon Ball Battle peak, that Chinese game that recently got revealed. Could technically be possible since it wasn't officially announced

Optimistic:
Project #1: Either a Daima or DBS movie
Project #2: The DBS anime either coming back or an anouncement that the manga is coming back with the anime adapting it in the near future
Video game project: Either Xenoverse 3 or Kakarot 2

Realistic
Project #1: Some kind of remake, either OG-Z or DBS.
Project #2: Daima season 2 maybe? DBS movie?
Video game project: New series entry. I think it'll be a Musou.

I think it's more likely we're getting a remake for OG and Z. It's the 40th anni and they've been promoting the hell out of both. As for the second project, I really want to believe we're getting something new and interesting and that they wouldn't go through all the trouble of making an event outside of JF and Battle Hour only for both projects to offer no kind of progression to the franchise.

And as for the video game, I mentioned this on the video game board; I don't think the Xenoverse series is ready for a threequel yet and we already have small-scale games for a niche audience in Breakers and Gekishin, and Gekishin is also the third gacha, so I think the next game will be a new entry like Kakarot was, and it'd probably get sequels had it been made a decade earlier but now it'll just pile up on DLC.

As for what exactly the game will be, I'm thinking a Musou. XV and SZ already scratch that Arena fighter itch, and I doubt they'd bring FZ back from the dead with the new Goku if they were just going to kill it again and make way for a new fighting game that'd have to compete with both FZ and Budokai, and there's already an ARPG (DBZK). I think a Musou is the only type of Battle game they haven't already done that also won't disinterest big chunks of the fanbase like a moba would

[Chuquita]

What I'd like to see is the manga finally return with the Black Freeza arc.

What I think we're probably gonna get is a remake of the Z anime. Or a movie (hopefully not cgi, but probably) that's a remake of something we've already seen.

[JulieYBM]

Ooh, I forgot: a Daima compilation film that is edited better and doesn't kinda just suck.

[WittyUsername]

Xenoverse 3 will finally be announced and release next year.

The manga won’t come back.

[Tian]

What I do expect:
- More international dubs of the recent series.
- A new movie.

What I don't expect:
- A new main series.
- A new spin-off series.

[Xeogran]

I'm guessing they will address the Black Freeza cliffhanger in a movie

They quite literally can't do that without adapting the debut of the form first. If we get a new DBS movie it'll be a new antagonist again.

[SSGpotota]

The most plausible animated project we could get is an OG/Z Dragon Ball remake. Good as an anniversary project, no legal headaches and something that's been mentioned before.

If something Super-related is in the works, realistically is just the anime coming back as it was. Ideally, I'd love a recut and corrected version of the Super anime a-la One Piece Log that then goes into a seasonal adaptation of the manga arcs (including a 2D Super Hero).

For the videogames, I could see a Xenoverse 3. I doubt there will be a brand new series with so many already available and supported.
Or, if we want to focus on nostalgia for the 40th anniversary, maybe a Budokai 4, although I'm not sure how much it would clash with FighterZ, I think they're different enough, but with FighterZ getting an update and a brand new DLC character I'm not sure what plans they have for the game.

[SupremeKai25]

I'm guessing they will address the Black Freeza cliffhanger in a movie

They quite literally can't do that without adapting the debut of the form first. If we get a new DBS movie it'll be a new antagonist again.

Hardly. You don't really need to know what happened with Granolah and co. to understand that Freeza trained for 10 years and got a new form.

Dragon Ball fans online have a tendency to overthink these things.

The general audience isn't stupid. It's not difficult to understand Black Freeza. It's not a complex or complicated plot development. It's basically just a rehash of Golden Freeza, which everyone understood quite easily.

[The Dark Knight]

Hardly. You don't really need to know what happened with Granolah and co. to understand that Freeza trained for 10 years and got a new form.

Both Freeza and Vegeta got their new forms off screen anyway, so a Black Freeza movie won't be impacted by Granola and Moro not getting animated, as both can just show off their new form on the battle field with a simple sentence of "I trained with Beerus" and "I trained in an alternate dimension".

[PowerPhantom245]

Here's my prediction for next year (2026)
- Masako Nozawa would retire as Goku (despite she wants to portray til 182!) and pass the torch to new actor for future anime.
- New Dragon Ball games.
- Legacy of Goku GBA trilogy (LoG I, LoG II, and Buu's Fury) release on Nintendo Switch Online.

Wishful Thinking
- Blu-ray box set release of original series to celebrate 40th anniversary of anime; properly remastered from films (not upscale!).
Bonus features would be Masako saying "Ossu! Ora Goku!" and 30 minutes~1hour retrospective interview of franchise.
- Announcement of new live action series (Japanese) on streaming platform... it should be better than Dragonball Evolution (I hope).

[WittyUsername]

A Dragon Ball movie where they fight Black Freeza sounds like it would come dangerously close to being a retread of Resurrection ‘F.’ Anyway, I don’t think that’s what they’re doing. If we get a new Dragon Ball movie, I could see it being another retelling of the very first arc of the manga. Or hey, a Japanese live action series could be another possibility.

[JulieYBM]

A Dragon Ball movie where they fight Black Freeza sounds like it would come dangerously close to being a retread of Resurrection ‘F.’

I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but this is why you hire a good director and writer and give them the freedom to make something good.

Just look at how Nagamine handled Freeza's return during the Tournament of Power and how it felt real.

[Xeogran]

Anyhow, I'm gonna predict Kakarot Super, because it's easy to notice that CC2 has been purposedly avoiding DBS content as by now there's so much of it, that it can fill an entire game. Even BoG and RoF that were added as DLCs, were shown in a very roundabout way and not the actual movies being retold (No Bulma's Party in BoG, Tagoma and Sorbet missing in RoF)