Hitmonlee is a brown colored, human and egg-shaped Pokémon. He has three-fingered hands and three claw-like toes. Hitmonlee has segmented, cream-colored arms and legs. The muscles on its legs are more accurate than its arms allowing it to perform powerful knee attacks and kicks. Hitmonlee has almond-shaped eyes with black rings around them and appears to lack a nose and mouth.
Gender differences
Hitmonlee is a male-only species with no female counterpart.
Special abilities
Hitmonlee possesses a considerable sense of balance, enabling him to kick in succession from any position. When kicking, the sole of his foot turns as hard as a diamond on impact. Hitmonlee knows several kick-based moves, including the rarely seen Blaze Kick. His leg muscles have the special ability to freely stretch and compress. Hitmonlee also has a few mental-based moves such as Meditate and Mind Reader. As with other Template:Type2 Pokémon, Hitmonlee is capable of a few Template:Type2 moves and Earthquake.
When in a hurry, his legs lengthen progressively. He can run smoothly with long, loping strides. After battle, he rubs down its legs and loosens the muscles to overcome fatigue.
A Hitmonlee owned by Corey was one of the Pokémon owned by that were captured and cloned by Mewtwo in Mewtwo Strikes Back. The Hitmonlee clone was seen again in Mewtwo Returns.
Master Hamm used a Hitmonlee against his son Kyle, a cook, in Pasta La Vista. If the Dojo Master won, he would retire, and Kyle would have to give up his shop for the Dojo. If Kyle won, it would all stay the same. Ash, and May ended up taking the place of the two. As it was a draw, Kyle and his father decided to both work at the restaurant while Kyle's girlfriend Terri took up ownership of the Dojo.
Hitmonlee later appears as one of Bruno's Pokémon, who destroyed Bill's house. Bruno explains that Hitmonlee's legs are so flexible, it's impossible to locate the position of its knees and attack them.
When released from a Poké Ball, Hitmonlee will preform a Hi Jump Kick dealing a great amount of damage on whoever it hit. Hitmonlee did not return in Super Smash Bros. Melee and was replaced by Scizor who attacks in a similar way.
Hitmonlee's legs freely contract and stretch. Using these springlike legs, it bowls over foes with devastating kicks. After battle, it rubs down its legs and loosens the muscles to overcome fatigue.
Hitmonlee's legs freely contract and stretch. Using these springlike legs, it bowls over foes with devastating kicks. After battle, it rubs down its legs and loosens the muscles to overcome fatigue.
Its legs freely stretch and contract. Using these springlike limbs, it bowls over foes with devastating kicks. After battle, it rubs down its tired legs.
|- style="background:#FFAC59"
| colspan="13" | Bold indicates a move that gets STAB Italic indicates a move that gets STAB only from an Evolution of this Pokémon A colored initial indicates that the move is not available to be tutored in this game, while a colored background indicates that the move is available.
|}
|}
He may be a personification of kick boxing, a sport that focuses on kick attacks. Hitmonlee bears resemblance to Blemmyes due to his lack of an actual head. The overall shape of his body also resembles a human foot.
He may also be a personification of Tadashi Sawamura, who is a kickboxer, his symbol being a strong kick named "Shinku Tobihizageri". Thus, Hitmonlee's design may reference it.
Name origin
Hitmonlee's name can be broken down into hit, monster and Lee - as in Bruce Lee; perhaps meaning "the monster that hits like Bruce Lee". The name is also related to Hitmonchan and Hitmontop, both of which are parallel evolutions to it as of Generation II. His Japanese name comes from the world's first kickboxer, Tadashi Sawamura.
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.
For other sprites and images, please see Hitmonlee images on Bulbagarden Archives.
