Pokemon Detective Pikachu: Gyarados DESTROYS Charizard in first look at BRUTAL battle

Charizard is, as Pokemon fans will be well aware, one of the most powerful species of all. And in early trailers for this new live-action-meets-CGI romp, it seemed to be causing havoc for a terrified Pikachu. But it seems it may have met its match in Gyarados.

The new trailer shows a glimpse of the Gyarados emerging and dwarfing our lead human character, Tim.

It then uses a water-type move to annihilate the Charizard, causing such an impact that the latter is swept out of the arena on a wave.

Water-type moves are brutal against fire-type species, for obvious reasons. So it seems its a total washout for the otherwise fearsome Charizard.

Detective Pikachu unveiled the new, ostensibly ‘final’ trailer earlier this week amid its appearance at CinemaCon in the US.

Director Rob Letterman told Total Film: “Obviously I had a lot to learn when I started this, and we flew to Tokyo quite a bit to meet with the Pokémon company.

“There’s so much pressure to get this right, for everyone.”

He added: “We had a lot of conversations with the experts, making sure it’s properly authentic in terms of the rules of the universe, but my whole thing was that I just wanted everything to feel real.”

He said of the many Pokemon species that will appear: “They’re not just wild animals in the forest. They’re part of the fabric of the city.”

The human cast also includes Kathryn Newton, recently seen in Ben Is Back, as well as Omar Chaparro, Ken Watanabe and Diplo.

Bill Nighy, Suki Waterhouse and Rita Ora have as-yet-undisclosed roles, while Ryan Reynolds provides the voice and facial motion capture for Pikachu.

A sequel for the film – which is expected to open to an opening gross of over $75 million in the US – has already been green-lit, amid huge buzz and a positive reaction to the early trailers.

Detective Pikachu is out on May 10.