Future Trunks

Future Trunks is a character from the Dragon Ball anime and manga.

Future Trunks is the Saiyan and Earthling hybrid son of Future Vegeta and Future Bulma from an alternate future. By the time Present Trunks was born, the timeline had been altered by Future Trunks' and Cell's trips to the past. Therefore, the two Trunks had completely different lives (as opposed to those who lived before the Time Machines arrived, they lived exactly the same lives as their counterparts until the point at which the two timelines diverge: three years before the androids arrived).

Well-mannered, serious and very cautious, Trunks hails from an alternate timeline in which Future Androids 17 and 18murdered the Dragon Team and proceeded to create apocalyptic hell on Earth. Trunks is trained by Future Gohanas a teenager and becomes a gifted fighter, swordsman and a Super Saiyan; traits that aid him greatly in the battle against the Androids after traveling back in time in order to save his own future.

Years later, Future Trunks would return in Dragon Ball Super, this time fighting against a mysterious entity referred to as Goku Black (and later his partner-in-crime Future Zamasu) wreaking havoc in the future. In the end, Trunks (with the help of Goku and Vegeta) neutralizes the threat, though unfortunately, Fused Zamasu not only survives the ordeal, but his essence began to merge with the universe itself, to the point that Future Zeno had to erase the future timeline completely. Trunks himself is one of the three survivors and is currently living in another future timeline where another Future Trunks exists - created in the anime by Whis warning Future Beerus ahead of time to eliminate the soon-to-be rogue Supreme Kai, while in the manga Trunks and Mai travel to their timeline's past and prevent Future Shin's death with the blessing of Beerus as it will save his counterpart, thus eliminating the possibility of the Project Zero Mortals.

Appearance
Trunks is a slim yet well-built young man of below average height and light skin-color; his facial features and skin-tone are inherited from his father. He has blue eyes, and hair colored either lavender, purple or blue depending on the media, that is soft and straight that parts from the top of his head to frame both sides of his face reaching his ears with two loose strands over his forehead; traits he inherited from his mother. In his childhood, his hair parted at his right temple with strands hanging out and the top of his head sweeping to the left. As a teenager-on, his hairline parted at the center of his head.

In his childhood, he wore a white shirt with blue long sleeves and the Capsule Corporation title on the chest along with grey sweatpants and blue boots. When during his first adventure in the present timeline, he is usually seen wearing an indigo jacket reaching his abdomen with the Capsule Corporation logo on the left sleeve, a black tank-top, dark gray pants with a white belt, and golden boots, and computerized watch. His most noticeably accessory is his broadsword hanging on his back and hanging over his right shoulder in a red sheath with a blue strap. Later for his battle against Cell, he wears clothing identical to his father's: a blue skin-tight jumpsuit with a Saiyan Battle Armor, white boots with yellow tips, and white gloves. Following his training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he grows noticeably taller and muscular, though still somewhat shorter and thinner than Goku. He also sports longer hair reaching past his shoulders, which is later cut back to its normal length.

In Bojack Unbound, Trunks retains his primary attire in the Androids Saga but his indigo jacket has been replaced with an identical vest, and also retains his long hair.

In Dragon Ball Online, the Xenoverse series and Dragon Ball Heroes, Trunks dons clothing inspired by various military uniforms from World War I and II. Trunks wears a World War-esque black trench coat with a fur-lined collar and an olive green sweater underneath, olive green pants with lighter-colored bandages around his shins and brown colored laced boots which. Additionally, Trunks also carries a new sword, while wearing these clothes. Trunks: Xeno retains his original lavender hair color.

In Dragon Ball Super, Trunks' clothes change somewhat from the outfit he initially wore; he wears a periwinkle-colored jacket that reaches his waist with the Capsule Corporation logo on the left sleeve, with a long red scarf around his neck, dark gray pants, and pale-green boots with black tips. Underneath his jacket, Trunks wears an olive green shirt with patches on the shoulders and forearms, reminiscent of British military standard issue jumpers. Noticeably, his hair and eyebrow color is blue in all Super media, just like his mother.

In the Prison Planet Saga, Future Trunks (post-"Future" Trunks Saga) wears a black vest with a Capsule Corp logo on the shoulder, he maintains his red scarf though wears it differently. After being imprisoned he wears a green prison uniform.

Personality
Trunks, having never met his father, nor grown up under his influence, combined with the fact that he grew up in an apocalyptic world, is very cautious, broody, and serious (such as when he begged Vegeta not to challenge the Androids without Goku being present or when he did not want Vegeta to trust Paragus), unlike his main timeline counterpart, who had a personality very similar to his father's. Due to living in such harsh times and trying to find any means necessary to destroy the androids, Trunks lacks the arrogance and pride of Saiyans like Goku and Vegeta and uses methods unbecoming of a traditional Saiyan warrior. Examples include suggesting that Goku eat a Senzu Bean during his fight against Perfect Cell and attempting to destroy present Androids 17 and 18 before they could be activated. This contrasts his present day counterpart, who arrogantly stated he intended to fight Goten with one hand on one occasion. Future Trunks clearly fears the Androids, panicking at the introduction of Android 16. He also appears to be afflicted with a degree of post-traumatic stress as a result of the struggles he faced in his apocalyptic nightmarish world. Nevertheless, Future Trunks is depicted as incredibly respectful to everyone, especially his mother Future Bulma and his master Future Gohan. When he finally meets Vegeta in the past, Future Trunks is seen to be constantly trying to impress him. This is often mixed with disgust and horror towards his father's uncaring attitude towards those around him, especially when Vegeta refused to save Bulma and baby Trunks when Dr. Gero blows up their capsule airplane, forcing Future Trunks to save his present counterpart and mother.

Because he comes from the future and believes he knows what is going to happen, Future Trunks is usually shown thinking that only some things will matter and others probably would not (although he is usually right in the long term). This is shown in, at first, his resistance to do anything unless Goku is present. Other things, such as his surprise that Piccolo's fusion would make a difference, also show this. As such, he is usually surprised at events (on a different layer than the fact that history was different from his recollection). He is even (though very rarely) shown to be cocky, such as when he became a Super Saiyan Third Grade, but when he loses his seeming "advantage" this cockiness dissolves instantly. Molded from his dark timeline, he is very serious and is a determined fighter like his father.

Unlike his father or alternate timeline self, Future Trunks is often shown to be very polite and well-mannered. This is clearly shown in the original version through his speech, as he is often heard using the polite form of Japanese phrases when addressing his allies. However, Future Trunks does have some qualities typical of Saiyans, especially before he went into the past. Before jumping into the past, Future Trunks had little interest in his mother's invention, believing it to be unnecessary and not entirely believing that Goku was the caliber of warrior that was needed to defeat the Androids, but after he got thrashed good and hard by the Androids from his timeline after becoming a Super Saiyan, he finally decided that he was ready to give her idea a try. In the manga, however, he does at one point flip the bird at Imperfect Cell.

After Black appeared on Earth, brought humanity to the brink of extinction, killed his mother, and almost Future Mai, Trunks' post-traumatic stress began to resurface, when he mistook Goku for Black, and attacked him without thinking, and only stopped after noticing Bulma, realizing he had arrived in the past, and when he was flying to Gohan's house, Trunks began to have visions of his destroyed future instead of the peaceful present timeline. Despite achieving his goal of returning to the past, and seeing all of his friends alive and well, Trunks still could not let go of the traumatic events he had been through, and always had a saddened and uncomfortable look on his face. Only when he met Gohan and his family, Trunks was finally able to lighten up and start enjoying himself in the past.

Another trait of Trunks' personality that was hinted in Dragon Ball Super, was that Future Trunks only desired to become stronger in order to defeat the current threat that appeared before him (the Androids, Future Majin Buu, and Black), and defeating those threats were his only goals. Vegeta told Trunks that he should not just train simply when a new enemy appeared, and his goal in life should be training every day to become stronger, because he would never know when an enemy stronger than the one before could appear, and should always be ready for them, despite being in times of peace. This caused Trunks to finally realize the reason behind Vegeta's desire for excessive training, and also made Trunks promise his father to not only defeat Black, but grow stronger than he ever did before to protect the future. After being defeated by Future Zamasu and Black (even with Goku and Vegeta's assistance), and realizing the rogue Supreme Kai's immortality and the dark entity's ever growing power, Future Trunks felt utterly hopeless on being able to save everyone in his time, but eventually got over it thanks to his Present counterpart.

However even though Future Trunks is very different from his main timeline counterpart he shares one trait with him and that is his ability to create and execute complex battle strategies and attack at appropriate times during battle while battling stronger opponents to gain the advantage and this trait Future Trunks displays on a large number of occasions throughout his appearances in Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super this trait he may have inherited from his father. Trunks first displays this in Dragon Ball Super on his second encounter with Black shooting a Masenko at him to distract Black so Trunks could flee to the past. Another example is when Trunks turns into Super Saiyan Third Grade to cause Vegeta to drop his guard and attack and when Vegeta gets close he powers up to Super Saiyan 2 and was able fight evenly with him for a time while Vegeta was taken aback by the change. This ability once again comes into use during the Saiyan trio's battle against Black and Future Zamasu, with Trunks able to perfectly pick his spots to intervene and deal damage to both Black and Zamasu or isolate them from one another so Trunks can have a one on one fight. During battle Future Trunks is quite easily able to see through and adapt and change tactics, something no other Saiyan displays, even Gohan. This trait shined the most when Trunks stayed behind to fight both Black and Zamasu at the same time, effectively able to learn and adapt to how Zamasu was protecting Black to actually get damage onto Black and was even able to knock Black out cold at one point.

At the end of the Future Trunks Saga, as Future Trunks and Future Mai were about to disappear in the Time Machine, both Gohan and Piccolo appeared to bid farewell, Trunks looks at the former and was saddened that he couldn't save anyone in his timeline. Trunks began to cheer up after Gohan tells him to take care (remembering his old master: Future Gohan), and happily looks forward to protecting everyone in the new timeline.

Future Trunks' favorite food is convenience store bento and he enjoys tinkering with machines.

Abilities
Trunks has demonstrated a high level of power despite being young and possesses superhuman strength, speed, endurance, and durability. He can manipulate energy in the form of energy blasts and flight and has demonstrated skills in swordsmanship (from his training by Future Gohan). Trunks also has a number of techniques that he uses, such as the Burning Attack, where he performs a number of rapid arm movements. He then holds his hands out in front of him with his index fingers and thumbs forming a diamond shape and fires a powerful blast of energy from his hands. Another is the Finish Buster, where Trunks holds his hands up above him, charging a golden energy sphere above him, before bringing his hands forward, firing an energy beam from it. Another of Trunks’ techniques is his Heat Dome Attack, where he holds his hands above him as a dome of energy surrounds him. He then fires an enormous energy blast from the dome up above him. Another technique Trunks uses is his Buster Cannon, where he draws his hands behind him, charging an energy sphere in each one. He then brings them together in front of him, firing a powerful blue and white energy beam. Trunks has the ability to transform into a Super Saiyan form, where he becomes far more powerful to the point he could kill Frieza and King Cold with apparently no effort. Later on, Trunks advanced to the Ascended Super Saiyan form, an advanced version of the Super Saiyan transformation.

This gives him a much greater deal of strength and power than in the normal Super Saiyan form. Trunks also gained the ability to use the Ultra Super Saiyan form, another version of the Super Saiyan form and a forced increase in the power output and physical strength. However the increased muscle mass of the Ultra Super Saiyan transformation results in a great decrease in speed, so the form causes more harm than good.

After training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and later returning to his time, he was more than strong enough to handle Future 17 and 18. He was also able to easily destroy Imperfect Cell. In Dragon Ball Super, Trunks has become much stronger, having achieved Super Saiyan 2 in his absence. He unlocked this form in a battle against Future Dabura and Future Babidi and can enhance its strength to rival Super Saiyan 3 Goku's power in the manga. In the anime, his power was somewhat below Super Saiyan 2 Goku's until training with Vegeta. After training in the past and returning to the future, He (along with Goku were able to hold their own against Goku Black and Future Zamasu. Trunks takes a new form after being cruelly blamed for using the Time Machine and changing history, this power helped him to fend off Black and Zamasu while the others jumped into the past.

During the final battle against a mutated merged Zamasu, Trunks (with the energy that he received from everyone on Earth) was finally able to defeat Zamasu. By the time he goes back into the future one final time, both Goku and Vegeta are confident that Trunks is strong enough to handle any enemy.

Notable Techniques

 * Final Hope Slash - Using his Spirit Empowered Sword, Future Trunks stabs the target and slashes them vertically in half.
 * Saiyan Rapid Fire - A Full Power Energy Barrage Wave used in his Super Saiyan forms.
 * Burning Attack - Future Trunks performs a series of rapid arm movements before placing his palms forward, with the thumbs and index fingers touching each other to form a diamond shape. Then, he fires an Energy Sphere from his palms towards the opponent. There is also a Super Burning Attack used in Supersonic Warriors.
 * Full Charge Burning Attack - A stronger and longer charged version of the Burning Attack.
 * Buster Flash - Also known as the Buster Cannon, Future Trunks draws his hands back down to his sides and charges two blue energy spheres in his hands. Then, he combines them together in front of him to fire the Energy Wave at the opponent, inflicting a great amount of damage.
 * Burning Storm - Future Trunks places his hands forward at a 90 degree angle and charges a blue energy sphere. Then, he fires a barrage of Energy Spheres from the energy sphere at the opponent, inflicting a great deal of damage.
 * Shining Sword Slash - Future Trunks flies up and comes down to vertically slash the opponent with his sword. Next, he slashes the opponent with a Rapid Sword Stream, chopping them up into bits. Finally, Future Trunks draws his hand back and brings it forward to fire a yellow Energy Wave at what's left of the opponent, inflicting a high amount of damage.
 * Lightning Sword Slash - Future Trunks swings his sword rapidly, sending several blades of energy toward the opponent, inflicting a massive amount of damage.
 * Rapid Sword Stream - Future Trunks slashes the opponent with his sword. Then, he slashes the opponent multiple times in rapid motions. Last, Future Trunks slashes the opponent with a large amount of force, inflicting a great amount of damage.
 * God Breaker - Future Trunks extends his hand forward and fires a yellow energy wave at his opponent, inflicting a large amount of damage.
 * Super Buster Cannon - Future Trunks draws his hands back and gathers up Ki. Then, he thrusts his arms forward and discharges a massive golden-yellow beam of energy towards his opponent.
 * Burning Breaker Attack - Future Trunks charges at the opponent to punch them in their stomach and sends them up into the air. Then, he flies up to the opponent and attacks them with an elbow strike to their stomach followed by a powerful barrage of punches. Finally, Future Trunks punches the opponent twice before front flipping and double axe-handle punching them down to the ground, inflicting a huge amount of damage.
 * Blazing Rush - Future Trunks punches the opponent in the stomach, knees and roundhouse kicks them, and then knocks them up into the air with a backflip kick. Future Trunks then appears in the air behind the opponent and double axe-handles them down to the ground, inflicting a huge amount of damage.
 * Change the Future - Future Trunks charges at the opponent, but stops right in front of them with his hand over their face. Then, he charges a yellow Energy Sphere and fires it in the form of a God Breaker against the opponent, inflicting a great amount of damage.
 * Cyclone Buster - Future Trunks charges at the opponent and kicks them away. Then, he jumps up into the air and fires a God Breaker down at the opponent, inflicting a high amount of damage.
 * Heat Dome Attack - Future Trunks does a Dragonthrow and points both his hands up in the air. Then, he charges a large dome of yellow energy around himself. From this energy dome expels a gigantic Finish Buster up at the opponent, inflicting an enormous amount of damage.
 * Finish Buster - Future Trunks raises his hands into the sky and charges a large energy sphere. Then, he swings his hands down and fires the ball of energy at the opponent, inflicting a huge amount of damage.
 * Deadly Impact - First Future Trunks feels immersed in a very great fury, but which can be controlled, and then focus all his physical strength and Ki in a single stroke that is struck through his fist against the opponent, that at the conclusion ends up having his opponent's gut impaled by Trunk's attack arm.
 * Burning Heart - A Ki Charging Power Up technique.
 * Power Charge - Also known as the Inexperienced Power Up. It is a Power Up technique used by Future Trunks in his 3rd Grade Super Saiyan form.
 * Maximum Blow - Future Trunks punches the opponent in the face with all of his might, then punches the opponent twice to send them flying.

Trivia

 * Like the rest of his family (apart from Vegeta), Trunks' name is a pun on an undergarment.
 * Composer for the Funimation dub of the Dragon Ball Z, Bruce Faulconer, stated on his website that Future Trunks was his favorite Dragon Ball character. American voice actor Christopher Sabat has agreed, saying that apart from Vegeta, Trunks is his favorite character from the series. He has liked how his character is "lone survivor of the apocalypse, son of the most angry and the most headstrong characters." He additionally liked Future Trunks' fights, such as the one in which he easily killed Frieza and his father.
 * Despite having been officially stated that Goku was the one who defeated Frieza and King Cold in Cell's and Future Trunks' timeline, Cell implies that Future Trunks was as responsible for Frieza and King Cold's defeat in his/Trunks' timeline as he was in the main timeline while telling Piccolo about his origins as well as the cells that were infused to him.
 * Trunks and his father, Vegeta, were both killed by a Death Beam through the chest by a major supervillain. While Frieza used a normal death beam on Vegeta, Cell used a Full Power Death Beam on Trunks.
 * In the Character Illustrations section of the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi series, it is stated that Future Trunks obtained his sword from Tapion, although this is contradicted in every other official source which has discussed its origin. Not to mention, in Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and 3, if Trunks and Tapion fight, they clearly recognize each other, Trunks even says "Long time, no see."
 * Future Trunks is referred to as Time Patrol Trunks in Dragon Ball Online and Trunks: Xeno in Dragon Ball Heroes, while retaining his name Future Trunks in the Xenoverse series.
 * Super Saiyan 2 Trunks: Xeno is currently a non-playable character in Dragon Ball Heroes.
 * Due to time travel, Future Trunks has multiple incarnations/counterparts in addition to his main timeline counterpart. It was the Future Trunks from Cell's Timeline who caused other timelines to be distorted.
 * The Future Trunks from Cell's Timeline who was killed by Cell.
 * Future Trunks from Dragon Ball Super who's timeline was devastated by Fused Zamasu and Erased by Future Zeno, forcing him and Future Mai to live in the future timeline created when Whis warned Future Beerus.
 * Future Trunks who lives in the Future Timeline created by Whis' warning Future Beerus. Lives with his timeline's Future Mai. Sharing this timeline with their counterparts from the erased Future Timeline.
 * It is implied in the Xenoverse series that this counterpart may have eventually been recruited by Chronoa to be her attendant and works to defend history as a member of the Time Patrol (otherwise known as Trunks: Xeno) as his timeline still exists, however this was disproven in Xenoverse 2's 4th DLC Pack as Trunks: Xeno has zero memory of encountering a 2nd version of himself. It's possible he never met the Future Trunks from Super.
 * Future Trunks has a younger counterpart mentioned in Xenoverse 2 who exists in the altered future timeline created by Trunks: Xeno which saves Future Gohan in Age 780.
 * It is also implied in Xenoverse 2 that Trunks: Xeno has two alternate counterparts of his own, one being the Trunks: Xeno who obeyed Chronoa and did not prevent Future Gohan from dying and the Trunks: Xeno who prevented Future Gohan's death which may have created a new future timeline provided that Chronoa chose not to erase or fix said change.
 * When Future Trunks is tagged out in Budokai Tenkaichi 2, he says "back to the future"; a reference to the time traveling film Back to the Future.
 * Trunks is the second to last person to have his power level stated with the use of a scouter, being only 5 because he suppressed his true power to avoid detection and mislead Frieza and King Cold.
 * Angelo's hair from Dragon Quest VIII strongly resembles Future Trunks' base form with shorter hair.
 * Akira Toriyama was the art director for the Dragon Quest games, so it is highly possible he based his designs on Trunks.
 * The Yu-Gi-Oh! card character Tyler the Great Warrior seems based on Future Trunks.
 * Future Trunks has killed both villains that killed his father. He killed Frieza in the present timeline and the Androids in his own future timeline, who both killed Vegeta. Also, in killing Frieza he avenged the deaths of his paternal grandfather and the Saiyans killed by Frieza during the Genocide of the Saiyans, which is somewhat fitting considering his royal Saiyan heritage.
 * According to the Databooks:
 * Trunks' favorite food is convenience store bento.
 * Trunks' favorite vehicle is the time machine.
 * Trunks has altered the flow of time twice in his life, radically changing events and saving Goku on both occasions. The first is when he went back in time to save Goku from the heart virus and killing Frieza and King Cold as well, drastically altering the course of the future. The second time Trunks saved Goku, he wasn't aware he saved him when he retreated to the past to get help from Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan to fight Goku Black. Trunks unknowingly traveled back to a point to where Goku hasn't met Zamasu yet. Due to Trunks' interference, Beerus and Whis caught wind of Zamasu's evil heart and were able to stop him from carrying out his plans and saving Goku from what was supposed to be his death and the creation of Goku Black.
 * Three times if one counts Trunks: Xeno saving his mentor Future Gohan from dying in Age 780 in the Unknown History Saga of Xenoverse 2, though this timeline may have been fixed/erased depending on whether or not Chronoa chose to do so (as her final decision is left ambiguous).
 * Trunks has fought with and defeated a version of every major villain from Dragon Ball Z. Upon arrival to the present timeline, he kills Mecha Frieza, along with his father. While in the present, he kills an unborn Present Cell with Krillin, and upon returning to his timeline after the Cell Games, he kills Future Cell. Roughly 7–9 years after this, Trunks fights and kills both Future Dabura and Future Babidi, effectively disabling Future Innocent Buu.
 * As of the events of Xenoverse 2, Future Trunks is effectively responsible for killing King Cold and both of his sons, as he kills Cooler in Xenoverse 2 when he reprograms the Big Gete Star to self-destruct, which ends up killing Cooler in his Meta-Cooler Core form.
 * In Dragon Ball Fusions in Ziku-kan Quest: "Darkness Cometh", it is shown that Pan thinks more highly of Future Trunks than his main timeline counterpart (which includes Kid Trunks and his adult self from the GT Timeline) and she even passingly refers to him as the "Cool" Trunks.
 * In Dragon Ball Fusions, Future Trunks is the first Saiyan/Human hybrid to attain a god form (Super Saiyan Blue).
 * Interestingly, in Xenoverse 2 DLC Pack 4, the Future Trunks in Dragon Ball Super is referred to by Chronoa as a different version of Trunks. Trunks: Xeno is stated to be the very same Future Trunks who was present during the Android and Cell saga. The Future Trunks of Dragon Ball Super is stated to have gone through the same events as Trunks: Xeno but was never recruited to the Time Patrol. That would make Trunks, in addition to already possessing numerous incarnations of himself throughout all the timelines, having four very different versions of himself. The original Future Trunks who lost his life from Cell, Future Trunks who exists during the Cell Saga who became Trunks: Xeno, his present timeline counterpart, and the Superversion, also from the Cell Saga, who was never recruited by the Time Patrol. Trunks: Xeno also didn't know that Android 18 was married to Krillin and had a child, thus thinking that she is still evil, until being informed by Chronoa.
 * Future Trunks from Super is a lot more powerful compared to his other counterparts who only possessed the basic Super Saiyan. Unlike his other counterparts, he unfortunately lost the lives of his family and the people he knew due to Goku Black and Future Zamasu. In order to end the Project Zero Mortals, Future Zeno erased the entire timeline. This would mean he lost the existence of his family and the people, except Future Mai, in his own biological timeline.
 * Future Trunks holds the rank of "Commander" by Earth's Resistance in his timeline, and Trunks: Xeno is referred to as both Captain and Commander of the Time Patrol in the Xenoverse series.
 * Despite his close attachment to Future Gohan, Future Trunks does not seem particularly concerned with his his present timeline counterpart. For example, when Gohan was beaten senseless by Perfect Cell, Future Trunks does not frantically rush to his aid, only watching the younger version of his mentor suffer at Cell's hands.
 * When Future Trunks foretells of the Androids in the manga, he mentions them as Nos. 19 and 20. Because of Akira Toriyama's editor expressing dissatisfaction when they appeared, Toriyama created Androids 17 and 18 to be the androids Future Trunks foretold of, thus creating a plot hole. The plot hole is fixed in the anime, where Future Trunks doesn't mention them by name.
 * Future Trunks is the only charachter that face all 3 Cell forms.