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Pokemon Detective Pikachuis finally out and in the wild . It ’s no secret that the film has been heatedly anticipated byPokemonfans for quite some time now , and the hold appears to have been well deserving it . Reviews forPokemonDetective Pikachuhave been largely convinced , and it ’s now clean-cut that the plastic film has set the bar in terms of the caliber   to be require from a TV plot version for the big screen . It ’s been so well - meet , in fact , that the unclouded question remaining is " what ’s next ? " and " how long will it be ? "

There are a few dissimilar steering that studios Warner Bros. and Legendary can take the franchise next , with Screen Rant even asking about how thewriters behindDetective Pikachuwould set up aSuper Smash Bros.film . Despite the fact that a crossover scenario of that magnitude is unlikely   to happen , the moving-picture show actually does a upright job at referencing various aspect of the corePokemongames . But one major declaration in the film really helps to setDetective Pikachuin the existingPokemontimeline .

Pikachu

One of the head scientists inPokemon Detective Pikachuperforming experiments on Mewtwomakes the title that the wight was last see after it escaped the Kanto region 20 years prior to the events of the film . This is a fun nod to the happening of the original Game Boy titles ( Pokemon Red , Blue , and the Japan - exclusiveGreen Versions ) as Kanto is where those games take office , but it also help establish the film within a theoretic timeline . Not only does it bestow thevillainous Team Rocketinto the limelight by making them a part of the on - screen world without mentioning them by name , but it also means thatPokemonDetective Pikachulikely take place after the event of   those original secret plan .

How long after is anyone ’s guess , and canonically the event ofPokemon Red , Blue , andGreencould diddle out years after Team Rocket reserve Mewtwo to escape – it could even followPokemonDetective Pikachusince Red is sleep together to have at least done battle with the creature . But the elements that help establish a timeframe are colligate to the header honcho at Team Rocket , Giovanni . 20 years is a long time , after all , and if he wasoverseeing the project that brought Mewtwo into existence , then he ’d likely be quite sometime now – unless this was an initiative   take on in his young , which would then make him the middle - aged syndicate boss that everyone know and loves today .

fit in to thePokemonanime , the outcome of Mewtwo   obliterating the research laboratory in which it was create was near - cooccurring with the fallout of the creature attempting retaliation on humans before exiting the Kanto region . Another fundamental affair to consider is that the animal halt to battleGary Oak ( aka Blue)alongside Giovanni , prevent the flight simulator from getting his 8th and concluding badge , the Earth Badge , from the Viridian Gym – at least for a sentence . If these events are related toPokemonDetective Pikachu , then the story of Ash / Red and Gary / Blue is long in the past .

Sidious, Tyranus, Maul, and Vader.

confessedly , it ’s hard to shut up down a canonical successiveness of event in the world ofPokemon . There are multiple dimensions that some of the nucleus games take place in , off - handed references to part and event throughout , and many more aspects that throw everything off . There are different timelines and world across the secret plan , manga , and anime , which have drawing a correlation even more difficult . But as much as thing disagree , others stay the same . Most prominently , Mewtwo is create by Team Rocket and it leads to a confrontation with the protagonist .

It ’s unclouded thatPokemonDetective Pikachuhas been intentionally wispy in these smashing details , but these elements are kick the bucket to be tricky to explicate withoutfleshing out the Pokemon worldpresent in this flick . perhaps Giovanni did n’t found Team Rocket and instead clawed his way to the top ? Perhaps he ’s a power - hungry older piece at this point that resent allowing the most powerful Pokemon in the world to elude his grasp . If it ’s been 20 years since Mewtwo escaped the Kanto area , then the fallout there would have been fundamental on a number of front .

So , what do we believe takes place roughly 20 years afterPokemon Red , Blue , andGreen ? The events ofPokemon SunandMoon , which in the beginning released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2016 . Why is this date important ? Because it launch twenty age after the original Game Boy titles in Japan ( 1996 ) and feature an adult Red and Blue – both of whom would be or so 30 if they left home to begin theirPokemonadventures at the age of 10 . Since they ’re both importantly older by this point , this make that this is the   timeline thatPokemonDetective Pikachufalls within .

In a dusty landscape Finn stares out into the distance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

FuturePokemonfilms that followPokemonDetective Pikachuwill do well to play with that comment about Mewtwo ,   because the implications are huge when it come to the future of the franchise . For now , though , it seem as ifPokemonDetective Pikachutakes place over a decade after the original games . Legendary and Warner Bros. do n’t have to adhere to this timeline and may opt to start their own , but all of this is fun to consider given what minuscule data is presently known about the bigger world ofPokemonin this movie .

MORE : Detective Pikachu : 20 Pokémon Secrets You pretermit

Pokemon Detective Pikachu Timeline

An edit featuring Pokémon Red’s Charizard to the left, Pokémon Blue’s Blastoise in the middle, and Pokémon Yellow’s Pikachu to the right.

Pokemon Red Mewtwo Sprite

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