The Superman Trailer Detail Only Dragon Ball Z Fans Will Understand

James Gunn's heroes definitely know how to make an entrance, whether it's Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) dancing his way into battle in "Guardians of the Galaxy" or Peacemaker (John Cena) swiveling his hips in the opening credits of his show. Gunn's Superman (David Corenswet) makes a similarly memorable impression in the first trailer for his upcoming "Superman" film. But it's also the kind of look that will definitely amuse "Dragon Ball" fans — and for a very good reason. 

In the epic, hype-worthy trailer for "Superman," the Man of Steel is introduced in the middle of a crisis — he rockets to Earth and lands, bloody and injured, in a snowy locale. He eventually has to summon his dog, Krypto, to help him up and get him to safety. Fans don't know what's knocked him down, but it's easy to note that he leaves a crater and takes a physical pose that looks just like the one Yamcha takes upon being killed by Nappa in the "Dragon Ball Z" episode "Saibamen Attack!" The pose has become a meme over the past few years on the internet, but what might look like a small in-joke isn't the only thing that binds the "Dragon Ball" series to part of the "Superman" legacy.

"Dragon Ball" and the Richard Donner series of Superman films actually have a long history together, if only in the annals of rumor. Fans have long wondered if the late "Dragon Ball" creator and manga ka artist Akira Toriyama based Goku and his powers on Superman from those films. Since the two characters have origin stories that are somewhat similar — in which two superpowered beings rocket to Earth from a doomed but benevolent alien race who hope to save the planet — it's no wonder audiences have speculated about the connection. "Dragon Ball Super: Broly" even changed Goku's backstory to make it an even closer match to Clark Kent's, with both raised by caring older humans after landing.

Toriyama claimed that he based Goku's story around that of Sun Wukong, a character in the classic novel "Journey to the West." Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee also influenced the character's creation. And while the resemblance to Superman's backstory is painfully obvious to some fans, others think it hews closer to the novel. Still, the striking similarities between the two characters have bound them together in pop culture history. And now — by using the Yamcha meme — the characters are even more deeply connected than before.

The Yamcha pose has become a big meme on the internet over the past few years, first gaining popularity in 2010. It initially gained a foothold in artist communities at Japanese online community Pixiv, where it became shorthand for failure, exhaustion and other negative emotions among the artists who congregate there. It might also be used to compliment someone on verbally obliterating an opponent in an argument. The meme soon became noted for its ascended nature on TVTropes, and is still used to this day whenever someone somewhere on the internet wants to express a feeling of exhausted loss.  

The "Dragon Ball" universe itself has made repeated reference to the Yamcha pose, using it again in "Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi" and the video game "Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans." The characters who repeat the pose are, respectively, an unnamed character killed by Saibaiman in the middle of a conflict and Yamcha himself after he is defeated. That's not shocking at all when you realize how often "Dragon Ball" resurrects its dead characters. Which proves that sometimes even meme history is a flat circle just waiting to be revisited again.