“We dreamed of creating the world’s strongest Pokémon… and we succeeded.”
The scientist Dr. Fuji spoke those words of horror about his creation Mewtwo in the English dub of the first Pokémon movie. Cloned from the Legendary Mew, believed to be the first Pokémon to appear on Earth, Mewtwo was gifted with immense psychic power and used it to destroy the scientists who created him and their lab. And Dr Fuji’s words were correct. Mewtwo was the strongest Pokémon in the world. Out of the original 151 anyway.
But while Mewtwo is known for being a powerhouse, many people forget about his genetic ancestor. Mew may not be as fearsome looking or as aggressive as its clone, but it is pretty darn powerful in its own right. It is the source of Mewtwo’s psychic abilities, after all. But it’s in how these two mighty Pokémon use their powers that defines them, and what kind of powers they have.
Looking at the differences between these two is like looking at two sides of a coin, or a yin-yang. They’re very similar, and yet worlds apart. One is cute and cuddly, the other mean and intense. But both have amazing abilities that not even some Pokémon superfans may be aware of. Whether it comes from being the source of all Pokémon or the manipulations of mad science, Mew and Mewtwo have won the lottery when it comes to superpowers. Take a look at these 25 Superpowers They Have That Are Kept Hidden.
25 Learning Any Pokémon Move
Mew is widely believed to be the common genetic ancestor of all Pokémon. It was the first to appear on Earth, and all other Pokémon evolved from it. Once again showing that Pokémon has no idea how actual evolution works. But being the first, Mew has the DNA of every other Pokémon within it. Because of that, it can learn every Pokémon move. Yep, even though it’s technically a Psychic-type, Mew can learn moves from any other type as well. Even types it's weak to like Bug and Ghost. Guess there are perks to being the first.
24 Invisibility
In the Pokémon universe, many scientists believed that Mew was extinct for the longest time. Very few people had ever seen one in the wild and no living specimen had ever been found. Some thought it was just a myth.
Turns out Mew wanted it that way.
Mews are very shy Pokémon and have the ability to make themselves invisible. That was why nobody had ever found one. All the Mews were hiding. It can even come very close to people without being seen. Mew will only show itself to people it believes are pure of heart.
23 Can Breath Underwater Or In Space
Pokémon operates on its own laws of physics sometimes, but a creature’s need to breath has remained consistent. Unless it’s a Water-type Pokémon, it can’t travel underwater without getting oxygen somehow. Not so with Mew & Mewtwo. They’ve both been shown traveling underwater and in the vacuum of space with no problem.
How exactly, isn’t quite explained.
It might be that because they both contain the DNA of every other Pokémon within them, they can just give themselves gills. Or maybe they create a psychic bubble of air around themselves to breath, either way, there’s nowhere they can’t go.
22 Genesis Supernova
Mew is a pretty peaceful Pokémon, all things considered. Especially when compared to its clone. But don’t be fooled, it can bring the hurt when it wants to. Just look at Genesis Supernova, its ultimate move. When using this, Mew creates a giant ball of psychic energy and hurls it at an opponent. All the telekinetic force hits like a falling meteor. Additionally, it bathes the surrounding area in psychic energy, increasing the power of any Psychic-type attacks. Mew can only use Genesis Supernova when it’s holding a piece of Mewnium Z though, and may need help from a trainer.
21 Transforming Into Other Pokémon
Mew is a shy Pokémon, and usually hides from anyone looking for it. Usually, it does this by just turning invisible, but if it wanted, Mew can also shapeshift. By using the Transform move, Mew can turn into any nearby Pokémon. So many people who’ve looked for a Mew have seen one, and not even known it! The fact that Mew can use Transform is interesting because it’s the only move the Pokémon Ditto can use. It could because Mew is the common ancestor of all Pokémon, but there’s also a fan theory that it and Ditto are connected somehow.
20 Teleportation
During its creation, Mewtwo’s genetic code was altered to increase Mew’s already vast psychic powers. One of those ways was in giving Mewtwo the ability to teleport objects and itself. This is better seen in the Pokémon anime than in the games, where Mewtwo is shown teleporting anything from as small as a few Pokeballs to multiple different fully evolved Pokémon. There appears to be no limit on how much it can teleport or how far. It can also take advantage of this in battle, vanishing from in front of an enemy and appearing behind it suddenly for a sneak attack.
19 Captivate
For all of the legend that’s built up around it, people forget that Mew is still a Pokémon. It can use regular Pokémon moves besides its great psychic powers. Regular moves like Captivate, which is a Normal-type attack. Using Captivate will release pheromones, making Pokémon of the opposite gender become smitten and lower their defenses. Mew is interesting because it’s technically genderless, but can still use Captivate. Though that could explain why it doesn’t use the move more often. Captivate always fails when genderless Pokémon use it.
18 Making Spheres Of Psychic Energy
One ability shared by both Mew and Mewtwo is their ability to make spheres of psychic energy. Think of it as a ball of telekinetic force. It’s when using this power that we really see the difference between the two. Mewtwo’s spheres are very volatile. They’re always black and crackling with purple electricity. Mew’s spheres on the other hand, often look like bouncy pink bubbles. Mewtwo’s spheres always explode too, but Mew’s can hold together even when touched. It likes to bounce on them for fun. Must be because Mew is just a calmer, chiller Pokémon than Mewtwo is.
17 Memory Wiping
Of all the Psychic-type Pokémon, Mewtwo may not only be the most powerful. It may also be the most precise when it comes to its use of telepathy. Mewtwo can actually manipulate people’s memories and wipe out specific sections if it wishes to.
It did this in the first Pokémon movie.
After it realized the error of its ways, Mewtwo wiped the memory of itself and its actions from the minds of Ash Ketchum and his friends. We’ve seen Psychic Pokémon use their abilities on humans before, but never on such a huge or permanent scale.
16 Psychic Barriers
For something made to be the world’s strongest Pokémon, Mewtwo certainly has all the advantages to claim that title. On top of its great strength and agility, its psychic powers allow it the ability to make shields and barriers around itself.
Doing so blocks any attacks.
So it can hit your Pokémon, but your Pokémon can’t hit it. Cheating, much? Mew has this ability too, but uses it in a much cuter way. Like in Pokémon Snap, it makes a bubble around itself to keep you from taking its picture. Aww.
15 Inducing Fear
Mewtwo has had a rough go of it in life. It was born as a mad science experiment, had its memory wiped of its only friend, and was enslaved by Team Rocket’s leader. You can understand why it has a few emotional issues. But Mewtwo has turned that life of torment to its advantage. Using its psychic powers, it can project all those negative feelings onto its opponents. It can induce fear with just a cold glare, making them wary of actually confronting it. Theoretically, Mewtwo could induce other emotions too, but it would have to work through its psychological baggage first.
14 Flight & Levitation
A perk of having immense psychic powers is that you don’t have to walk like lowly normal people. You can use telekinesis to make yourself levitate and fly to get around. Indeed, this seems to be the only way Mew ever moves. It just floats along, like a leaf in the wind, going wherever it feels like. Mewtwo uses its levitation more often though, but in more sinister contexts. It’s either shooting out of captivity at the speed of a bullet, leaving destruction in its wake, or hovering ominously over everyone like a supervillain.
13 Telepathy
Despite both having Psychic powers, it seems like Mewtwo has Telepathic abilities where Mew does not. Perhaps it was part of the genetic tampering done during its creation. Whatever the case, Mewtwo has put its telepathy to good use. It mostly used this power to learn about itself while it was still growing in a test tube. Mewtwo reached out and touched the minds of the scientists creating it, drawing on their knowledge to gain a rudimentary understanding of the world. But it may have backfired, as Mewtwo was able to read their fear and ambition as well.
12 Mind Control
It’s curious that more people aren’t wary of Psychic-type Pokémon, because their powers do affect humans. Heck, there was an episode of the anime where Drowsee hypnotized people into thinking they were Pokémon. But Mewtwo’s strength increases this danger.
It’s capable of full-on Mind Control.
In the first Pokémon movie, Mewtwo took Nurse Joy and took over her mind, making her his servant. This wasn’t just brainwashing either. Mewtwo was dominating her mind and speaking through her. Nurse Joy was basically just its living puppet. Imagine how much further Mewtwo could have taken that if it wished. Brrr.
11 Psystrike
He may not be able to learn every possible Pokémon move like Mew, but Mewtwo has a wide arsenal of moves at its disposal. But if you’re in a battle with it, pray it doesn’t use Psystrike on your team. Psystrike is Mewtwo’s signature move and usually its finisher. It creates a sphere of psychic energy around Mewtwo that it then sends out in a shockwave toward its opponent. Then it explodes on contact, battering them with telekinetic force. It’s so strong, it’s no wonder they made it Mewtwo’s Final Smash in Smash Bros.
10 Speech
With rare exception, Pokémon can only say their own name. This is a pretty well-known part of the franchise. Well, Mewtwo is one of those rare exceptions. Thanks to its telepathy, Mewtwo has learned and can speak human language. He doesn’t even need a human translator like some other Psychic Pokémon.
He can beam his words directly into people’s brains.
This has created a problem for translators though. Because it’s technically genderless, Mewtwo has been given both male and female voices over the course of the franchise. More often than not though, it’s given a deep male voice.
9 Disabling Other Pokémon’s Moves
Mewtwo’s psychic powers give it a number of advantages in battle, but the move Disable just seems like overkill. This is a Normal-type move that a number of Pokémon can use, but the scale at which Mewtwo uses it makes the difference. Normally, Disable only stops a Pokémon from using one of its four moves. But when Mewtwo uses Disable, it stops a Pokémon from using any of its moves. And Mewtwo can use it on multiple Pokémon at once like in the first movie. Of course, there he did it to force all the Pokémon to fight hand-to-hand. The jerk.
8 Healing Factor
The scientists who created it intended Mewtwo to be the world’s strongest Pokémon, so it makes they gave it someway to survive taking damage. It needs some defense to go with all its offense. That’s why Mewtwo knows the move Recover, which restore its health and helps it regenerate from nearly fatal blows. It was given this ability during its gestation to help it survive the harsh process. While in the games Recover isn’t very visually impressive, it does look cool in the Pokémon Origins anime. There it appears as green energy field surrounding Mewtwo’s body, healing all his wounds.
7 Telekinesis
It’s probably not an exaggeration to say that Mewtwo has the strongest Telekinesis of any Pokémon in the first generation, at least. It can throw around multiple Pokémon twice its size with nothing but the power of its mind.
Heck, it doesn’t even need to move to utilize its power.
Back when it was still serving Team Rocket Leader Giovanni, Mewtwo defeated Gary Oak’s Arcanine and Nidoking without even moving from the spot where it was standing. Mewtwo’s reliance on Telekinesis may be simple pragmatism though. It’s physically weak and needs to conserve its energy whenever possible.
6 Hyper Beam
It says something about Mewtwo that even it uses the same moves as other Pokémon they’re way stronger. Take Hyper Beam for example. This is a pretty common move. The Pokémon using it fires off a huge beam of energy at its opponent, but the move is so draining that the attacker has to rest after using it. But with Mewtwo, the beam is even more powerful, and its rest period is even longer. This is likely because of Mewtwo’s physical limitations. Hyper Beam isn’t a Psychic-type move and it has a very shallow pool of energy to draw from.