Howard Clifford

Howard Clifford is the main antagonist of the 2019 movie Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. He is the father of Roger Clifford and the visionary behind Ryme City. Initially introduced as a kindly, disabled old man who supports harmony between humans and Pokémon, he is later revealed to be a mad transhumanist who seeks to control the body of Mewtwo and fuse all humans with their Pokémon as a way to reach their full potential.

He is portrayed by Bill Nighy and voiced by Hiroshi Naka in the Japanese dub.

Past
Howard Clifford was the master planner of Ryme City, a place he believed could be the next evolution in human-Pokémon relationships, where Pokémon and humans could live in harmony and there would be no capturing or battling. At some point, he was diagnosed with a degenarative disease, forcing him to stay in a wheelchair. He eventually concluded that to avoid such ailments, humans would have to merge with their Pokémon. One of the few ways to do so would be to infect Pokémon with the R drug derived from Mewtwo's cells, which would send them into a frenzied state during which Mewtwo's powers could be used to fuse them with humans. To meet this end, he hired Dr. Ann Laurent, a Pokémon experimentator, to capture and experiment on Mewtwo. Laurent hired detective Harry Goodman to capture Mewtwo, but Goodman found out about their plans and refused. Laurent's team eventually managed to capture Mewtwo and extract R from it, but Goodman and his Pikachu used an electric shock to break Mewtwo's tank and free it, foiling Mewtwo's plans. Laurent's genetically-modified Greninja attempted to kill Goodman, but Mewtwo fused him with his Pikachu to save his life.