When Dragon Ball Super hinted that Goku’s strength might be due to a wish, many Dragon Ball fans were less than thrilled. The prospect of chalking up Goku’s extraordinary strength to some wish more than his own determination and hard work seemed like it flew in the face of what makes Goku such an iconic character. Regardless of the wish’s larger implications for Goku’s character development though, fans may have missed how the wish actually answers a decades-old mystery from the original Dragon Ball.

Dragon Ball Super has been delving more and more into the life of Goku’s father, Bardock, with its latest arc. It’s here that the series has suggested that Bardock was actually far from a heartless monster like many of his Saiyan brethren were. On the planet of Cereal, Bardock even goes out of his way to save the young Cerealian Granolah from the villainous Heeter Gang. In a moment of desperation, the Namekian Monaito tells Bardock that he’ll relay any wish to help the Saiyan in battle. Instead of wanting help though, Bardock instead says he wishes for his sons to thrive. Many have argued that Bardock’s wish invalidates Goku’s entire journey, however, it might serve a subtler purpose of fixing one of early Dragon Ball’s most inexplicable plot developments.

Chapter 143 – 144 of the original Dragon Ball manga sees Goku face off against the evil King Piccolo for control over the Dragon Ball Goku keeps around his neck. Though Goku puts up an admirable fight and even unleashes a Kamehameha against Piccolo, the villain withstands the attack with ease and proceeds to deliver a vicious beatdown against the young hero. Despite Goku’s determination, he’s just no match for the might of the elder Piccolo. Piccolo finally ends things with an energy attack that brings Goku to death’s door. Critically, Piccolo makes sure the attack took Goku out completely and is pleased to find Goku’s heart stopped. However, as soon as Piccolo leaves and the danger is done, Goku’s heart starts. This is not a technique Goku learned and it’s not set up previously, making Goku’s survival seem far too coincidental. At least it was until Dragon Ball Super confirmed the fandom’s worst retcon fears.

Now, instead of Goku’s heart just randomly stopping at the exact moment a villain was listening for his heartbeat and then starting up again as soon as that villain wasn’t listening, there’s actually a logical reason. Following the logic of Bardock’s wish, it’s tempting to wonder whether Goku actually did die for at least a moment before Bardock’s wish brought him back. While Goku does die a couple of times later on in the franchise, those were all when he was an adult, meaning the wish might have been fulfilled by those points. Another complicating factor is that readers do not yet have confirmation that Bardock’s wish actually was made. Monaito said he would relay the wish, but there’s never a scene of it being granted. Still, assuming the wish is as it appears, then this could finally answer a 35-year-old mystery. Dragon Ball Super previously fixed a Frieza/Bardock pothole, so there is precedent.

All that being said, it is doubtful any of this was intentional. Continuity is important in Dragon Ball, but the franchise generally isn’t so obsessed with its own past that it would fix a moment that most readers likely didn’t have a problem with. Still, Dragon Ball Super‘s Goku wish retcon might be the answer for a Dragon Ball mystery that fans have wondered about for decades.