WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Wednesday season 1!Netflix’s Wednesday gives the iconic Addams family supernatural powers, with each kooky figure exhibiting different abilities. Wednesday is the first adaptation of The Addams Family to confirm that each member of the family has supernatural powers, with the Netflix series even exploring the abilities of their ancestors from several centuries ago. While the idea that the Addamses were supernatural was left up to interpretation or served as another eerie quirk to the characters in previous adaptations, their powers are integral to Wednesday season 1’s story.
Wednesday is set at the Nevermore Academy school for outcasts, an institution dedicated to training and uniting teenagers from various supernatural species. As Wednesday learns to master her growing powers at the school, the Tim Burton Netflix series also explores the curious abilities of her family members, primarily Morticia and Fester Addams. While some of The Addams Family characters have yet to exhibit their powers in Wednesday, the series ensures that Wednesday, Morticia, Gomez, Pugsley, and their relatives all have supernatural gifts.
Wednesday
One of the key elements of Wednesday Addams’ story in Wednesday season 1 is her budding psychic powers. Wednesday reveals that she’s been experiencing powerful visions for the past year, but they come on very suddenly and she doesn’t know how to control them. Wednesday’s psychic visions can happen at random, but are typically brought on by touching someone or something, which leads her to see a connected moment from the past or future. As Wednesday season 1’s murder mystery unfolds, Jenna Ortega’s character begins to have more control over her psychic ability, which allows her to discover that Tyler is the Hyde.
Wednesday Addams inherited her psychic ability from both sides of her family, as her mother Morticia Frump is a powerful psychic while her father Gomez’s ancestor Goody Addams was a notable witch and psychic. Like Goody, Wednesday is a type of psychic known as a “raven,” which is based on her darker view of the world. This means that Wednesday’s visions are stronger and more potent, but Morticia warns that raven psychics can go mad if they don’t have proper training. Thankfully, Wednesday has the support of Nevermore Academy, her family, and fellow psychics like Xavier Thorpe to help master her supernatural powers.
Morticia
While Morticia Addams had a vampiric style and demeanor in past Addams Family adaptations, Wednesday confirms that the matriarch is actually a psychic. Catherine Zeta-Jones’ Morticia has psychic visions similar to her daughter Wednesday, which she had helped conjure through an obsidian necklace. Principal Larissa Weems reveals that Morticia began having visions when she was around 16 years old at Nevermore Academy, and originally believed that she was “losing her mind” when they became more powerful. According to Weems, young Morticia Frump’s visions were “notoriously unreliable and dangerous.”
While Wednesday Addams inherited her psychic powers from Morticia, Tim Burton’s Netflix series reveals that the matriarch is a different type of psychic. While Wednesday is a raven, Morticia is a dove, which is based on their differing worldviews. Wednesday's character Morticia has a more positive outlook on the world, which means that her psychic visions aren’t as strong or dark as her daughter's. While Morticia’s psychic powers aren’t seen in action during Nevermore’s murder mystery, the character’s visions will likely be included during Wednesday season 2.
Gomez
Surprisingly, Wednesday season 1 doesn’t confirm what supernatural powers Gomez Addams possesses. While his brother can generate electricity and his daughter is a psychic, Gomez’s gift is unclear in the Netflix series. He most likely has a gift that’s related to being a psychic, but Gomez’s outcast species won’t be confirmed until the Addams family returns in Wednesday season 2. Gomez’s supernatural powers also aren’t revealed in The Addams Family sitcom or 1990s film series, but he does have a curious ability in the characters’ 1972 appearance in the Scooby-Doo episode “Wednesday Is Missing.” During this episode, Gomez Addams exhibits the power to walk on walls, which could still turn out to be his power in Wednesday.
Fester
Fester Addams has a fairly unique power in Tim Burton’s Wednesday, as there aren’t any other characters who have exhibited the power to make electricity. Uncle Fester’s powers certainly come in handy during an emotional crisis in Wednesday season 1, as he’s able to zap Thing back to life after a tearful Wednesday implores him to revive the Addamses’ beloved sentient hand. Fester’s supernatural powers of electricity are also useful for his criminal career, as he presumably uses them on his bank heists.
Netflix’s Wednesday is the first occasion in which all the Addams Family characters are confirmed to have supernatural powers, as previous adaptations either only implied their abilities or positioned them as powerless macabre figures. However, Uncle Fester did have the power to generate electricity in The Addams Family (1991), which he gained after being struck by lightning, and in the original 1960s sitcom. Uncle Fester’s powers in Wednesday are thus the only supernatural abilities confirmed to have been carried over from past adaptations.
Pugsley
Unlike his older sister Wednesday, Pugsley Addams has yet to reveal his supernatural gift. While Wednesday was sent to join Nevermore Academy’s powerful outcast species after being expelled from public school, Pugsley remains with the “normies” during Wednesday season 1. Pugsley will likely attend Nevermore Academy in Wednesday season 2, which is also when he’s apt to discover his powers. Wednesday revealed that she started having her psychic visions when she was around 15 years old, so this is also likely when Pugsley will begin to experience his powers. Since Pugsley’s mother and sister are psychics, he could also be part of this outcast species in Wednesday.
Goody
Tim Burton’s Wednesday introduces a brand-new character in The Addams Family history, who ultimately plays an important role in Nevermore Academy’s centuries-old murder mystery and outcast-normie feud. Goody Addams is revealed to have been an incredibly powerful psychic and witch, who had dark and potent visions like her descendant Wednesday, another raven psychic. Additionally, Goody was a witch who could put spells and curses on others, such as the blood curse she placed on the pilgrim Joseph Crackstone’s soul. The 17th-century character was also able to visit her descendants in the afterlife, as Goody returned to train and heal the title character throughout her battles in Wednesday season 1.