Goku is the inarguable hero of the Dragon Ball franchise, and even amid attempts to change that in Dragon Ball Z, he remained the main character. Despite this, there were several threats to his life, with one situation almost doing him in for good. This wasn’t a harrowing battle between Cell or Frieza, however, but instead a medical fight against a deadly virus that actually killed one version of Goku.
The beginning of the Android Saga features a storyline involving Goku becoming infected with a dangerous “heart virus.” The same thing had happened to an alternate universe version of the hero, though he sadly didn’t win that battle. Due to this unfortunate situation, his world was left vulnerable to be ravaged by the power of the Androids.
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The heart virus in Dragon Ball Z is a heavily contagious sickness that creates similar symptoms to myocarditis. Those affected by it become incredibly tired and weak, with basic movements and activities easily tiring them out. Even those with incredibly powerful healing factors and immune systems are still vulnerable to it, and they may in fact be worse off, in some respects. With Goku, turning into a Super Saiyan actually exacerbated the virus’ hold on his body, worsening his own health by trying to become stronger.
Other symptoms include chest pain, with this being a telltale sign that the individual may soon be expiring. Even Senzu Beans and other supernatural nutrients are infeffective against it, showing just how resilent the virus is. The Heart Medicine that was eventually developed in the future is the only cure for the illness, and it’s otherwise a death sentence. Goku wasn’t the only one to contract the disease, either. In fact, a multitude of people in Future Trunks’ timeline died due to the Heart Virus, which spelled doom for the world at large because of it.
The illness’ impact meant that Goku and the others died of natural causes, so Shenron was unable to revive them via wishes through the Dragon Balls. Trunks himself had contracted the disease, and it wasn’t only thanks to the Heart Medicine that he survived. Even with the cure found by Future Bulma, the nature of the disease was still mysterious. This caused Piccolo to instruct Yamcha to also take the Heart Medicine, as he feared the virus was contagious. The mainstream Goku’s world was saved, but the world of Future Trunks was a darker place indeed.
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The death of Goku in Future Trunks’ timeline by way of the Heart Virus was seemingly random and unplanned. As mentioned, there was no known source of the disease, so it was likely to be simply a random pandemic instead of something intentionally concocted by a malevolent force. This makes it even more dangerous, as there’s seemingly no one specific to blame for it. To make matters worse, the loss of Goku meant that the strongest of the Z Fighters was now gone.
This left his allies and the rest of the world with a gigantic blind spot against the next big threat: the Androids of Dr. Gero. Created by a disgruntled member of the destroyed Red Ribbon Army, these technological killers were meant to exact Gero’s revenge against those that had defeated his group years beforehand. Even though Goku himself wasn’t there to take vengeance upon, this only made the work of Android 17 and Android 18 even easier.
The rest of the Dragon Warriors were largely unable to fend off their new enemies, who quickly overpowered them and turned the world into a wasteland. Some of the only survivors were Future Gohan and Future Trunks, with Gohan becoming a sort of surrogate older brother to the latter. Through a Capsule Corp. time machine, Future Trunks (following the death of Gohan) is able to go back in time and try to prevent history from repeating itself.
He arrives in time to give Goku the antidote, though the Saiyan had yet to display any symptoms of the Heart Virus. This situation puts the cure for the disease in Goku’s grasp, but Future Trunks actions also have another, completely unintended consequence.
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Due to Trunks traveling back in time to warn Goku of the Heart Virus and the coming threat of the Androids, the “past” is irrevocably changed. Goku only develops symptoms of the Heart Virus after the Androids appear, which is about six months after he was supposed to have contracted the disease. As soon as the disease shows up, it quickly weakens him to the point where he nearly dies on the battlefield, and it’s only thanks to Vegeta that he makes it home in one piece.
There, he’s able to finally take the Heart Medicine, which quickly goes to work on curing him after several days. Afterward, he rejoins the battle against the Androids, with the Heart Virus no longer a factor after that. This makes the nature of the disease more mysterious than ever, especially since it showed up in Goku’s system much later than it should have. It’s largely chalked up to the fact that Future Trunks inadvertently changed the mainstream timeline by appearing at all, leading to much different circumstances surrounding the Heart Virus pandemic and the rise of the Androids.
It’s also worth that noting that, despite Yamcha being told to take the Heart Medicine as a prophylactic, the wider pandemic related to the Heart Virus doesn’t happen at all in the mainstream timeline. Goku seems to be the only one affected, which is another major difference from the Future Trunks timeline. If anything, it’s possible that Future Trunks brought the virus back with him when he traveled back in time, though the new location caused it to mutate.
This meant that it only manifested within Goku after a long incubation period, and by this point, it had become almost entirely non-contagious. Regardless of what happened, Goku was able to stave off its effects with the help of the Heart Medicine. Unfortunately, these changes are a one-way street, meaning that Future Trunks’ mission only helped one world. The Future Trunks timeline continues to exist as a parallel reality in the multiverse of Dragon Ball Z, with this concept somewhat explored further in the sequel series, Dragon Ball Super.
Even though Future Trunks prevented one version of Goku from being killed by the Heart Virus, this didn’t change history in his own timeline. His version of Goku, the Z Fighters and Gohan were still killed, with the Androids’ rise to power remaining the same. Thankfully, Future Trunks had himself become stronger than ever after going back to the past and training hard. Thus, when he returned to his own timeline, he had far more power and ability at his disposal. This allowed him to take down the Androids in his timeline and free his world from their tyranny, even if he was too late to save his version of Goku from the Heart Virus.
