>>47773219Beating Red is non-optional for the final credits roll. Many optional things are non-canon for the sake of future games (such as catching all the legendaries), but meeting the minimum requirements for the credits to roll is always canon. That's not to say that Ethan is stronger than Red in general, but he definitely beat him at least that one time on Mt. Silver because that's the ultimate battle on his journey. Why would a game character canonically not have "beat the game" within their own universe?
The same goes for the rest of the series. Rosa/Nate would have beat Red in the PWT. Again, that doesn't mean that they're an overall stronger trainer than Red, but they're at least capable of beating him in a battle.
