The reveal of upcoming movie Pokémon: Wild Card hid a brand new Mega Evolution in plain sight, fans believe.
Over the weekend, the 2026 Pokémon World Championships included a flurry of new Pokémon announcements, including the first new Pokémon movie for seven years. Due to launch in theaters next year, Pokémon: Wild Card will feature a TCG player “battling and striving to be a champion”, accompanied by a mysterious Mimikyu.
Of course, Mimikyu does not currently have a Mega Evolution — not in the series’ original Pokémon X and Y batch of Megas, or in the fresh menagerie introduced last year via Pokémon Legends: Z-A. But there is something odd about the Mimikyu in that poster — do you see it?
Yes, the Mimikyu is glowing with rainbow-colored light — a very similar rainbow-colored light to the effect of Pokémon as Mega Energy, used to Mega Evolve. Is it a coincidence, or something more? And if we are about to see a Mega Mimikyu revealed, when could it debut in video game form?
One popular suggestion is that Mimikyu will evolve in next year’s Pokémon Winds and Waves, the franchise’s long-awaited 10th generation of games due to arrive exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2. With these games and Pokémon: Wild Card arriving around the same time, this would be a neat teaser — and certainly, anime movies and series have previously featured various Pokémon debuts before they’re actually available in-game.
One other avenue for release could be via a final update to Pokémon Legends: Z-A, a game which focuses squarely on Mega Evolution. This would likely make more sense thematically, and there’s been no suggestion that Winds and Waves will include Mega Evolution themselves. Indeed, as a new generation of games, the upcoming titles are more likely to feature their own regional mechanic (such as Gigantamax in Sword and Shield, or Terrestrialization in Scarlet/Violet).
Could Mega Mimikyu debut sooner rather than later in Legends: Z-A, as a way to tide fans over while news on Winds and Waves’ launch window remains thin on the ground? Or could this all just be another one of Mimikyu’s tricks? Fans seem convinced Mega Mimikyu is coming, either way.
Mega Mimikyu would be so goated and I would not be normal about it. I felt that it was such an obvious choice. Mega Mimikyu’s ability should restore disguise https://t.co/l1TzKnlz1Z
— 👑🤴🏻Spoopy🪦💀 (@Prince_Spoopy) September 1, 2026
Mega Mimikyu incoming?? https://t.co/rAu2VWlyZq
— Moxie✨✏️ (@Moxie2D) August 31, 2026
bet on mega mimikyu https://t.co/2aYhRo88DI
— abeo (@CassidyCrpKilla) August 31, 2026
For everything announced during the 2026 Pokémon World Championships and PokémonXP, check out our roundup. Pokémon: Wild Card may be the only feature-length movie announced, but another animated Pokémon project is making its way to screens in 2027. Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d and Pichu was announced back in 2025, but news about the series streaming on DisneyXD and more was revealed during a panel at this year’s PokémonXP.
Images credit: The Pokémon Company
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
