WHO IS GOKU BLACK?

Goku Black, usually referred to as Black, is the main antagonist of the "Future" Trunks Saga of Dragon Ball Super.

His true identity is the original present Zamasu, a former North Kai and Supreme Kai apprentice serving the Supreme Kai of Universe 10. Gowasu, from the unaltered main timeline, in which he stole the body of the original present Goku with the Super Dragon Balls and sought to destroy all mortals alongside Future Zamasu.  He was then given the name "Goku Black" by Future Bulma when he initially referred to himself as Goku.

It was revealed in an interview with Akira Toriyama that the inspiration for Goku Black originated from the "copy of the hero" idea in media such as "False Ultra Man" of the Ultraman series or "False Kamen Rider" of the Kamen Rider franchise.

His original appearance is the same as his future timeline counterpart, being an above-average height Kai of slim built and green skin, and with a white Mohawk. However, after killing the original present Gowasu, he wore his former master's matching set of green with gold chains Potara earrings. After stealing the original present Goku's body, it underwent some physical changes. While still essentially identical, he has a slightly darker skin tone and more "defined" eyes, along with a somewhat skinnier physique. His hair is also a noticeably dark shade of black with only four front spikes and three back ones. While initially wearing his Supreme Kai attire, he soon after taking Goku's body began wearing a dark grey vest, a long-sleeved black undershirt with a turtleneck, a red sash, black pants and pointy white boots. He also gave the right Potara earring to his future counterpart while still wearing the other earring on his left ear. In the anime, he also wears a Time Ring on his right index finger, while in the manga, his counterpart is entrusted with wearing it. Also, in the manga, he has thick black outlines around his eyes, similar to those controlled by Babidi's Manipulation Sorcery.

Before acting on his dark impulses, as Zamasu, he was a calm and patient individual, willing to listen to his teacher's words. However, he long harbored an utter hatred for mortals, perceiving them as a blasphemy and the gods' greatest mistake. He also came to hate the gods as well for not doing anything about their "mistake". After giving in to his desires, Zamasu mercilessly killed Gowasu as his first step down a dark path. Despite his cruel, aggressive, and certainly unsympathetic actions, even to his own kind, Zamasu feels perfectly vindicated, truly seeing no evil in his actions, after he scoured several timelines as proof that mortals are a corruption of existence as a whole that prevents it from becoming a true paradise. He also believes that humanity has only continued to exist for all this time because the gods are too prideful to acknowledge their failure in creating mortals. Also, rather than using the Super Dragon Balls to wish for mortals to be exterminated, he preferred to steal the body of Goku, displaying his infatuation with the Saiyan. This also seems to suggest that he wanted to destroy mortals by himself, as he believed that it was his own responsibility as if he were the Supreme God.

He became much more emotional upon taking Goku's body and becoming Goku Black, gaining many opposite characteristics to his host body's personality. Like his future counterpart, he is extremely sadistic, callous, bloodthirsty, and hypocritical, as seen when he kills Bulma, along with the vast majority of the Earthlings, believing it to be "justice", despite his blood-lusting delight in it and his delight in Goku's anger over him killing Chi Chi and Goten. He showed a sense of brutality and certainly ruthless savagery, when he coldly tortures his foes/target, hoping to extend the pain and suffering, as shown when he fractured Trunks' arm and shoots a barrage of ki blasts at his defenseless opponent. However, he retains his past self's politeness and is shown to be graceful during his first fight with Goku as Black. Also somewhat of a masochist, Black is shown to revel in others inflicting pain on himself, both from his newfound passion for battle and personal drive to grow stronger from every attacked that strikes his new body. This trait seems to have been drawn somewhat from Goku. In addition, Goku Black appears to be somewhat unhinged, as he occasionally bursts into slightly deranged laughter, as shown when he fought Goku for the first time, and also due to his sudden shifts in mood, as seen when he explains his motivation for wiping out mortals. While willing to kill regardless, he prefers and desires to fight strong opponents, even going as far as holding back his full power in order to further enjoy a fight, always keeping it just ahead of his opponent's. Black also shares Goku's sense of determination, never letting up on a goal once he sets his mind on it, as he vowed to find Trunks after he escaped to the past. He also shares Goku's sense of general independence, wishing to grow stronger through his own personal effort rather than taking shortcuts. This shows a distinct difference to his counterpart. Unlike Future Zamasu, who views immortality as an ideal trait worthy of a god, Black openly stated his disinterest in such a power. Also, he is somewhat vain, as when he first revealed his Super Saiyan Rosé form, he described it as beautiful, towering above "the whole universe", and stated to Goku that he should rejoice, as he had reached the height of beauty by his hand.

In the manga, however, Black's personality was drastically different from his anime counterpart. While Black in the anime always manages to stay calm and never lose his composure, even when losing a battle, Black in the manga is more prone to losing his composure the moment things do not go his way. This was shown when he was losing his battle against Vegeta, where he breaks down in a fit of rage. The difference in their personality is also reflected in their contrasting fighting styles. Black in the anime performs his attacks with a sense of finesse and flamboyance. Black in the manga, however, prefers to use brute force alone to overwhelm his enemies, taking a more aggressive fighting style. The difference in personalities is likely due to Black in the manga never meeting Goku personally prior to their encounter in the future timeline, and thus never had a personal connection with Goku. This ultimately resulted in none of Goku's traits such as a composed demeanor when fighting or his passion for battle. Similarly, his relationship to Future Zamasu in the manga was significantly different from that of the anime. In the latter, he and Future Zamasu genuinely considered each other as kindred allies, while in the manga, Goku Black considered Future Zamasu to merely be a pawn, while Future Zamasu likewise considered Black contemptible for forsaking his divine body, for the sake of power, and at one point, when they were on the ropes, they were even willing to turn on each other briefly. Black was also more sadistic in the manga, as evidenced when he not only proceeded to mortally wound the standard Gowasu when the latter attempted to talk sense into Goku Black, but also asked rhetorically while stabbing him whether Gowasu really thought it would have worked a "third time", referring to Gowasu's earlier attempts at talking him out of his plans.

He and the Zamasu from the altered main timeline were originally the same entity. However, Future Trunks time travelling to the past altered the present, main timeline's original history, and Beerus destroying the Zamasu in the altered main timeline split the timeline. Thus, the Zamasu who became Goku Black is - or was - exactly the same individual, and has all of the same histories as the Zamasu from the altered present timeline prior to his destruction at Beerus' hand. Due to the powers of the Time Ring, the death of the present Zamasu from the altered main timeline, due to Beerus, did not affect him.

Zamasu was originally the North Kai of Universe 10. However, due to his prodigious fighting skill, he was selected to become a Supreme Kai-in-training under one of the current Supreme Kai, Gowasu.] With his continuous distrust of mortals and growing dismay of the Kais' passive and indirect influence of the universe's development, he ultimately rejected his teachings and went rogue, developing his Project Zero Mortals. To which, his ultimate goal became to annihilate all mortals and gods in a specific timeline, then build up from there, to purge all mortals and gods from all of existence with it, making the multiverse in his perspective a "beautiful utopia", rid of the mortals who ruin it and the gods who do nothing to stop them. Requiring a Time Ring for his plans, Zamasu killed Gowasu and took his Potara to become a Supreme Kai, so he could wield the Time Ring.