For fans of the Pokémon series, Detective Pikachu is filled with plenty of playful nods to the wider Pokémon universe. But some of these small references are all-too easy to miss. To help you keep track, here are a few of the finer details that may have snuck past you.
In the film, we learn that the menacing Pokémon known as Mewtwo was captured before the events of Detective Pikachu – and it was able to escape human captivity 20 years prior to the events in the film. This is likely an allusion to the first Pokémon film, appropriately titled Pokemon: The First Movie, which made its North American premiere in November of 1999.
The First Movie centers around Mewtwo’s origin story, beginning with its creation in a lab on New Island. Eventually, Mewtwo escapes and subsequently destroys the entire lab in his rage, but by the end of the film, it’s shown that not all humans are bad.
Though Detective Pikachu doesn’t focus primarily on Mewtwo and its origin, the parallels are clear. Mewtwo is similarly captured, experimented on, and subsequently escapes in the film, though it comes to believe that humans aren’t inherently evil.
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Similarities to “The First Movie” | 0:20
Jigglypuff’s sleep-inducing singing | 1:02
Unown graphic tees | 1:49
Snorlax blocks the road | 2:16
The squirtle squad | 3:06