WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Moana 2.
Maui temporarily loses his powers due to the powerful and ominous storm god named Nalo in Disney’s latest animated blockbusterMoana 2.Auli’i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson lead theensemble cast ofMoana 2, which also features voice performances by Awhimai Fraser, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, Alan Tudyk, and Jermaine Clement. After releasing in theaters on July 22, 2025,Moana 2is currently projected to earna five-day Thanksgiving gross between $215-220 million domestically, which would surpass the record set byThe Super Mario Bros. Movie.for the best five-day weekend of all time.
ThroughoutMoana 2, Moana journeys to the far seas of Oceania after receiving an unexpected call from her ancestors. She leaves her home island of Motunui and sets out to find other people on the ocean with the hope of uniting them once again. It’s revealed that Nalo, a wicked and powerful storm god, had sunk a crucial connecting island called Motufetu deep into the ocean to prevent islanders from connecting. Moana’s goal is to discover Motufetu and bring all of the oceanic people together. As seen at theend ofMoana 2, Moana breaks Nola’s curse, which enables people from various islands to travel to Motunui, butMaui nearly loses his demigod status in the process.
Maui Loses His Powers & Tattoos After Fighting Nalo In Moana 2
Nalo strips Maui of his tattoos and demigod powers
Towards the end ofMoana 2, Maui temporarily loses his tattoos and demi-god powers, returning him to a mortal human form. This is done by the wicked storm god Nalo, who is revealed in Moana 2’s post-credits scene in a physical form. Because Maui is a firm supporter of Moana,he goes to great lengths to help her defeat Nalo and her evil associate, Matangi. Maui was originally born as a human child but was abandoned by his parents. Instead of dying a tragic death, the benevolentgods of theMoanauniverseswooped in and saved his life by making him a strong and powerful demi-god.
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Maui’s tattoos are part of his identity as a demigod and are a core feature of his demigod status and power. Like Maui, Moana ends up getting her own tattoos at theend ofMoana 2once she ascends to the level of demigod. After being killed by Nalo’s bolt of lightning while she tries to resurface the island of Motufetu, which connects all of the various oceanic islanders in Moana’s universe, Moana joins Maui as a demigod above humans. Similar to another classic Disney hero Hercules, bothMaui and Moana possess superhuman strengths as demigods, which is evidenced by their tattoos.
How Maui Regains His Demigod Status In Moana 2
Moana’s ancestors and ocean spirit bring them back
After Nalo takes Maui’s demigod powers by robbing him of his tattoos, Moana is able to harness the powers of her ancestors and the collective ocean spirit to bring them back to him. This reverses what Nalo had originally inflicted on Maui by making his tattoos disappear, revealing that Nalo is not as powerful as Moana and her crew originally thought. Interestingly, it’s not until Moana and Maui defeat Nalo that he is revealed in the sequel’s mid-credits scene, which makes him appear much more human and vulnerable.Nalo’s plan to kill Moana and strip Maui of his powers brutally backfires, making him seem more beatable than ever before.
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While it may have been interesting to see how Maui would have handled living life as a mortal inMoana 3, which currently does not have a release date and is not yet officially in production at Disney, it would have been needlessly tragic had Maui actually lost his demigod status. For a movie likeMoana 2, one of Disney’s biggest franchises, making a massive character change like that and taking away one of, if not the, most interesting aspects of his character would have been a big mistake. Fortunately,Maui’s powers were returned to him just as Moana joined him among the ranks of the demigods.
Why Maui Losing His Powers & Tattoos Is Significant For His Future
Neither Maui nor Moana are permanently demigods
There is, however, the risk thatMaui – and Moana – could lose their powers again and could become mortal once moreat some point down the road. He’s not a demigod permanently and neither is Moana. As long as Nalo is still at large, there’s always the possibility that he could take both of their demigod powers away since he is much more powerful as a god. Maui and Moana will always work better as a team and now that Moana has demigod powers, their dynamic duo is more capable than ever. Even if Maui loses his demigod powers again afterMoana 2, Moana could use her newfound demigod strength to restore them in futureMoanamovies.
Moana 2
Cast
Moana 2 is the sequel to the 2016 animated film Moana. Directed by David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, and Dana Ledoux Miller, the film continues the journey of Moana as she embarks on new adventures, exploring the vast Pacific Ocean while encountering new characters and challenges along the way.
