Future Trunks (のトランクス Mirai no Torankusu) is a Saiyan-Earthling hybrid and the son of Vegeta and Bulma, both from an alternate future. By the time Present Trunks was born, the timeline had been drastically 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, who 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 18 murdered the Dragon Team and proceeded to create an apocalyptic anarchy on Earth. Trunks is trained by Future Gohan as a teenager and becomes a gifted fighter, swordsman and a Super Saiyan, which are traits that aid him greatly in the battle against the Androids after traveling back in time in order to save his own future.
Statistics
Key: Future Timeline | Pre-Hyperbolic Time Chamber | Post-Hyperbolic Time Chamber
Alignment: Neutal Good (Trunks wants to protect the people he cares about, such as his mother Bulma. He likes to end his fights as quickly as possible in order to save the world as fast as he can. This is best seen when he killed Frieza and his army really fast in order to relay a message to Goku in order to save Goku's life and to save the world from destruction)
Range:Standard Melee Range, Extended Melee with his Sword | Standard Melee Range, Planetary with ki attacks | Standard Melee Range, Interstellar with Ki Attacks (Ki attacks can reach out of the planet and to other planets. All ki attacks should be comparable to Goku's kamehameha, which reached all the way to the sun)
Intelligence:Extraordinary Genius (Trunks was able to outsmart and outskill Frieza and King Cold the first time that they met. Superior to Vegeta, who was able to outsmart Frieza’s entire army and lay low during the Frieza Saga, and managed to trick the likes of Doctor Gero into fleeing by feigning confidence after trashing Android 19. Knows Cell is as overconfident as he was, and tricked him into standing absolutely still while he charged his Final Flash. Noted by Piccolo that Vegeta might be even more of a combat genius then Son Goku. Trunks was able to find Super Saiyan Grade Three after a year in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber)
Future Trunks Sword: Trunks wields a sword that he can amplify in order to slice through his opponents very easily with it. He used this sword in order to kill Mecha Frieza in one blow
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Capsules: Trunks possesses multiple small capsules that he can store multiple items inside of them. He stores them in his pockets and has a case to contain them in
Capsule Corp. Time Machine: Trunks has a time machine that allows him to travel in any point in timeline in alternate universes. He keeps in in a capsule for better transportation
Senzu Beans: Senzu Beans are mystical beans with immense rejuvenation properties in the Dragon Ball franchise. Senzu beans are capable of healing holes in one body that misses their vital organs and possibly regrowing arms.
Notable Techniques
Flight – The ability to fly using ki.
Ki Blast – The most basic form of energy wave.
Ki Sense – An ability that allows the user to sense ki and power levels.
Saiyan Power - A Saiyan genetic trait that allows their performance to continually increase against adversity, either by recovering from a near death experience, or by fighting a strong opponent.
Healing - In the manga, due to being a disciple of Future Shin, Future Trunks possess the ability to heal people - a fact revealed to him by Shin and Gowasu. Prior to knowing this, Future Trunks unknowingly kept Future Mai and Gowasu alive on the occasions where they were nearly dead thanks to his healing ability.
Mimicry — The coveted ability to copy another fighter's technique after seeing it used only once.
Super Saiyan- Trunks can transform to Super Saiyan, and later to Super Saiyan Second Grade and a higher form of Super Saiyan Third Grade, which increases his strength and power at the expense of his speed.
Super Saiyan Grade Three-Trunks can further increase the power of his Super Saiyan transformation into a Grade Three version. This transformation greatly increases his attack power but makes him slower than normal
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.
God Breaker – Trunks extends his hand forward and fires a yellow energy wave at his opponent, inflicting a large amount of damage.
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.
Super Buster Cannon – First, Future Trunks draws his hands back and gathers up energy. Then, he thrusts his arms forward and discharges a massive golden-yellow beam of energy towards his opponent.
Change the Future – First, Future Trunks says "This is for Gohan!" and 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 large blast of energy against the opponent, inflicting a great amount of damage.
Finish Buster – First, 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.
Heat Dome Attack – First, Future Trunks throws his opponent up in the air 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.
Solar Flare - The user places their hands close to the center of their face with the fingers spread toward their eyes. The user then calls out the name of the technique, which provokes a white light to fire out and blind everything watching except the user, since they are projecting the light. Future Trunks reveals he learned the technique from Future Gohan.
High Strike – A sword slash attack. Named in the Dragon Ball Z Collectible Card Game.
Shining Sword Attack – Future Trunks flies up and comes down to vertically slash the opponent with his sword. Next, he slashes the opponent multiple times, 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.
Rapid Sword Stream – First, Future Trunks says "Excuse me" as he 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.
Burning Breaker – First, Future Trunks says, "See if you can take this!" as he 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 – As he shouts "I will defeat you!", 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.
Maximum Blow – He punches the opponent in the face with all of his might, then punches the opponent twice to send them flying.
Another End – 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.
Aero Blast - Future Trunks raises up his hands and lets out a powerful Kiai that sends the opponent flying.
Power up to the Very Limit - A technique which allows the user to instantly regain all of their ki.
Inexperienced Power Up – One of Future Trunks' Blast 1 in his Super Saiyan Third Grade form in the Budokai Tenkaichi series.
Final Flash - Technique inherited from his father, Vegeta. He draws both hands back while gathering ki. Then, the user place bottom of their palms together, forming a sphere of energy that emits sporadic bolts of electric yellow ki that shoot out in all direction. Finally, the user discharges a massive golden beam of energy with electric ki streaming around it towards his opponent.
Final Explosion - To begin the attack, Future Trunks gathers his life force and converts it into energy, creating flame-like ribbons of energy that spiral around his body. Both his and his opponent's bodies begin emitting small flecks of golden light, resembling dust blowing off of their skin.
Other
Standard Tactics: Future Trunks will always try his best to finish the fight as fast as he can without interruption. He likes to get in close and slash his opponents with his sword for a quick kill.
Weaknesses: Future Trunks can not breathe in space. He has not mastered his Super Saiyan Grade Three and it is very slow despite its great power increase.
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 Xeno Trunks in Dragon Ball Heroes, while retaining his name Future Trunks in the Xenoverse series.
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 Time Patrol Trunks) as his timeline still exists, however this was disproven in Xenoverse 2's 4th DLC Pack as Time Patrol Trunks 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 Time Patrol Trunks which saves Future Gohan in Age 780.
It is also implied in Xenoverse 2 that Time Patrol Trunks has two alternate counterparts of his own, one being the Time Patrol Trunks who obeyed Chronoa and did not prevent Future Gohan from dying and the Time Patrol Trunks 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.
Xeno Trunks is the Xeno world incarnation of Time Patrol Trunks featured in the Dragon Ball Carddass series and media related to Dragon Ball Heroes/Super Dragon Ball Heroes.
In Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Dark Demon Realm Mission!, Xeno Trunks' recruitment by Chronoa is shown and he is revealed to have originated from the Xeno world incarnation of the Future Trunks timeline which never experienced the Project Zero Mortals conflict presumably due the history of the Xeno world main timeline playing out like the main timeline in Dragon Ball GT.
The Prison Planet Saga, Universal Conflict Saga, and Universe Creation Saga all confirm that Xeno Trunks and the Dragon Ball Super incarnation of Future Trunks are separate incarnations of Future Trunks from different versions of Future Trunks' timeline.
In the film Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan, Paragus refers to him as Prince Trunks though this was part of his ploy to convince Vegeta to lead his New Saiyan Empire. Though Future Trunks is only technically a Prince as his father (Future/Main timeline) never held the title of King due to the Genocide of the Saiyans wiping out the original Saiyan Empire, leaving Vegeta without a kingdom to rule over, hence the young Vegeta's line in Broly about never becoming King after being informed about Planet Vegeta's destruction.
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 Time Patrol Trunks 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 divine Saiyan form (Super Saiyan Blue). However his acquisition of Super Saiyan Blue is only mentioned in passing as he is only depicted in his God-like Saiyan state, after he is said to have obtained it through training with Tekka's Team against Vegito 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. Time Patrol Trunks 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 Time Patrol Trunks 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 Super version, also from the Cell Saga, who was never recruited by the Time Patrol. Time Patrol Trunks 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 Time Patrol Trunks 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 character that met and fought against all 3 of Cell's forms.
The red bandanna Future Trunks wears around his neck in Dragon Ball Super resembles the one Bulma wore in Resurrection ‘F’ and Dragon Ball Super.
Future Trunks has various hairstyles throughout the series. A bowl cut, long hair with ponytail, and long hair. Thus he has three different Super Saiyan hairstyles.
In Kakarot, it is revealed by the Despondent Man during the Sub Story: "Android Admirer", that the identity of the warrior who defeated Future Androids 17 & 18 (as Future Cells existence is unheard of by the general population of Earth due to him being eliminated by Future Trunks as soon as he attempts to steal the Time Machine) is unknown to the general populous as he refers to Future 18's killer as the mysterious warrior. Due to his infatuation with Future 18, the Despondent Man expresses anger when talking about the mysterious warrior unaware that he is Future Trunks. Fortunately he never learns that Future Trunks is responsible and thanks to Future Oolong disguising himself as Future 18, they are able to trick the suicidal man that Future 18 faked her death and plans to travel the world alone, which along with Future Oolong messing up Future 18's facial features convinces the man to not take his own life.
However it is shown that knowledge of Future Trunks' role in the Androids' (Future 17, Future 18, & Future Cell) defeat is known to the Future Z Fighters and their remaining supporters such as Future Chi-Chi and Future Ox-King.
It is unknown if Future Trunks' role was revealed to Earth's general population after the release of Future Bulma's book the Legend of Dragon Ball (as Future Trunks has little reason to hide it given that the Brief family are already well-known for running the Capsule Corporation thus could easily handle the notoriety & fame) or in the aftermath of Project Zero Mortals (though its possible rank-and-file members of Earth's Resistance are aware of Future Trunks' role in their defeat given his power and abilities).
Upon first meeting Future Shin and Future Kibito in Kakarot, Future Trunks is briefly worried that they might be more Red Ribbon Androids he didn't know about after Future Shin refers to him by name and shows awareness of his ability to use Flight. This shows that Future Trunks remains vigilante of the possibility that more Androids may appear in his timeline either created by Future Dr. Gero's Supercomputer following the failure of Future Cell and/or older models that may be activated one day to wreck havok.
In a Tweet, Bandai Namco claimed Future Trunks' birthday was November 21st.