Summary

• Beetlejuice has a wide range of powers, from voice projection and mimicry to levitation and conjuring objects. He can manipulate his surroundings and can easily change his appearance through shapeshifting.
• Betelgeuse possesses telekinetic and teleportation abilities, allowing him to move objects and people with ease. He can alter reality, creating illusions and terrifying experiences for others.
• Being undead, Betelgeuse is virtually invulnerable and can regenerate body parts. His most impressive power is possession, as he can take control of individuals and force them to act according to his will.

Tim Burton's Beetlejuice introduced the world to a haunting spectral demon with an impressive collection of powers and abilities at his disposal. Burton frequently creates characters and worlds that contain mysterious dark magic that brings skeletons to life, causes children to be born with knives for hands, and plenty more, but perhaps his most powerful character came in one of his earliest movies. Beetlejuice was Burton's second feature film, after his debut Pee-wee's Big Adventure.

Starring Michael Keaton as the demonic spirit, Betelgeuse, hired to haunt a deceased couple's family home after a new family moves in. Betelgeuse employs numerous methods and sinister tricks in order to scare the occupants out of the home. His powers range from trickery to significant mystical abilities that make him nearly invincible.

11 Voice Projection

Betelgeuse Throwing His Voice

Betelgeuse has the ability to project his voice from other places. Whether it's making it sound like he is speaking from another room, or projecting his voice to come from another person, Betelgeuse has mastered the art of ventriloquism. However, thanks to his wealth of other powers, Betelgeuse rarely needs to use this ability.

10 Mimicry

Perfect Voice Replication

One power Betelgeuse uses slightly more frequently is his ability to perfectly mimic others. While he and Lydia are just about to state their vows to marry one another, Lydia resists and tries to get rid of the horrible ghost. Betelgeuse has other ideas and decides to silence Lydia while he declares her willingness on her behalf, perfectly replicating her voice. Again, this may not be his most powerful ability, but it can come in handy when trying to trick and manipulate others.

9 Levitation

But No Confirmed Flight

Being a specter that is separated from the physical world, Betelgeuse is capable of rising above the surface of the Earth and floating. Whether this power could be pushed further and Betelgeuse is capable of taking flight was not shown in the original movie, but luckily, he also has several other abilities that allow him to travel with significant ease. There is also a scene toward the end of the film where Adam and Barbara have refined their ability to levitate things when they lift Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) into the air for a magical musical number.

8 Conjuring Objects

Summoning And Creating

Diving deeper into Betelgeuse's magical abilities, he has the power to conjure and create objects at will. It's difficult to know exactly when he is using this ability and whether the things he summons are imagined or real, due to his other powers, but it is a significant power that allows him to exercise his powers to the limits of his imagination. He is able to exercise this ability and most others with no visible effort. No need for a wand, incantation, or the wave of a hand, but it appears that he can simply think things into existence.

7 Shapeshifting

Shrinking, Transforming, And Changing

One of the most frequently used abilities in Beetlejuice is shapeshifting. Whether changing his form to match another person, or changing his size and shape, he is capable of easily changing every detail of himself to become hideous creatures and monsters, and simply copying the people he interacts with. Betelgeuse uses this ability to great effect in his efforts to scare people out of Adam and Barbara's home. Betelgeuse's ability to alter size also extends to other dead people at least as is shown when he shrinks Adam and Barabra to fit into the miniature town Adam built.

6 Telekinesis

Moving Objects With His Mind

In addition to levitating himself, Betelgeuse can use telekinetic powers to lift inanimate objects. This ability is used to great effect, with Betelgeuse continuously throwing objects around the house, or manipulating those around him. Once again, the ability to use this power appears to have no adverse effects on Betelgeuse, and he can freely move objects and people with no struggle.

5 Teleportation

Short-Range Teleportation For Himself And Others

When Betelgeuse first appears, he makes use of his ability to teleport to mess with Adam and Barbara. Whether this ability is capable of having Betelgeuse traverse large distances is never made clear, but he can certainly make small hops. His teleportation powers also extend to allow him to teleport others, like Adam and Barbara, when they try to stop him and Lydia from getting married.

4 Reality Warping

Beetlejuice Can Change Anything

One of the most impressive powers that Betelgeuse has allows him to alter the very fabric of reality, including what other people around him see and experience. From changing the layout of rooms to creating entire hellscapes with sandworms, Betelgeuse can change his surroundings at will. Following the seance, when Betelgeuse finally gets a chance to exercise his powers, he uses this power to terrify all the living people in the house with wacky tricks and fun fair-style attractions that cause them potential injuries and trauma.

3 Invulnerability

Nearly Invincible

As a dead being, Betelgeuse is a tough nut to crack. Thanks to his undead status, it appears as though nothing can seriously injure the demonic spirit, and while he sometimes responds with supposed pain if someone hits him, this may be more for show than actually causing him any harm. The extent of this invulnerability is not revealed, but Betelgeuse manages to endure being buried alive in a coffin, being eaten by a giant sandworm, and several other incidents that would almost certainly kill a mortal being.

2 Regeneration

Injuries And Entire Body Parts

In addition to Betelgeuse's powers of invulnerability, another power takes his effective immortality to the next level. Betelgeuse has the ability to regenerate entire parts of his body. If Betelgeuse loses any body parts, he is capable of rapidly regrowing them as if they had never come off in the first place. Because this makes Betelgeuse a being who is impervious to death, it is clearly one of his most incredible powers.