Before there were 800-something Pokémon out there in the world to catch, there was the original 150, and as the crowning achievement of your efforts to become a Pokémon Master stood the mighty Mewtwo. At one point, Mewtwo was considered the rarest and most powerful character in the game, with just one available to catch on each Game Boy cartridge. While other legendary Pokémon have appeared and replaced Mewtwo in the hierarchy of the universe, the first genetically engineered Pokémon continues to hold a special place in the fandom.
Mewtwo has been featured in multiple video games, television shows, and movies, but fans remember him thanks to the cloud of mystery that surrounds him. However, the more we learn about the ultimate Pokémon, the more we are faced with facts that don’t really make a lot of sense. Throw out the fact that this is a fictional character based in a universe where animals are trained as gladiators against their will; Mewtwo is actually an enigma inside the world of Pokémon. Some details can be applied to many different Pokémon, and others are very specific to his personal origins. Here are 15 details about Mewtwo that actually make no sense at all.
15 How Does This Actually Work?
In the world of Pokémon, when you can’t seem to evolve your creature any further through battles, you can actually expose it to radioactive rocks in order to bring about an evolution. While the science behind this process is never truly explained, radiation is the only way this makes any sense, so you’re basically mutating your Pokemon. There’s no telling how badly you mess up the biology of your Pokémon, but does it really matter?
One creature you probably didn’t realize could be evolved through this manner is the one and only Mewtwo. In Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the concept of Mega Evolution was introduced, where Pokémon can be temporarily evolved with the help of special Mega Stones. Use Mewtwonite X to create Mega Mewtwo X or Mewtwonite Y to create Mega Mewtwo Y.
14 They Are Nothing Alike
Clones are typically expected to resemble their progenitor, but that was apparently not what happened when Mewtwo was created from Mew. Despite being a clone, Mewtwo is incredibly different on a physical level. While Mew is merely a foot-tale cat, Mewtwo is six-foot-seven and looks like some kind of muscular combination between a feline, a squirrel, and a kangaroo.
Mewtwo takes on very basic features from Mew, including the tail, bigger hind legs, and a general feline-like appearance. One feature that really stands out on Mewtwo is the bizarre tube of flesh that travels from the creature’s head, bypasses the neck, and connects to the shoulder. It’s hard to tell if that is a product of the cloning process or some weird birth defect or what.
13 What’s Wrong With It?
As the monstrous creation of misguided science, Mewtwo shouldn’t be expected to obey the traditional laws of science and biology. He was a genetically engineered clone created to be a psychic weapon, and the most powerful Pokémon in the world. Still, some of the creation’s physical attributes are pretty off putting, and several bits of him are straight up creepy.
Mewtwo’s hands and feet with knobby digits are kind of weird, considering his human-like attributes. His tail also connects to his body and creates a bulging growth between his legs, which is kind of creepy. Then there is the neck, which is unique to all other creatures in the world. For some reason he has a fleshy tube that connects his head directly to his body, bypassing his neck. That’s definitely a disturbing physical attribute to have.
12 That’s Not How Biology Works
When animals get older, they typically get bigger in size, and when Pokémon evolve, they too grow larger in their new form. Mega Evolutions work the same way, just on a temporary basis. However, when Mewtwo Mega Evolves, he doesn’t exactly follow this simple rule of evolution.
In his normal form, Mewtwo is measured at six-foot-seven, but when you use Mewtwonite X on him to transform him into Mega Mewtwo X, he grows an extra foot. The same thing can’t be said about his other Mega Evolution. For some reason, when you use Mewtwonite Y, he actually shrinks significantly as Mega Mewtwo Y. In this form, he measure just four-foot-eleven, which should honestly be biologically impossible if any of this made sense in the first place.
11 How Can You Catch Him More Than Once?
It might seem that the Pokémon games are simply unconnected adventures with similar pieces reshuffled onto a new setting, however, the games do have some form of continuity. For instance, Generation I and III chronologically take place before II and IV. This is all well and good, until you realize what it means for the very rare Pokémon in the games, like Mewtwo.
You catch Mewtwo in the Cerulean Cave back in the Kanto Region back in Generation I, and since there is only supposed to be one of him, that should be that. The games keep his elusive status intact until Generation VI, when you’re somehow able to find Mewtwo hanging out in the Unknown Dungeon in the Kalos Region from X and Y. This game takes place years after Red and Blue, so how did he get here? Who did he kill?
10 They Are Out Of Order
In the world of Pokémon, the creatures are categorized by number and listed inside the database of a a Pokédex. From a real-world perspective, it would make sense that these Pokémon were organized by alphabetical order, or by popularity, or even by type, however, in-game they are seemingly assigned random numbers with their evolutions listed together.
It’s hard to know for certain how exactly the official Pokémon scholars decided to list them, but one interesting idea is that they are in order of when they were discovered. That would be hard to defend, though, considering Mewtwo is listed at #150, but Mew, the Pokémon he was created from, is somehow listed as #151. Sure, the makers of the game slipped Mew in secretly, but there is no in-universe explanation.
9 Why Would Nintendo Make You Do This?
The Super Smash Bros. video game series pits Nintendo characters against each other, which means Pokémon fight alongside Mario and Donkey Kong. The series has many secret characters to unlock over the years. Some require simple feats of skill in various battle modes, but a few ask you to do something far more unorthodox.
When it comes time to unlock Mewtwo in Super Smash Bros Melee, the game asks you to play a total of 20 hours in Vs. Mode or play 700 matches in Vs. Mode. That basically meant that players had to keep the game running for so much longer than they might normally be willing to play. Nintendo was criticized for requiring players to use that much power, so they never did it again.
8 The Anime Has Gotten Out Of Control
There has only ever been one Mewtwo in existence. As a genetically engineered Pokémon, scientists were only able to make the one before their lab was destroyed. The game established this backstory, and the anime adapted it in Pokémon: The First Movie. However, years later, things kind of flew off the rails when the anime decided to reintroduce Mewtwo as a different character.
Ash and his friends encountered Mewtwo in the 1998 movie, but he showed up again in Genesect and the Legend Awakened from 2013. While this Mewtwo has much in common with the original version, it is established that this is very much a different individual. The character has a new voice and different experiences than the original version. How can two versions of the same character exist in the same continuity?
7 What A Bizarre Plot
Mewtwo is the mastermind behind the events of Pokémon: The First Movie, but in 2000 he was also the big bad behind the Pokémon Puzzle League video game for the Nintendo 64. Apparently Ash decided to a take a break from Pokémon training to take part in a Tetris-style puzzle tournament. It’s a weird concept, but it gets weirder in the end when we find out who was behind it all.
At the end of the game, it is revealed that Mewtwo is the mysterious Puzzle Master, who set up the tournament all to just find worthy foes for him to clone. In the end, once you win, the player is left to wonder if the whole experience was just a dream or not. If Mewtwo really did all this, it’s a pretty bizarre plot to concoct.
6 The Manga Makes Even Less Sense
After all the mystery surrounding Mewtwo, fans of the Pokémon game series began to wonder about the existence of Mewthree. Though it has long been proven to be a fake, that hasn’t stopped the anime and manga series from making fun of the fake Pokémon bonanza. The most notable instance was in the Pokémon Pocket Monster manga series, and it made absolutely no sense.
In Bring Down the Strongest Pokémon, Mewtwo is created but thanks to something called a DNA switching machine, Red’s Clefairy and Mewtwo gain attributes from each other. While Clefairy becomes more powerful, Mewtwo becomes obnoxious and is defeated. The switch happens several times between the two, and the Mewtwo-infected Clefairy jokingly refers to himself as Mewthree. It really doesn’t make much sense.
5 How Can Everyone Catch ‘Em All?
Pokémon Go gives fans the chance to experience what it must be like to be a Pokemon trainer in the world of Pokémon. Just like in the game, there are creatures that are rarer than others, but everyone gets a chance to catch them. However, when it comes to a Pokémon like Mewtwo, where only one of them is supposed to exist, how exactly can multiple players get a hold of him?
In 2017, the game introduced cooperative raid battles to give fans a chance to gain Legendary Pokémon. The first such raid was introduced in 2017 and allowed players to get their hands on a Mewtwo all their own. What doesn’t make any sense, though, is how multiple people can have a Pokémon that is so rare that only one of them has ever existed.
4 That’s Just Disturbing
The Pokémon Adventures manga dove into the origins of Mewtwo, revealing that it was Blaine (the Gym Leader on Cinnabar Island) that created the ultimate Pokémon. The scientist revealed that Mewtwo was created by cloning the eyelash of Mew, but in order to complete the project, he was also forced to use his own DNA in the process to develop a powerful Pokémon.
The idea that Mewtwo is actually some kind of Pokémon-human hybrid is actually quite disturbing when you think about it. With human DNA in him, it was explain why the creature looks so much different than Mew and has many human-like features. This whole thing might prove once and for all that the world of Pokémon is a godless hellscape of horror.
3 This Has To Be A Continuity Error, Right?
Before Mewtwo debuted in 1999’s Pokémon: The First Movie, the Pokémon was also established to exist in the anime television series. Though the episodes leading up to the movie didn’t see release until after the movie was already in theaters, some clues to Mewtwo remained hidden, even though the inclusion doesn’t make any sense.
Just 13 episodes into the anime, “Mystery at the Lighthouse” debuted in 1998, with a major continuity error. Ash and his friends find a mysterious lighthouse in the episode, and the door is etched with images of legendary Pokémon, one of which is actually Mewtwo. The only problem is that either Mewtwo didn’t exist yet at this time or at least know one would have known of his existence yet, since he hadn’t escaped escaped from Team Rocket yet. Whoops!
2 That Whole First Movie
Mewtwo’s big anime debut came in the Japanese release of Pokémon: The First Movie in 1998. In the original film, Mewtwo was depicted as a complex character who openly questioned his place in the world as a genetically engineered Pokémon. The character, and the movie, was well received, but things were different for the American release.
In order to appease American audiences, the English dub changed Mewtwo’s motivation in the film, making him far more of a ruthless, one-dimensional villain, while also removing several key scenes that were deemed too mature for young audiences. The new version of the movie was panned by critics and Mewtwo’s reputation was changed forever. It’s hard to say who is the real Mewtwo between the two different versions anymore.
1 Has Anyone Ever Thought Of This?
For a long time, people didn’t know where Pokémon actually came from. It wasn’t until Generation II that it was established most Pokémon come from eggs. In retrospect, it makes the creation of Mewtwo comes into question when looking at the journal left behind in the Pokémon Mansion from Generation I.
The journal documents the discovery of Mew and the eventual creation of Mewtwo, however, the way the process is described is interesting. The scientist writing things down mentions that Mew “gave birth,” which is an interesting way of describing the process of laying an egg. The anime established that Mewtwo was created in a lab, but in the game it seems that Mewtwo was actually live born. This amazing miracle of science soon turned rogue.