The Pokémon franchise has taken the media by storm for two decades now. With the release of Pokémon Red and Blue in 1996 and the following cartoon series, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, and, of course, Pikachu, have become cultural icons. With our cute starter friends, a long list of legendary pocket monsters have made us proud to call ourselves trainers. But there is no Pokémon that can match the fervor that fans of the series get when they see Mewtwo.

For the younger fans that do not know, Mewtwo is one of the original legendary Pokémon from the first generation. A Psychic-type Pokémon with an extreme amount of cognition, which has been the cause of more than one act of existentialism. Mewtwo has made repeated appearances throughout the series, by having its very own film, Pokémon: The First Movie, an hour-long special episode titled Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns, and has been featured as a catchable legendary more in more games than one.

Mewtwo has also been featured in multiple fighting games, with a debut appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee, making it a quick fan favorite, as fans begged for it to return in Super Smash Bros. For Nintendo 3DS/ Wii U as one of the DLC characters following the release. He is also one of the featured characters in the recent Pokken Tournament, securing it as one of the most battle-ready Pokémon of all the current 802 in existence. So if you are a fan of Mewtwo, or just a fan of Pokémon in general, then you may want to check out these 15 facts that you may (or may not) have known about our favorite Psychic-type.

15 A Genderless Pokémon

While we start things off, it is important to acknowledge that gender can be a touchy subject, but this is still a fact, and it bears being the first on this list. 

As is the case with just about every legendary Pokémon, there is no real gender that is involved. Heck, many non-legendary Pokémon do not even have genders. True one can argue that in the movies that it is featured in, Mewtwo has a masculine voice, but this is kind of a flawed argument because one’s voice does not decide what gender they are. Simply put, if you want to be safe when referring to this Pokémon, fans will agree that going genderless is the safest choice.

14 Its First Appearance

Even though Mewtwo was clouded in a bit of mystery for a short while following the original release of the cartoon series, it was the first Pokémon to be seen in the opening theme song. In the original cartoon-opening in 1996, kids everywhere saw Mewtwo zipping by for just a second at the very beginning of the song, leaving them in awe and wonder for weeks to come.

It would be a long wait until Mewtwo itself would get a name. Its first appearance was not until the 63rd episode of the original series, Battle of the Badge, in which Ash goes to battle the last gym leader Giovanni and secure his last gym badge. In the episode, Ash’s rival Gary also goes to battle Giovanni, but is easily beaten when Giovanni unveils an armored Mewtwo that easily defeats Gary’s Pokémon in battle, showing off how you should not mess with this Pokémon.

13 A Hit With The More Mature

Ok, the fact of the matter is, when it comes to Pokémon, it is a series centered around children. No matter what you say, you cannot argue that the main fan base is children, even though there is a good sum of us that are well into our twenties who love Pocket Monsters. Don’t get me wrong, we all love our adorable Pikachus and Eevees, but some of us are looking for something a bit more intimidating.

That is why Pokémon such as Mewtwo have statistically been proven to be a major hit in the older demographic. Now, you might ask yourself why this is important. The truth is that having Pokémon that are bigger successes means a future for the franchise. Back in the day, Pokémon was nothing more than a hit amongst small children, for that reason, Game Freak licensed a cartoon, manga, and trading card game to get the most reach. If different age groups love different Pokémon, then it can only mean better Pokémon games in the future.

12 Shaky Origins

Mewtwo’s exact means of birth changes depending on the medium, despite always being centered around cloning and genetics. In the video games, according to many journal entries found in the Pokémon Mansion on Cinnabar Island, Mewtwo, whose name literally means Mew 2 (very original), was directly birthed from Mew itself. After the ancient Pokémon was found asleep deep in the jungles of Guyana, a southern country in the Pokémon world.

In the anime, however, this origin story changes ever so slightly. In this scenario, Mewtwo was only cloned from Mew, after Giovanni wanted a version of the ancient Pokémon for himself in battle. This is why, in the cartoon series, Mewtwo is first featured with a set of hefty armor, which it loses in Pokémon: The First Movie without explanation. In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Red also comes upon a similar display of cloning, where he witnesses an unfinished Mewtwo in a tank.

11 Conserving Energy

So one of the things about Mewtwo that differs it from the rest of the 800 plus Pokémon in existence is the way that it seems to pause in motion so seamlessly in an eerie fashion. If you have ever used this Psychic-type in Super Smash Bros., then you might have noticed the way it flows in combat, moving around the arena in a wavy form.

The fun thing about this is that its constant stop of flow actually has a little to do with its lore. Multiple Pokedex entries have actually concluded that in battle, Mewtwo will actual stop to conserve entry before it continues the battle. If you watch the cartoon series, you will see its body glow a deep turquoise as it collects power, just before it pulls off some crazy kinetic moves and abilities. You and your Pokémon best run away when you see it happen!

10 Pokémon Currency In Niue

Have you heard of the island of Niue? No? If not, then here is what you need to know. Niue is a Boston-sized island dependency of New Zealand, that country where they filmed Lord of The Rings. Another thing that makes this island special is the coins that they produce.

Around the release of Pokémon: The First Movie silver coins were released featuring a full-color Mewtwo on them. And these are not simply collectibles, they actually hold value as a real currency. While it is difficult to find information on the Mewtwo coins online, you can visit a few websites that will give you information on the many nerdy coins that Niue has produced, with many real currency coins featuring Pikachu, Disney princesses, Star Wars characters both old and new, and many other iconic characters. Talk about fun money!

9 Origin Of Mega Evolution

Mewtwo has been credited as the Pokémon to begin the trend of Mega Evolution. Before Mega Evolution was even given a proper name, Mewtwo was seen in the cartoon series as being able to switch between its normal form as its mega form, then known as its Awakened Form. In this form, Mewtwo is able to move faster than the blink of an eye, sacrificing its health for speed similar in design to that of a Super Saiyan from Dragonball Z.

In the episode, Mewtwo - Prologue to Awakening, Mewtwo is first shown having this ability to switch forms. However, it does so without the use of a mega stone like it does in Pokémon X and Y, reassuring the Pokémon’s massive power. It is a shame that Mega Evolution is on its way out of the mainstream as far as Pokémon goes, but with the rise of Z moves in the newest generation, who knows what will come next of Mewtwo.

8 Two Mega Evolutions

Speaking of Mega Evolutions, Mewtwo is also one of the only two Pokémon to have more than one Mega Evolution. Can you guess the other one? Yeah, you’re right, it’s Charizard. The original Mega Evolution that was formerly called Mewtwo Awakened was renamed Mega Mewtwo Y. As we mentioned before, Mega Mewtwo Y trades health for speed, and is a much faster Pokémon that its succeeding evolution, Mega Mewtwo X. The X form replaced Mewtwo’s speed for strength and gives it the duel Fighting/Psychic type. Sure, it is slower, but it sure does pack a punch.

Fun bonus fact, by the way, these Mega Evolutions are actually tied with Mega Rayquaza for being the most powerful across all other Pokémon, with Mega Mewtwo’s base stats coming in at around 780. You are not going to want to mess with another trainer who has another Mewtwo, let alone a Mega Stone handy.

7 Coming In At #150

If you are a die-hard fan of the Pokémon franchise, then you may already know that in the Pokedex, Mewtwo, a clone of Mew, actually comes in before Mew itself at #150. While this is not a huge deal and does not affect much of anything at all, fans have long asked the impossible question, why is this the case?

Well, it actually does make a bit of sense when you become aware of the fact that Mewtwo actually came first. No not necessarily in a chronological sense, but for a longer time fans were aware of Mewtwo only. Mew was simply a legend and a myth, and Mewtwo was a catchable legendary Pokémon that was a well known being in the Pokémon community, at least in the U.S versions. If it had been the other way around, then for the longest time, players would have an empty spot in the #150 slot.

6 Lost In Translation

Did you know, the Mewtwo that is known in America is different than the one originally characterized in Japan? When it comes to translation, sometimes cultural values or other things can get in the way of how a character, especially the villain of a movie, can be represented.

In Mewtwo’s appearance in the original Japanese version of Pokémon: The First Movie, its character was designed as well rounded, as a creature created in a lab that felt it had no real place in the world. In the English translation, however, this third dimensionalized characterization was replaced with a more totalitarian type. It just goes to show that the United States is all about portraying some villains, even those in kids’ movies, as dictator-esque characters. This change in character portrayal is what led to Mewtwo being a more favorable Pokémon in the East, and not so much in the West.

5 Multiple Mewtwos

With all this talk about Mewtwo’s problems with its own existence and talk of fitting in with others, it is a very easy misinterpretation that there is only a single Mewtwo. This is simply not true, however. There is something in the Pokémon fanbase as the “multiple Mewtwo theory”. As the name suggests, it is a theory that gives evidence that there is more than once Mewtwo in the canon Pokémon universe.

There are many examples of in-depth analyses about the subject on online fan boards. Once such example is that the Mewtwo from Pokémon: The First Movie has a masculine voice. The Mewtwo Awakened form, on the other hand, has a feminine voice. While it is just one theory, there are many others like it. Some go so in depth as to suggest multiverse theories, but we won’t get into that here.

4 Poor Sportsmanship

Remember when we talked about how Mewtwo is a little bit of a poor sport when it comes to … well just about anything for that matter? Well, you may be interested in this little tidbit of information. When playing a game of Super Smash Bros., the losers are supposed to clap on the match results page, you know as a sign of good sportsmanship. However, if you choose to play as Mewtwo in either of the Super Smash Bros. games that it is featured in, or if you battle against him, and he loses, he is one of the only characters that refuses to clap. Instead it just sits there with a solemn, closed eye look on its face as though it does not care. This reaction plays well to the Mewtwo character, as he is not known to be an overly fair fighter or one who cares about sportsmanship.

3 Two Voice Actors

It may not seem like a Pokémon would be all that much of an elaborate voice acting job. However, not one but two people have done the voice of overly sentient Pokémon. Because Mewtwo is so cognitively strong, it has the ability to construct speech and has therefore been known for its eloquent voice patterns. In the English versions of Mewtwo’s portrayal, both Jay Geode and Dan Green have done the voice work for the Pokémon.

Jay Geode is mainly a theater actor, while still doing some voice acting on the side. He has also done the voice of Dr. Fuji from the Pokémon series as well as Mewtwo. Dan Green picked up the roll from Geode in Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns. Green’s real name is Jay Snyder, and he has done many of the voices from the Yugioh, Pokémon, and Marvel franchises. With these two voice actors, I guess you could call Mewtwo quite the Jay!

2 It Is In Pokémon GO?

So Mewtwo is in Pokémon GO, right? I’m asking more than I’m telling here, because the truth of the matter is that no one really knows whether it is or is not in the game. Since the game's release in late 2015, there have been many aspects of the game that were shown in trailers but were not left in the initial release.

The inclusion of Mewtwo was one of such errors. There still have been no sightings of Mewtwo as of today since the game’s release, and many theories have been shot up in the air such as it is an event only Pokémon, or that it can only be found in certain locations like other Pokémon in the game such as Farfetch’D and Mr. Mime. Whatever the developers at Niantics reasoning for not having Mewtwo is, this let down has been more than disappointing for those that are still managing to play Pokémon GO.

1 There Is A MewThree?!!!!

With all the different forms, legacies, and origin stories surrounding this Pokémon, the more you try to understand it the more confused you get as an audience member. There have been a lot of different forms that Mewtwo has taken over the years. He has lost armor, gotten smaller, gotten faster, and gotten bigger. But there is still one form that we have not mentioned in this list: the infamous MewThree.

It never appears in the cartoon series, any of the movies, or any of the video games for that matter. It only comes in the form of the Pokémon Adventures manga. There is a single scene in which Red’s Clefairy merges its DNA with that of Mewtwo’s, creating another Mewtwo in with the small cartoonish face of a Clefairy. In this scene, the Clefairy/MewThree defeats Mewtwo before reverting back to normal, talk about the ultimate form!