Many Dragon Ball fans think the series totally wasted Raditz as a character, and honestly they’d be right, but Dragon Ball GT may have solved that particular problem years ago, only for Dragon Ball Super to reap the benefit–and no one even noticed.
Raditz’s introduction was marked by the official start of Dragon Ball Z as he single-handedly shifted the entire franchise to the more hardcore, battle-sentric tone that would make it famous. Unlike the previous era, Dragon Ball Z immediately jumped into world-ending threats, intergalactic dictators, time-traveling androids, and cosmic entities even gods were afraid of. Most shocking of all? Goku could die–and Raditz was the one who proved that. Raditz is Goku’s brother, but familial ties meant very little to this Saiyan warrior as he only cared about Kakarot to the extent of what he could offer to Frieza’s planet-conquering efforts. Due to Raditz’s immense strength (relative to that period in DBZ history, that is), Goku died taking him down. While Goku got to be resurrected, Raditz stayed dead for the rest of the franchise–at least, that’s what fans have been led to believe.
Raditz Escaped from Hell in Dragon Ball GT Only to Come Back in Super
In Dragon Ball GT episode 43 (written by Atsushi Maekawa, directed by Osamu Kasai, produced by Toei Animation), a portal from hell opens in the sky, and through it fly hordes of old Dragon Ball villains who were killed by the Z-Fighters throughout every era of the series. Among the resurrected was none other than Nappa, a Saiyan warrior who fought alongside Vegeta and, of course, Raditz. A few episodes later, all the villains who escaped were sent back to hell, and fans got a good view of who they all were as they stood in line to return to the correct corner of the afterlife–and Raditz wasn’t in that lineup.
Despite the fact that it was confirmed by King Kai in DBZ that Raditz went to hell when he died, the Saiyan villain wasn’t seen flying through the portal back to Earth. Even Nappa made it back, and it seems odd that they wouldn’t return together given how they were partners in life and died only about a year apart. Not only that, but Raditz wasn’t among those who were forced to return to hell when the saga was over. This means that either Raditz had no interest in returning to Earth like his partner, Nappa, did, or he did make it back to Earth–and he never left. Unlike every other villain who escaped damnation, Raditz could have traveled through the portal and then simply not kill a bunch of people or start blowing stuff up, only to be stopped by the immensely strong Z-Fighters two seconds later. If Raditz got out of hell and then just laid low, he could still be alive, just waiting for the right time to make himself known–either continuing his life of villainy, or coming back as a reformed hero.
Based on the official Dragon Ball timeline, it can be assumed with some level of backing that Dragon Ball GT is canon to the newly established Dragon Ball Super timeline, and will happen after the events of Super take place. Well, that day is quickly approaching. In current DBS storylines, the manga is approaching the end of Z–i.e. the ten-year time jump–and GT takes place only five years after that. This means that Dragon Ball Super will likely continue its narrative after the events of GT. So, in future storylines of Super that could potentially take place following GT, Raditz is free to be included in the Dragon Ball lineup as it is more than plausible that he escaped from hell in Dragon Ball GT, and is just waiting to come back in the hypothetical post-GT era of Dragon Ball Super.
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