WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Episode 33 of Digimon Adventure 2020, "The Hikari of Dawn," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
With Angemon a firm part of the Digimon reboot series for several episodes now, it was only a matter of time before Digimon Adventure 2020 laid the proper groundwork for his female counterpart, Angewomon, to join him. Arguably, this happened when Tai's younger sister, Kari (Hikari in the Japanese dub) arrived in the Digital World, as she is fated to become Angemon's human partner. But Episode 33 is where the real stage-setting happens, with the reintroduction of Gatomon, Angewomon's prior form.
Just like Patamon is to Angemon, Gatomon is the form the Holy Digimon stays in most of the time. In the new show's canon, Holy Digimon are absolutely crucial to the Digital World's stability, characterized as celestial defenders against the darkness that villains like Devimon and new Big Bad, Milleniumon, seek to engulf it with.
Episode 33 also reveals that the latter is the reason why Gatomon has been hidden away for half the series' run. After kidnapping Kari, who showed him an eerie level of passivity, Skullknightmon finally brings the young DigiDestined to the site of an occult ritual being carried out to liberate Milleniumon. Skullknightmon appears to try and use its own body as either a sacrifice or conduit for its master's arrival, along with Kari, who it absorbs into its body. A DigiDestined's bond with their partner is practically unbreakable, and even though Kari doesn't know why she's allowed herself to be dragged this far, her subconscious has been drawing her to Gatomon this entire time. Kari's body begins to be converted into data to feed Milleniumon's revival, and Gatomon's glowing body emerges, snapping Kari out of her daze.
It's worth noting, interestingly, that while Patomon, Angemon's 'default' form, is at the Rookie level Gatomon is actually at the Champion-level, which is unusual. This means that Angewomon, as previously mentioned, is a higher-level evolution than Angemon: the former being Ultimate and the latter, Champion. Digimon fans offer various explanations for this, including that Gatomon's extended time alone in the wild meant she became strong enough to stay in this mode all the time. Others point to her increased reserves of energy and power from her history in the original series as a "slave." Maybe we can just chalk it up, out-of-universe, to a cool twist of feminism in Digimon lore.
The way Patamon and Gatomon have been used in Digimon Adventure certainly emphasizes that both Angemon and Angewomon, even if unequal in level, are both incredibly important and incredibly vulnerable. As 'Good' Digimon, they're the shining beacons of Hope and Light -- their respective crests -- against the darkness, but this same force also has the power to corrupt their kind. Patamon has already been forced to shelve Angemon after a scarring battle with Skullknightmon. Perhaps having his gender-swapped partner on the field will lure Angemon out again.
