Icarus Is a Minor but Important Character in the 'Dragon Ball' Franchise — What Happened to Him?

The world of Dragon Ball has a wide array of characters between its original form as Dragon Ball, its most popular iteration as Dragon Ball Z, and its most recent canonical entry as Dragon Ball Super. With its long-running and ongoing history, many characters have been introduced. Some have withstood the test of time while others were silently written off. However, it isn't uncommon for some forgotten characters to make brief appearances in future projects to reestablish their places in the canon.

That's what makes Icarus such an oddity among the franchise's many minor characters. Fans may remember him as Gohan's purple pet dragon who makes some substantial appearances in some early arcs only to be completely missing and almost entirely forgotten as the series went on. His last appearance is at the end of the Trunks saga but he is never seen or heard from after that point. What happened to Icarus? An official source has something of a confirmation. Let's break it down.

Icarus is an anime-only character in Dragon Ball Z, technically making him filler for the adaptation as he makes virtually no appearances in the original manga. Gohan meets Icarus in the Tree of Might film in which he saves the young dragon from a forest fire and restores his home using the power of the Dragon Balls. After this, Gohan befriends Icarus and has him live closer to his home, spending lots of time together all the while. He can also be seen in two other films, Lord Slug and Cooler's Revenge.

Icarus makes a few appearances in the actual show. He's first seen in the anime-only Garlic Jr. Saga, having grown up considerably and saving Gohan from an evil mist. He later shows up at the very end of the Trunks Saga in yet another filler episode before he is quietly removed from the plot. He is only briefly mentioned in the English dub of the Great Saiyaman Saga when Gohan's little brother Goten reminisces about Icarus upon meeting a baby dinosaur.

After that, Icarus is never seen or mentioned again in the anime. That said, the ongoing manga does feature a small glimpse at how Icarus is doing lately.

In an illustration by Super manga illustrator Toyotarou, an adult Gohan can be seen spending time with Icarus, who has become a fully-grown adult dragon whose head alone is as big as Gohan's entire body. However, they still have a strong bond with each other, evidenced by how Icarus happily receives head pats from Gohan in the image.

It's about as official a confirmation as we can get for Icarus's ultimate fate, though Toyotarou has admitted that his illustration isn't explicitly canon and simply hopes that Icarus is doing well. For anime fans who've been curious about how he's been doing, you're not the only ones who are wondering. But with reactions like this from official Dragon Ball creators and fans, it's all right to assume that Icarus is alive and well.