'Detective Pikachu' TV Spot Demystifies Pokemon Farts

Last night's Detective Pikachu trailer revealed an age-old question: does Pikachu fart?

Yesterday, FOX aired a new TV spot for Detective Pikachu during the NFC Championship game, giving millions of football fans their first glimpse at the live-action Pokemon movie. While the 30 second trailer mostly consisted of footage from the first film, it did have a new scene featuring Ryan Reynolds' Detective Pikachu and his human partner Tim, played by Justice Smith.

"What is that?" Tim asks his Pokemon partner as they look off in the distance.

"Silent but deadly," Detective Pikachu replies. "Apologies, my tummy's bad from all the coffee."

This is the first actual confirmation that Pikachu (or any Pokemon, really) passes gas like a normal animal. While it's easy to assume that a Pikachu farts like a cat or a dog, this is the first time a mainstream Pokemon tie-in has explored the details of what happens after a Pokemon eats or consumes coffee. Although certain Pokemon, like Koffing and Weezing, can use noxious gas as a weapon, it was never explicitly said whether other Pokemon simply passed gas or somehow converted stomach gas into fuel for other types of attack. After all, a Charmander's tail needs to get fuel for its steady flame somehow.

We will note that the original Pocket Monsters manga technically was the first Pokemon-related series to show how Pikachu disposes of digestive waste. In one widely shared scene, the series' Clefairy picked up Pikachu and had the Pikachu defecate in a nearby stream. The manga actually showed Pikachu pooping in graphic detail, with a steady stream of feces coming out of Pikachu's rear while its trainer looked on in horror. We won't share that page here, but it's very easy to find with a Google search.

Since Detective Pikachu is a live-action Pokemon movie, it does make a certain amount of sense that it would have to deal with things that the Pokemon anime or game doesn't. Maybe we'll see Jigglypuff clip its toenails, or Squirtle constantly drink out of a water bottle to replenish its Water Gun.

The official synopsis for Detective Pikachu reads as follows:

"The story begins when ace detective Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son Tim to find out what happened. Aiding in the investigation is Harry's former Pokémon partner, Detective Pikachu: a hilariously wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth who is a puzzlement even to himself. Finding that they are uniquely equipped to communicate with one another, Tim and Pikachu join forces on a thrilling adventure to unravel the tangled mystery. Chasing clues together through the neon-lit streets of Ryme City—a sprawling, modern metropolis where humans and Pokémon live side by side in a hyper-realistic live-action world—they encounter a diverse cast of Pokémon characters and uncover a shocking plot that could destroy this peaceful co-existence and threaten the whole Pokémon universe."

Detective Pikachu comes out on May 10th.