Akira Toriyama, the creator of “Dragon Ball”, had imagined what an aged Goku might look like at the end of “Dragon Ball” and you are not ready!
Years ago, on October 4, 1989, five years after the launch of Dragon Ball, its creator Akira Toriyama drew an elderly version of Son Goku. Obviously, we are in the 80s and therefore the character wears a mustache, and a stick reminiscent of that of Awesome Turtle:
Fans are surprised, and imagine that Toriyama will end his story with this old Goku, but in reality, it was more of a joke, the author simply imagining what his older hero would look like, precisely specifying not to know where it is going in terms of narration (in Weekly Shōnen Jump “Gold Selection”).
Son Goku, his real name, was created on November 20, 1984 in the pages of the magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump. Inspired by the Monkey King, hero of the novel The Journey to the West signed Wu Cheng’en, Goku has become one of the most iconic characters in pop culture. Hero of Dragon Ball, he goes in search of the 7 Dragon Balls, which allow him to summon the dragon Shenron and make him grant wishes.
And Goku wasn’t Toriyama’s favorite character, and it wasn’t Vegeta either!
Inspired by this Jackie Chan movie
Destination Movies Jackie Chan in “The Chinese Master”
The Dragon Ball saga and its hero Goku were created by Toriyama, taking inspiration from Jackie Chan’s films (he has seen The Chinese Master dozens of times). The editor Kazuhiko Torishima advised him to draw on his fascination with this type of film to sign a shōnen kung-fu manga. And thus Dragon Ball was born.
Chan has since become friends with his admirer Toriyama, and upon the author’s death, the Rush Hour actor shared his emotion:
Let’s also not forget that in Dragon Ball, Goku met (and faced) a character named Jackie Chun… a nod not even hidden to the famous comedian adept at kung fu. Jackie Chun participates in the 21st and 22nd “Tenkaichi Budokai” (World Martial Arts Championship) and actually hides… Brilliant Turtle in disguise!