Fans of Dragon Ball Super certainly know that the series originally was inspired by the Chinese classic, Journey to the West, with Goku being a direct parallel to that story's Sun Wukong. Few, however, realize that the trend of drawing from Journey to the West even applies to characters from Dragon Ball Super, in particular Goku Black.

Many original Dragon Ball characters, such as Oolong, Puar, and even Bulma were counterparts to Journey to the West characters which shared similar roles. As Dragon Ball gradually became its own thing, these similarities diminished, but the characters who were drawn from the classic tale remained a part of the world. By the time of Dragon Ball Z, the story had completely diverged, and it seemed no other elements of Journey to the West would likely make it into the series. However, as it turns out, Dragon Ball Super's villain Goku Black actually bears a number of similarities to a villain from the epic: The Six-Eared Macaque.

Goku Black is Dragon Ball's Take on a Journey to the West Villain

"Goku Black" was originally a Kai in training known as Zamasu, who became obsessed with Goku and, with the help of time travel and the Super Dragon Balls, managed to steal his body in order to create his vision of paradise. Of course, Zamasu's vision of paradise meant killing all mortals, and he got his start in Future Trunks' timeline, killing as many Earthlings as possible. Through further time travel, the present-day Goku is able to face down this impostor, and while Goku Black proves a very deadly foe, Goku ultimately wins by invoking Zeno, the supreme god of the Dragon Ball multiverse.

In Journey to the West, the Six-Eared Macaque is a monkey, like Sun Wukong, who possesses some godlike powers thanks to his six ears. The Macaque spends almost the entire story in disguise as Sun Wukong, impersonating the monkey so perfectly that only Buddha can tell the two apart. The Macaque craves power and envies what Sun Wukong has, and the two ultimately have a climactic battle in front of Buddha, before Buddha captures the Macaque and forces it to return to its true form.

Goku Black's Original Inspiration Makes Him A More Interesting Villain

The Six-Eared Macaque in the story is a representation of Sun Wukong's dark side, much as Goku Black is a far darker version of Goku. Goku Black mirrors the Six-Eared Macaque's role almost perfectly: he has supernatural powers, he steals the hero's identity, and victory is ultimately only possible by invoking a far more powerful being. While Goku Black's presence in Dragon Ball Super is a bit late compared to most Journey to the West-inspired characters, there's no denying the similarities the arc had with its classic origin, and in a way, represents Dragon Ball returning to its roots, if only for a moment.