Watching movies is actually only a fraction of the fun. Cinephiles also love discussing the plot, trading insights, looking for ways they’d have improved things, and reading way too much into some details. However, some details lead to some genuinely genius insights. Coming up with strange interpretations of the film’s story and characters is honestly very enjoyable.

That’s where the r/FanTheories subreddit comes in. An online community of nearly 2.1 million internet users, the group invites people to share their theories, interpretations, and speculations about their favorite creative works, from films to books and beyond. We’ve collected some of the community’s most interesting movie theories that might just blow your mind and change how you see your favorite flicks forever. Check them out below!

We reached out to the friendly team running the r/FanTheories community, and one of the moderators was kind enough to answer Bored Panda’s questions. You’ll find their insights as you read on.

#1 Jurassic Park: Why The Dilophosaurus Doesn’t Attack Nedry When They First Meet

When Nedry first encounters the Dilophosaurus it seems curious and almost playful. Then, seemingly out of the blue, it shifts gears and things rapidly spiral downward for our beloved corporate espionage character. I always thought it was just sizing him up before eating him, as in it always saw him as prey. But upon watching it for the millionth time this morning I noticed an important detail:

The Hood

When they first come face to face, Nedry has his hood up and it’s spread wide around his face. His poncho is bright yellow, just like the Dilo’s hood flaps. As Dr. Grant said, dinosaurs and man just got thrown into the mix together and we have no idea what will happen. A dinosaur has no idea what a rain poncho is, so when it first saw Nedry, all it saw was a giant figure with a huge hood around it’s face. Now bear in mind all of the park’s dinosaurs are female. I believe that the Dilophosaurus thought Nedry was a male, and more specifically a potential mate. That’s why it followed him like a puppy and made those little cooing noises at him. That is until he tripped, causing his hood to fall down. Once the female Dilophosaurus realized Nedry’s ruse it became aggressive, putting up it’s own hood in a threat display, hissing, and spitting venom in his face. And the rest is history.

Image credits: magecatwitharrows

#2 In Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), If You Want To Get Into Gryffindor, You Have To Specifically Ask The Sorting Hat

When Harry put on the hat, it mentioned all of the houses as options, but Slytherin in particular. Harry got into Gryffindor because he asked. He didn’t specifically ask for Gryffindor, but he ruled out Slytherin, and didn’t fit in the other two houses. Same for Hermione: We find out in the books that the hat actually wanted to put her into Ravenclaw, but she asked for Gryffindor.

When all of the Gryffindors first come in, none of them actually seem to have the main trait of the house (bravery): Neville is cowardly, Ginny is shy and meek, etc. Whereas, with the other houses, you can tell who belongs in them right away: Malfoy is clearly arrogant and cunning, Luna is clearly clever, etc.

So, my theory is that Godric Gryffindor set up the Sorting Hat purposefully so that it would never simply choose Gryffindor.

Think about it! We know that the Sorting Hat will sometimes shout out a house instantly, but we never see this occur with Gryffindor. So the test for Gryffindor isn’t if someone is brave already, it’s if they have the bravery to make this massive choice for themselves.

Image credits: EquivalentInflation

#3 Willy Wonka Did Not Give Charlie The Factory As A Reward. It Was A Punishment Just Like He Gave To All The Other Children, Except This One Was The Worst Of All.

Owning and running the chocolate factory was not a positive experience for Wonka. It took a very obvious toll on his mental health and made him basically unable to interact with other people. The trials he laid out were to see if the potential kids could take care of the factory. Augustus Gloop proved he would either eat or contaminate the product, Violet couldn’t follow rules and let her own temptations disqualify her, Veruca was just mean and couldn’t get along with the workers (squirrels), and Mike basically failed for the same reasons Violet did. All of these kids would probably either ruin the factory or sell it for cash.

But Charlie was the only one just gullible enough and innocent enough to take care of the factory and follow the rules forever, and Wonka saw that he was the only one suitable to push this hellish existence on. He’ll be fine in the near future when his family is alive but when they’re all eventually gone then he’ll likely realize Wonka’s factory was never a reward at all.

Image credits: MasterLawlz

Bored Panda was curious to learn more about the roots of the popular online group. “The original creator sub actually deleted their account and hasn’t been part of the mod team for a while so I can’t say for sure what actually led to them making it,” one of the moderators was very open with Bored Panda that the inspiration behind r/FanTheories is shrouded in mystery.

“My view though is that I love when people bring creativity back to creative works they love,” they shared.

“I was already participating in some similar discussions on IRC [Internet Relay Chat], so I was drawn to the sub when I saw it had started.”

#4 Harry Potter: Someone’s Death Was Already Spoiled In The Third Movie

So we all know Dumbledore dies in the sixth movie. But there are hints that his death was already spoiled in the third movie. There is a christmas dinner with various people involved. Finally Sibyll Trelawny joins the party. Before she sits down she is frightened because there are already 12 people sitting at the table and 13 people sitting at the same table brings misery. She does not sit down and mentiones that the first of those 13 persons to stand up would die. In order to calm her, Dumbledore stands up and leaves the table. But we later get to know that Ron’s rat was just Peter Pattigrew who transformeed himself. Knowing that Ron carried his rat in his pocket most of the time, that’d mean there were already 13 people at the table. As Dumbledore leaves as the first of those 13 people, his fate was sealed. 

Image credits: xAnuq

#5 Why Everyone In Guardians Of The Galaxy Sounds Like They’re In A Pg-13 Film

The reason that the language in both Guardians of the Galaxy movies is frequently juvenile and all profanity seems limited to the constraints of a PG-13 film is because we’re usually hearing it as Starlord hears it through his universal translator (mentioned onscreen in the first movie’s mugshot scene).

Starlord was taken from Earth when he was eight. He probably stopped actually learning English shortly after, since it’s unlikely that he had anyone else to actually speak it with. As such, his language (and all language he hears) is going to seem juvenile. Additionally, any profanity he knows probably came from movies and TV shows he saw before he was kidnapped.

Image credits: freelanceastronaut

#6 Avatar: The Last Airbender: Iroh’s Love For Making Tea Represents His Belief In The Idea Of The 4 Elements Working Together In Harmony To Make A Better World

Throughout the show, Iroh has shown his actions that seem silly or weird have a double, deeper meaning when we know more about Iroh and I think his love of Tea is a perfect example of that.

It clicked with me when we see Iroh explain to Zuko how that learning from all 4 elements helps to create a more rounded view of the world and be a better person.

To make Tea, you need all 4 elements to work together to it succeed, you need the clay for the teapots and cups, the water for the substance of the tea, Fire to heat up the Tea and the air blown on the hot tea to cool it so you can drink it (even if you leave it out to cool naturally, it would get cold and taste worse to drink). If you take one element out, tea is either impossible or worse without it.

It’s just fascinating thought and the depth of Iroh that people may dismiss if anybody looked at him on a surface level.

Image credits: pat_speed

We were very interested to hear the moderator’s thoughts on what it is that lies at the core of a good, solid fan theory about any creative work.

“The ones that take the work seriously,” the Reddit user said.

“Connecting the actors’ ones and other joke things like that are fun, but the best ones to me are deep dives that try to extrapolate out more information about the story as best they can with the information provided,” they explained their point of view.

#7 The Lion King: Simba Caused The Drought

This is probably something that is super obvious to everyone, but it was a revelation to me today when I watched Lion King with my son, so….

Simba caused the drought in Pride Rock. The past kings, like Mufasa, are in the sky. Specifically the clouds as shown by Mufasa talking to Simba when he is with Timon and Pumba. The clouds, which carry the rain, left to follow the rightful king when he left Pride Rock.

Simba spends years with Timon and Pumba in an apparent tropical jungle that obviously gets plenty of rainfall. When he is shown going back towards Pride Rock, the clouds roll in behind him. They seemingly follow the rightful king back to the pridelands and it begins raining shortly after.

For years, it bugged me how Scar taking power somehow caused a drought. It really wasn’t Scar seizing control or the hyena population explosion that caused a weather issue, but the rightful leader abandoning his people and taking the wisdom of the elders with him.

#8 Lord Of The Rings: Aragorn And Legolas Are More Devastated Than Any Of The Fellowship When Gandalf Falls

In the LOTR movies there are these little details that only last for about a second. First when Aragorn witnesses Gandalf fall he freezes for a few seconds and almost takes an arrow to the face. It takes Boromir shouting at him to snap him out of it. Also when the sad music is playing and all the hobbits are crying we just see Legolas staring at the ground in disbelief. My theory is that Aragorn and Legolas where more distraught then any of the group but just didn’t show it because they are hardened warriors but they are also educated and know who Gandalf is. In the LOTR lore, it is revealed that Gandalf isn’t just some mysterious Wizard but something equivalent to an archangel like Saint Micheal and Satan. He and the rest of the wizards of Middle Earth are on the same power level as Sauron and Morgoth and Legolas and Aragorn know it because they were raised by the elves and were educated. To the Hobbits, losing Gandalf was like losing a grandfatherly figure and Gimli and Boromir, both hardened warriors themselves, are barely affected by it but to Aragorn and Legolas it was like watching Jesus die. What was probably going through boths’ minds afterward was “we are truly f*cked now.”

#9 Batman’s Other Rule….

So for most of the modern comic book iteration of Batman, his rule is no guns… no killing. But I’ve noticed in the animated series and the Rockstar game series, he also does not call the villain by their villainous monicker. I believe this is a way to connect with any possible humanity left in his opponents. He calls Penguin, Cobblepot, Two Face, Harvey or Dent… Poison Ivy , Dr. Isley or Pamela… he only calls Joker by the only identity he has. Ultimately, I feel like Batman has an almost unshakable hope. Hope that someday, all these “villains” can be rehabilitated. Which is why he wants to trust in the system.

Meanwhile, we asked the mod about the reasons for the popularity of the subreddit itself.

“Judging by the stats, the growth of the sub is mostly down to the growth of Reddit as a platform in general,” they noted.

“Our subscriber rank peaked in 2017 at 153rd. I think the raw numbers just come from being a general place for fa ntheories on Reddit and fan theories have kept relevance because people will always enjoy discussing works they enjoy.”

#10 Groot’s Real Name Is Tree

In Avengers: Infinity War it’s established that Thor speaks Groot. When Thor introduces Groot to Cap he says this is my friend, Tree. Therefore Groot’s real name is Tree.

Image credits: redz191

#11 Star Wars: Darth Vader Has His Mic Stuck On ‘Transmit’, Hence The Heavy Breathing Sound. The Longer It Goes On, The More Scared Everyone Is To Tell Him

We’ve all been there; you forget to hit mute and say something embarrassing on a conference call. Vader has been doing this ever since he got back from Mustafar.

After watching him force-choke a dude, everyone was too scared to tell him. The longer it goes on, the less likely it is someone will say something.

Proof: xckhooooo tckhaaaaa, xckhooooo tckhaaaaa

Image credits: Echo_Oscar_Sierra

#12 Harry Potter: The Reason Dementors Are So Interested In Harry Is Because He Has 1.125 Of A Soul

Not much more to it than the title really. The 1/8th of Voldemort’s soul that attached itself to Harry means he has more soul than everyone else (with the possible exception of James Brown), Dementors go “sh*t yeah, 1.125 for the price of 1, gotta get me some of that”.

Image credits: ThereIsBearCum

The r/FanTheories subreddit has been around for more than a decade. Created back in 2012, it has become an inseparable part of Reddit and internet culture as a whole. However, the group isn’t focused on just theories about movies or TV shows: fans can share their speculations about any creative works that they know and love, whether that’s books, video games, music, or anything else that isn’t about real life. This time, however, we’re focusing mainly on films.

However, if you want to be a trusted member of this large community, then you have to abide by the rules. The moderators have a very detailed page listing what everyone should keep in mind. So before you start posting and commenting, it’d probably be a good idea to have a read. 

The main things to keep in mind in terms of the rules are fairly straightforward. For one, you have to treat others like you would like to be treated. There’s a zero-tolerance approach to people behaving like jerks and insulting others.

#13 Spongebob Squarepants: Spongebob Is Always Nice To Squidward Because He Knows That He’s Squidward’s Only Friend

So, it’s no secret that Spongebob clearly cares for Squidward. No matter how many times Squidward pushes Spongebob away, Spongebob always goes back to trying to be Squidward’s friend.

In the show, this is often presented like classic Spongebob naïveté/stupidity. That it’s obvious Squidward doesn’t want to be Spongebob’s friend but Spongebob is too naive to see it. However I don’t think that’s the case.

First, Squidward has no other friends. I think that’s obvious. He hates everything and thinks everyone is an idiot expect for him. I think Spongebob is really the only person (besides himself) that Squidward really cares about.

Evidence Squidward cares about Spongebob:

In the April Fools Episode, Squidward says, and I quote:

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, in fact Spongebob, I like you. I like living next store. I like hearing your fog horn alarm in the morning and your high pitched giggling at night.”

He then goes on to say he even likes Gary, Patrick, Sandy, and Mr. Krabs.

2. When Squidward moves away, he finds his new home to be too boring and misses Spongebob.

3. When a fish makes Spongebob cry Squidward knocks him in the face with a pizza.(pizza delivery episode)

4. In the Hash-Slinging Slasher, Squidward tells Spongebob “I’ve always kind of liked you!”

5. In the Christmas episode, Squidward pretends to be Santa and literally gives away all of his stuff just to make Spongebob happy

Basically, Squidward is grumpy, unhappy, and disappointed at where his life is at. He’s very posh and it’s clear he never expected to spend his life as a cashier. But deep down, he sort of likes his life. Though he tries not to admit it.

And I think Spongebob knows all of this. He knows

Squidward is unhappy and doesn’t have many friends

That deep down Squidward really does care for Spongebob

And for Spongebob, being the lovable sponge he is, that’s all he needs to know. He knows that Squidward needs a friend so no matter how many times he gets pushed away, Spongebob keeps going back to make Squidward happy.

TLDR: Spongebob cares for Squidward and feels bad for him, so he never stops trying to be Squidward’s friend.

#14 “The Joker” Isn’t Technically A Person At All, But A Toxin

This theory isn’t about the movie Joker (2019), but more about the Joker as a character in GENERAL across all media:

Anyway, in the Batman: Arkham City video game, the Joker’s plan is to donate his toxic blood to hospitals all across Gotham, which will infect people with his ‘disease.’ In the game Batman: Arkham Knight, we see at least three different people who have been infected with the Joker’s blood.

Now, it’s been a while since I’ve last seen gameplay for Arkham Knight, but I believe the infected people start to behave EXACTLY like the Joker and take on his psychotic mannerisms while wearing clown-like face paint.

Also, in an old Batman comic, Batman sits upon the ‘mobius chair’ — a chair that gives you the ABSOLUTE TRUTH. He asks the chair what the Joker’s true identity is, and it’s revealed that there have actually been three different ‘Jokers.’ A bit odd that three different people look and act exactly like the Joker to the point that Batman — the world’s greatest detective — couldn’t tell, wouldn’t you agree?

So my theory is that ‘the Joker’ isn’t a person at all, but rather…a poison. A toxin. What we know as ‘the Joker’ is just a side effect that happens when you get exposed to that specific toxin.

Image credits: blue4029

#15 Inside Out: Why Riley’s Parents Don’t Have Joy Piloting Their Headquarters

People on r/movies were talking about Inside Out (2015) and this aspect, but there were so many comments that instead of letting mine get buried, I thought I’d post here.

Okay, so, Riley’s parents don’t have Joy piloting their emotions the way Riley does. The mom has Sadness and the dad has Anger.

Now this isn’t some edgy “the mom is depressed and the dad has a temper” theory.

It’s the fact that the movie shows, as you age your emotions become more complex (shown by Riley’s emotions being able to created fused memories at the end)

These deeper and more mature emotions pilot the parents!

The Dad’s anger is actually protectiveness, an expected fatherly trait.

The Mom’s sadness is empathy, an expected motherly trait, and the message of the movie (that sadness is the key to empathy)

Sadness made Bing Bong feel better through empathy, and the mother has empathy as her main emotion to better connect with her child.

Riley had Anger piloting during the hockey game at the end because it’s protectiveness / competitiveness, and fathers have to protect their family.

This isn’t really a theory, more an observation, but I’ve had to point this out a lot since people I know would always be like “lol the mom is depressed”

Meanwhile, if you don’t like a fan theory or you completely disagree with it, try to offer some constructive criticism. Nobody likes being insulted. Similarly, you shouldn’t call someone names just because they disagree with your theory. It’s understandable that people are passionate about their ideas and the fictional worlds they’ve loved for years, but try to keep all of the discussions civil. 

In the meantime, make sure that you’ve fleshed out your theory as much as you can. You need to provide some solid evidence and back up your claims as best as possible. “We typically accept posts if they have at least 1-3 paragraphs’ worth of evidence. Anything that is just one to a few sentences will be removed,” the moderators warn.

And that makes perfect sense. A community about fan theories really should have high standards when it comes to what theories end up being featured. If there’s no evidence to back up your claims, then it’s not a theory but wishful thinking (and possibly an idea for writing some fan fiction!).

The mods also ask everyone to tag spoilers, put some effort into formatting posts, and flair their submissions. 

#16 Morgan Freeman’s Character In Bruce Almighty (2003) Is Not God At All, But Satan

The entire premise of the movie is that Bruce grew to resent and hate God, so God gives Bruce his powers to prove that being ‘almighty’ is harder than it looks — but let’s look at the situation objectively:

Satan would see a much greater opportunity in a mortal growing to hate God. That would allow him to tempt and manipulate the person more than normal. Not only that, but God is supposed to be omnipotent, whereas the being that Bruce met had clearly defined limitations (related to free will). Also, the things that Bruce used the given powers for made me question if they came from God. He made a monkey crawl out of a guy’s butt (then jump back in) and, in a deleted scene, he lit Evan Baxter on FIRE with a look of pure maliciousness!

Bruce’s abuse of these powers eventually caused the city to descend into absolute chaos. I highly doubt that God would allow so many people to get hurt just because one news anchor had a crisis of faith?

So, my theory is that Morgan Freeman’s character is not God at all, but Satan. The story makes much more sense if you think of Freeman’s character as some kind of evil demon giving Bruce exactly what he wished for and taking pleasure in the chaos that ensued. I think he just happened to accidentally renew Bruce’s faith in the process.

Image credits: MasterLawlz

#17 James Bond: Why Bond Orders His Martinis “Shaken, Not Stirred”

Anyone with even a passing familiarity with the James Bond franchise knows he drinks his Martinis “shaken, not stirred”. However, Martinis are typically made stirred, as shaking the drink causes the ice to break up, melt quicker and water down the Martini. As a result many Martini drinkers scoff at Bond’s order as he is ordering a weaker drink and being pretentious about it. However, I theorise that Bond is ordering a weak drink deliberately so as to make it seem like he is drinking more than he actually is. This is because Bond is almost always on duty in both the books and films and needs to keep his wits about him, either to defend himself or not blab all his secrets to the bartender, but sometimes he will need to drink to maintain his cover. As a compromise he orders a weaker drink to give the appearance that he is more inebriated than he actually is, thus maintaining his cover and gaining an element of surprise over his targets. As for why he still orders them when he seemingly isn’t working there are 2 possible answers for this. 1. Bond views himself as always on duty and so always orders the weaker drink, or 2. He just orders it out of habit, or genuinely enjoys the weaker drink

Image credits: fantheories101

#18 Spider-Man: The Reason Why Peter Parker, A Teenager From A Poor Family With Likely No Experience In Sewing, Can Easily Produce And Repair High Quality Costumes

As stated in the title, something people constantly bring up as a plot hole of sorts with most incarnations of the character is how he can both create and easily repair high quality costume as a teenager with likely no other experience in sewing or costume production/design in general. I think a solution to this is that the bite gave him another power; seamstry skills on par that of a spider spinning it’s own webs. This could also be spun (pun intended) to apply to how he knows how to easily produce non-organic webbing.

EDIT: A lot of people are saying this doesn’t need an explanation because him being poor would probably give him experience in sewing, or how over the years he would probably improve and get costumes the quality of the Spider-Man PS4 suit as an example, but I meant this as an explanation more towards the universes like the Raimi one for example, where his first ever costume is an INSANELY high quality outfit with raised webbing and the like, that an 18 year old with sewing experience gained mostly from having to repair old clothes ABSOLUTELY could not make. In other universes, like the MCU, where their first suit looks like it WAS made by a teenager with some sewing experience, I wouldn’t say this is the case.

When putting together a theory about your favorite film or TV show, it helps a lot if you can bounce some ideas off your friends or other fans. Look at the entire endeavor as a college essay or a submission to an academic journal: your arguments have to make sense, and if they don’t, you need to acknowledge that.

Glossing over some film facts that run counter to your hypothesis really won’t help your case. The odds are that if you’ve spotted some inconsistencies that ruin your theory, other fans will, too. So if your favorite theory is crumbling apart before your eyes, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. Who knows, you might find a creative way to explain all the inconsistencies or you might come up with a fresh new theory that’s even more powerful and mind-blowing than the previous one.

#19 At Gandalf’s Suggestion The Dwarves Ate All Of Bilbo’s Food So Nothing Would Be Expired And Rotting When He Returned

Unfortunately I have no substantial evidence but it seems rather absurd that w every dwarf came in and immediately started requesting snacks and beverages. I find it hard to believe 13/13 dwarves are rude and demanding after the claiming to be “at his service”, even if they did intend to pay him back. I think Gandalf may have suggested it was in their best interest to arrive with a hearty appetite with an alterior motive, other than to snicker at Bilbo’s predicament.

Image credits: WantDiscussion

#20 In Harry Potter, The Poor Wizardry Of Ron And Neville Can Be Traced Back To Their Choice Of Wand

In the seventh book, its established that you need to win a wand’s allegiance for it to function as intended. Ron uses his brother’s old wand until the second book, where it breaks and he’s essentially wandless for a year. Aside from a couple of fluke cases, we don’t see Ron perform any magic which works as intended until the third book (where his parents get him a brand new wand). His poor results are put down to a lack of aptitude and effort, (or tree attack) but in the later books he’s easily Harry’s equal (outside of DADA). The same is true of Neville. He’s renowned for being awful at magic throughout the series, and he’s another character who uses a wand which didn’t choose him (in this case, his father’s). That wand gets broken in the fight at the Ministry, and once he has his new wand, he becomes the best student in the year at herbology and leads a revolution. He’s even so good he ends up as a professor. The turning point could be seen to be during the DA, but bear in mind that he’s just as bad at magic as ever, all through that fight. There are definitely holes in this theory, but compared to a lot of Harry Potter theories that are passed around the web, this fits the source material pretty well.

#21 In The First Incredibles, Mr. Incredible Only Won His First Fight With The Omnidroid Because He Was Never Intended To Fight It In The First Place

When Mr. Incredible and Frozone are being listened to, it’s indicated that Frozone was the initial target that Syndrome wanted to attract. During the next scene, while rescuing people from the fire, Frozone mentions that he can’t use his powers because it’s too hot and he’s dehydrated.

It’s only after observing them that the plan changes, and Mirage decides to go after Mr. Incredible instead.

When Mr. Incredible arrives at the island, it seems like he is simply dodging all of the Omnidroid’s attacks when he falls into the volcano. Later, however, Mr. Incredible asks why he was attracted to the volcano— I theorize this is because he realizes the Omnidroid was directing him to the volcano.

My theory is that the Omnidroid was so easily defeated by Mr. Incredible because it was the Omnidroid created to defeat Frozone. We find out that a large number Supers have been defeated because the Omnidroid learns as it fights— but it would also make sense that Syndrome would program them with methods intended to defeat the Supers. I believe that the Omnidroid, when realizing it was outmatched, immediately began funneling Mr. Incredible to the volcano because that was the strategy it was programmed with to fight Frozone (his anticipated opponent). Thus, the only reason Mr. Incredible is able to defeat the first Omnidroid is because it was never designed for his fighting style. Similarly, had Frozone remained the target its likely he would have been funneled to the volcano and defeated by the Omnidroid.

From our perspective, the more fleshed-out the fictional world, the better. When you have a clear understanding of the logic that binds the world, story, and all of its characters together, then it’s easier to make interpretations and speculations. When there’s internal consistency in the logic of the fictional world, you can extrapolate and explore a whole bunch of hypothetical scenarios.

Internal consistency doesn’t necessarily mean grim realistism, however. As we’ve written on Bored Panda before, these fictional worlds can be truly fantastical—full of dragons, aliens, and space monsters—but all the moving parts have to be grounded and make sense, otherwise, you’ll lose your audience which is already willing suspending its disbelief. If magic is real, it follows certain rules. Similarly, characters tend to have clear goals and motivations: if they suddenly start behaving strangely, the audience will notice that and call out the creators. Alternatively, someone might just come up with a solid fan theory to explain this unusual behavior… 

When you’re done enjoying the article, drop by the comment section to let everyone know which of these posts you agree with and to share your own theories about your fave films.

#22 MCU: Reason Why Ragnarok Was So Good Was Because Marvel Gave Up On Thor

A common complaint from directors are that Marvel is very restrictive about the IP which led to Edgar Wright and Scott Derikson leaving Antman and Dr Strange 2.

Hemsworth was also at that point tired of ‘serious’ Thor.

So I theorise that for non flagship (i.e not Iron Man or Cap) characters they allowed some freedom to the directors. In the case of the supposedly final Thor movie they let a comedy director take over and change the tone of the character completely.

Might also explain why the first Dr Strange was allowed to be so trippy and why Captain Marvel was so generic

That may mean that the more creative movies in the future will come from C or D list characters. Squirrel Girl please.

#23 MCU: The Real Reason Red Skull Got Deformed And Captain America Didn’t

Bacteria is the answer. In the scene of the transformation of skinny Steve Rogers into big buff Captain America there is a small joke where Erskine injects him penicillin beforehand. The penicillin shot was much more important than it seems, because human body is full of bacteria, and the Super Serum would enhance microbes as well, therefore they should be killed beforehand.

In the movie it is shown that Johan “red skull” Schmidt injected the serum by himself, it worked but it also enhanced the bacteria, the grow in such a way that they destroyed the skin of his face (and maybe entire body), and it would have killed him if he wasn’t enhanced as well, so his body is in a constant battle against super microbes and that messed up his face

#24 Guardians Of The Galaxy 2: Drax Can’t See Things That Don’t Move And Realizing This Gives Him The Invisibility Idea

In the epic opening battle scene of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, Baby Groot is getting his groove on when Drax comes flying in and lands inches behind him. We see Baby Groot freeze, at which point Drax seems to no longer see him. Almost like he vanished. I think he then came to the realization that things that don’t move or move incredibly slowly are essentially invisible. Similar to how the vision of the T-Rex is described. What he doesn’t realize, however, is that other species don’t have this same handicap. So when he tries his hilarious invisibility bit in the following Avengers movie, he’s unable to comprehend why it’s absolutely absurd to the others. He’s convinced of a reality that simply isn’t so for everyone else.

#25 How I Met Your Mother: Barney Is Nowhere Near As Bad As Ted Makes Him Out To Be. Ted Is An Annoying Douche And Exaggerates Barneys Stories To Make Himself Look Better

Ok so I don’t really have much proof to this but it’s just a theory I’ve had for a while now. Ted does a lot of c**ppy things during the run of the show that and something I think is important is that Ted is the one telling the story to his kids. We only ever hear one perspective on the whole thing. Why would you tell your own children (especially your daughter) that someone they’ve called “Uncle Barney” their whole lives repeatedly lies to women in an attempt to sleep with them? I mean a lot of Barneys antics border on rape and I feel if I heard my dad bragging about my uncle pulling this sh*t I would cut contact with him. And I feel a lot of episodes where Teds doing something bad he immediately swaps to a story about Barney doing something worse which makes me feel like he was trying to make himself look better. Also lets remember that we see the other members of the gang talking about really private sh*t that they shouldn’t know but do anyway like intimate details about their sex lives that they definitely would not have told Ted yet he’s the one telling the story. anyway just thought id share. thoughts?

Image credits: KermitTheFraud92

#26 Terminator: Why The T-800 Asks For The Futuristic Gun In The First Film

I recently had a thought about Arnold’s line in the gun shop scene where he asks for a “phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range.” For a long time, I thought it was just kind of a joke since he’s from the future, but I think there was actually a reason behind it.

In the scene, Arnold can see each gun before he asks for it. He asks for the 12-gauge auto loader shotgun, and a .45 pistol with laser sight. He asks for his plasma rifle and the owner’s response is “Hey, just what ya see, pal.” He asks for an Uzi for good measure, then loads the shotgun and shoots the owner.

Why would he ask for a gun that hadn’t been invented yet? We know from Kyle that Skynet’s records are incomplete which is why the T-800 doesn’t know exactly which Sarah Connor to go after. It’s reasonable to think that Skynet’s records on the development and availability of weaponry were also limited in some way. Arnold asks for the plasma rifle because he isn’t actually sure if it is available in this time or not.

Now, a phased plasma rifle would probably make terminating Sarah pretty easy, but I don’t think that’s why he asked since any of the other weapons he selected would easily be capable of doing the job. The real reason he asked the gun shop owner is to make sure that the owner wouldn’t be able to pose a threat to him when he stole all the other guns.

When Sarah asks Reese if he can stop the Terminator, he says “With these weapons, I don’t know,” suggesting that in the future, there are weapons which can take down T-800s. When the shop owner confirms for Arnold that he doesn’t have any phased plasma rifles hidden behind the counter, Arnold knows there is no threat to him or his mission and he can continue with his planned theft.

His question was actually a technique to ascertain the threat level posed by the shop owner before he moved to shoot him.

#27 Bojack Horseman Is Just An Extremely Elaborate Elsetup For The World’s Greatest “A Horse Walks Into A Bar” Joke

A few seasons from now, whenever the show doesn’t get renewed, at the end of the series finale bojack is going to walk into a bar. At this point everyone he loves will have died or abandon him. The bartender asks “why the long face?”, then CUT TO BLACK Suprannos style ending.

Image credits: [deleted]

#28 Waterworld (1995) And The Mad Max Films All Take Place In The Same Post-Apocalypse Universe

In Waterworld, the characters assume that the entire earth is covered in water — hence the title. BUT, even if all the ice on Earth melted, there would still be a majority of land above sea level. So my theory is that Waterworld takes place in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but these people simply don’t have the means to travel far enough in any direction to find land.

And this same theory fits with the Mad Max films, as well. If a nuclear apocalypse wiped out society, melted all the ice caps, and severely altered the climate, Australia would be a huge wasteland. So, like with Waterworld, if Mad Max takes place in the middle of the country, these people may never have known that the ocean was only 500 miles away the whole time.

The aesthetic of these universes are VERY similar, both using the remnants of our fallen society to build theirs. They both have wild bands of warlords ruling large swaths of territory, and groups of people trying to live peacefully. With the collapse of society, the change in climate, and all of the violence, I think it’s reasonable to think that people wouldn’t be able to travel very far to explore their altered world.

And hey, maybe if they did, we could get an epic crossover where Max and The Mariner team up to fight wild bands of marauders!

Image credits: ejc1138

#29 None Of The Events In Evil Dead (2013) Are Supernatural. Instead, All Of The Characters Are Just High From Spiked Well Water

At the beginning of the film, we see Mia dump her drugs into the well outside of the cabin. Since the cabin is in the middle of the woods, it can be assumed that the well is the main source of water for the structure.

So, my theory is that there is no supernatural force acting upon them or the cabin, but instead, each character is reacting to the drugs they unknowingly have in their systems, having ingested them through the water.

At the end of the film, only one character remains alive: Mia. This is, in part, due to the fact that she is a recovering addict, so her system is used to the toxin.

Image credits: ReeceInTheDarkness

#30 The Office (Us): Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration

For ever, I thought he was just an oddball who introduced himself that way. This is why Ryan’s joke (What kind of work are you in, Bob?) landed well.

But Bob isn’t marketing to the people at Dunder Mifflin. He’s marketing to the cameras, and getting free television advertisement.

Sorry if this was painfully obvious to everybody else, but if it’s not explicitly spelled out in the show somewhere, I’m calling it a fan theory.

Image credits: [deleted]

#31 Batman: The Bat-Signal Is Meant For Criminals, Not Batman

Think about it? It seems ineffective to call on a vigilante by shining a light in the sky. There is a huge chance he won’t see it, or notice it in time for the crime to still be stopped. My theory is that the bat signal itself doesnt actually apply to batman, but rather it is a warning to criminals, like saying “we called him, nows your chance to drop everything, go home, and turn your life around”, and there is a silent alarm mechanism within the signal that sends a signal directly to batman’s computers 

#32 MCU: Thanos ‘Adopted’ Gamora Specifically As A Sacrifice For The Soul Stone, But When He Grew Too Attatched To Her, He Adopted Nebula To Be Sacrificed By Gamora Instead

Thanos knew the price that had to be paid for the Soul Stone, which is why he ‘adopted’ Gamora, knowing that he had no family or loved ones of his own. However, in raising her, he found himself genuinely coming to love her and could not bring himself to harm her, so instead, he adpoted Nebula and planed for the pair to seek out the Soul Stone together with the intention of Gamora sacrificing her sister.

This is why he constantly pit the two against each other in combat, to be absolutely certain that Gamora would always be the victor. Everytime that Nebula lost, he would replace a part of her body with cybernetics, not to make her stronger, but actually the opposite, making sure she would always be at a handicap against her sister, as well as fostering a deep resentment in Nebula, ensuring she would be willing to fight to the death even if Gamora tried to refuse. This is also why Nebula seemed to know the price of the Soul Stone but not Gamora. In Infinity War Nebula comments that Thanos returned from Vormir with the Stone and not Gamora and instantly knew her sister was dead, and in Endgame, when Clint and Natasha set off for Vormir, she states that she hopes the pair do not fall out on the way.

I also suspect that Thanos probably had a similar plan in place for Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive if Nebula and Gamora failed.

#33 In Kung Fu Panda, Tai Lung The Villain Was Never Denied The Scroll Or His Destiny Of Being The Dragon Warrior

The denying of the scroll to him was just a test, he was supposed to accept the denial with humility. At that point, he would have proven his humility and been granted the scroll.

To test whether an acolyte was worthy of completing their training, the dojo will deny an acolyte the scroll at the end to test what kind of person they really are. If an acolyte had truly learned the art of balance and inner peace in addition to his physical training, he would have accepted the denial with humility. In doing so, the acolyte would then prove that he is perfect inside and out, and at that point, the master would then explain that it was just a test and grant him the scroll. Tai Lung failed this test by reacting with anger and hatred. That was why he was never granted the scroll: not because he was not worthy, but because he proved himself unworthy. For all his prowess, tai lung failed the most important test in the end, the test of whether he could exercise his great power with great responsibility. This was clearly hinted strongly by the movie by the fact that the scroll was empty.

Image credits: Whitepill-rescue

#34 Doc Brown’s Mind-Reading Helmet In Back To The Future (1985) Actually Did Work

Remember in the first film when Marty goes to Doc Brown’s house to get his help getting back to 1985?

So my theory is — if you think about everything Brown says — his helmet actually works!

He says Marty has come a great distance, which…obviously. Then, he mentioned the Saturday evening post (which is the paper Marty got out of the trash), then he mentioned making a donation (Marty gave the clock tower lady a quarter as a donation), and THEN he mentioned the coast guard youth auxiliary (Marty had lied to his grandparents and said he was in the coast guard).

#35 Parasite (2019) And Snowpiercer (2013) Take Place In The Same Universe And “Namgoong” Is The Same Person In Both Movies

In Parasite, the architect that built the house was named ‘Namgoong.’ They never say his last name and we never see him, so we don’t truly know who he was. In the movie, they make a big deal about his architecture, specifically the bunker, so he has experience with security design and planning.

In Snowpiercer, we meet a man named ‘Namgoong Minsu,’ the security specialist who designed all the door systems on the train. They use him to get to the front of the train by making him disable the door locks.

My theory is, basically, that the ‘Namgoong’ in both movies is the same person. That is, Namgoong Minsu in Snowpiercer designed the house in Parasite.

He already had the security knowledge to create the hidden door for the bunker of the house, and we know that he was popular, so it would make sense that, in the future, Wilford would hire a man of good renown to design the doors on the train. Maybe in exchange for free passage or something of the like?

Image credits: blueliger2

#36 The “I have the high ground” moment in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005) is a lot deeper than it appears, and calls back to another iconic prequel moment

Obi-Wan is dueling his apprentice, Anakin Skywalker. Obi-Wan is one of the premier duelists of the Jedi Order, and taught Anakin everything he knows about the art.

Eventually, they are dueling on top of some scrap metal floating on a lava river. We see that the river is leading to a lava-fall, and so the duel must end here one way or another. Obi-Wan leaps from the scrap to an embankment of volcanic gravel and turns back to Anakin, who is now stuck on the aforementioned scrap. Staying on the scrap is suicide. Jumping onto the gravel below Obi-Wan entails high risk, as the lava river continues to rise. Even if he were to land the jump, the duel would not be over and Anakin would be at a disadvantage

But there is a third option: To jump over Obi-Wan. As we know, Anakin took this path despite Obi-Wan pleading with him not to and (spiritually) died there on Mustafar, becoming Vader.

So, why did Anakin think to jump over Obi-Wan? Well, to answer that we have to look back at another duel: The first duel between Obi-Wan and Darth Maul. At the end of this duel, Maul has killed Qui-Gon Jin and has effectively defeated Obi-Wan. He stands above the then-Padawan, who dangles over a pit. Maul is overconfident, and lets Obi-Wan marinate in hopelessness. Using the force, Obi-Wan then leaps out of this hole and summons his fallen master’s lightsaber. In mid-air, he ignites the green blade and bisects Maul.

Pretty heroic, right? Sounds like the kind of story that literally every Jedi ever would be asking Obi-Wan to tell over and over again.

Of course Anakin would have heard this story, but — every time Obi-Wan retold that duel — I think he saw a different outcome. This time, Maul doesn’t turn around to face him, he simply turns his lightsaber around and impales Obi-Wan on it in mid-air. He likely never confided in Anakin his fears of that movement’s failure, since he’d hyped the story up so much. If he said anything, it was probably that the move was ‘too brash’ or ‘too risky’ to duplicate, but Anakin was never a good listener.

So, Obi-Wan turned to Anakin and said ‘It’s over, I have the high ground’ because he, just like Anakin now, had once been in a position where success required a massive vertical leap over your opponent, and he now understood the risk that move entailed and how he could counter it.

Obi-Wan then begged Anakin not to jump, saying, ‘Don’t try it,’ but Anakin, in his hatred and overconfidence, felt Obi-Wan’s fear and thought he had finally found a situation where he could best his master, using his master’s own move against him.

#37 The Last Airbender: Bloodbending Is Why Katara’s Mother Died

Of course, this whole thing is a spoiler for Season 3 of Avatar: the Last Airbender. In the beginning, the Fire Nation was repeatedly attacking the Southern Water Tribe to capture Waterbenders, and possibly the next avatar (but that’s someone else’s post). Only capture, and imprison. The last raid, Kya’s killer said they weren’t doing that anymore. What happened to change that policy? Hama.

The last Waterbender that they captured. During her brutal imprisonment, she created bloodbending, like Toph created metalbending during her own imprisonment, funny that. And like Toph, Hama used her creation to escape in spectacular fashion.

I’m thinking that The Fire Nation has learned from this defeat, much like the defeat they learned from in “The Northern Air Temple.” No more capturing Waterbenders, they’re too scary. Better to just kill them.

#38 Squidward Is Secretly Great At The Clarinet, Just Too Poor To Afford A Good One

The jump in musical instrument quality from low range to mid range is far more noticeable than from mid to high for most instruments, but there is often a dirt cheap end. These might even be made of plastic, either intended as a toy or an actual instrument. At this very low level, you’d be lucky if it even played half in tune and wasn’t airy. Plastic recorders on the low end are decent because they’re in such high supply, but most instruments aren’t in demand enough to be made well in plastic to a good quality.

I believe that Squidward, as poor as he is working at a dead-end Cashier job, cannot afford to save up for even a low-mid range instrument. His dead-end job and its terrible pay with the greedy Mr Krabs isn’t enough for better. His plastic, cheap, airy, or even second hand (is it damaged?) clarinet is to blame, not his skill.

Supporting evidence is everywhere but the most recent and obvious one is episode Krusty Koncessionaires when he once played a high-end clarinet intended for use in a concert and it was beautiful. “I can’t believe it. This really is the best clarinet ever made!” he says after playing.

So my theory is, if he could afford an upgrade, his music wouldn’t be at all so raspy.

#39 In The Universe Of Casper (1995), Becoming A Ghost Is A Form Of Punishment Rather Than Purgatory

When Casper was asked if he remembered his past, he said ‘No.’ The explanation for this was simply that, when you die, ‘life doesn’t matter that much anymore.’ The movie also explained that, if you became a ghost, it meant that you had ‘unfinished business.’ This was mentioned several times throughout the movie. BUT, Dr. James Harvey lost his wife and she did NOT become a ghost because, as she specifically states, she had ‘no unfinished business.’ This was, frankly, kind of rude when you consider that she died PREMATURELY, leaving behind a loving husband and teenage daughter who needed her. So, I don’t buy that she had no unfinished business. Also, if you die and become a ghost, you forget about your life. The fact that you forget your life when you become a ghost is cruel considering passing on/getting into heaven requires you to remember it. So my theory is that — instead of it being ‘unfinished business’ — everyone who becomes a ghost is an a**hole and everyone who was a good person went straight to heaven (despite surely having unfinished business).

Image credits: shahkabra

#40 Michael Myers Killed His Sister Because She And Her Boyfriend Stole His Mask In Halloween (1978)

In the opening scene, you see Michael spying on Judith and her boyfriend. The boyfriend pulls out a clown mask to spook Judith. A minute later, Michael picks up that mask and wears it when he kills her.

BUT — when we cut away to finally reveal the boy behind the mask — he’s in a full-body clown costume. It seems as though the mask was a part of his outfit all along…So, why did Judith’s boyfriend have it instead of Michael?

Obvious answer: The bratty teens stole Michael’s mask as a joke to mock him.

Given this mask’s prominent role in the scene — and his mask’s massive role throughout the series as a whole — it makes sense that this would be the final straw that pushed Michael over the edge. After all, it wouldn’t take much for the personification of evil itself.

#41 The Office: Jim Is A Lot Like Michael Outside Of The Office Which Is Why He’s So Terrified Of Becoming Him

Jim doesn’t really seem to have a social life outside of The Office. His primary hobby is cycling, usually done solo…his main interest is sports and he was an athlete so he probably never needed to learn how to make friends, he had teammates and that led to some surface level “buddies”. The kind of guys you invite to a Valentine’s Day poker game (a very Michael move) and the only people at his BBQ were his roomate and people from this office. Beside all this, his determination to be with Pam indicates a lack of connections outside of work. Once he feels there’s no hope with her he uproots his whole life and moves.

He meets Katie (the purse girl) at the office, he meets Karen at the office in Stamford. All of his major connections happen at work. His main priority at work is having fun and killing time and being well liked, he only works hard when he has to, traits he shares with the one and only Michael Scott. When he’s put in charge at first he tries to do what he wants by putting all the birthdays together then he panics and tries to make everyone happy, which leads to a moment of connection with Michael.

P.s. Dwight’s the hero and he should have ended up with Isabel.

#42 The Office: Stanley Was Trying To Help Ryan On The Sales Call In Season 3

In season 3 episode 13 “Traveling Salesmen”, Stanley tries to strike out on his own when he is assigned to travel. When Michael tells him he can’t do that, he sighs and says he’ll take Ryan. While this may seem like it’s because Ryan is the least annoying person, I think it’s because Stanley was trying to help Ryan.

Ryan had not made a sale prior to that episode (possibly due to his visible anxiety when trying to make a sale), so I think when Stanley dropped Ryan in a situation outside his comfort zone (all black salesmen who know Stanley well), it was a form of immersion therapy. Stanley knew the clients liked him, so he wouldn’t lose the account even if Ryan bombed.

Granted, Stanley is later seen laughing at Ryan’s failure, but I think this is because Stanley doesn’t want to be seen by Ryan as a mentor. He’s too lazy to present himself as a permanent resource for Ryan.

TL;DR: Stanley gave Ryan a worst-case scenario, and showed him it wouldn’t be all that bad.

#43 The Last Scene In A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) Was Nancy’s Mom’s Dream/Death, Not Nancy’s

Like many people, I was really confused by the ending of the original movie. Well, after re-watching it, I think I have come up with an explanation for the ending:

The ending was Nancy’s mom, Marge’s, death via dream by Freddy, rather than Nancy’s.

So why Nancy’s mom? Why didn’t Freddy target her before? Well, the reason is simple: Freddy needed a way back into the dream world where he could not be killed. Earlier in the scene, Nancy pulled him into the real world and lit him on fire. Freddy knew he was vulnerable, so he searched for a “portal” back into the dream world and that just happened to be a sleeping Marge. He needed to be in proximity of someone dreaming because he couldn’t re-enter the dream world without touching someone the way he was pulled out.

As we know, Freddy likes to torture his victims in their dreams before killing them, so he saw this as an opportunity to torture Marge. After all, she was one of the parents who burned him! So what better way to do that than to watch her daughter and her friends she tried to protect in the first place be driven off to their supposed deaths.

Then she is pulled into the door by Freddy. Her being pulled into the door also happens in the real world when she is pulled into the bed (as pictured above).

#44 Futurama: Suicide Booths Are So Popular Because That’s Basically One Of The Few Ways People Can Die

Upon first seeing suicide booths, it looks like some dark humor and nothing more. As the series progresses though, it becomes more clear that it’s basically the only way for people to die. People use suicide booths because they’ve just lived a lifetime and simply want to end.

Youth-anizing allows for reversal of age (and maturity levels), so nobody dies from old age if they don’t want to. Medical care is so great that it’s reasonable to live to 160, and then you get taken to the Near Death Star, where you presumably live basically forever in a shared virtual reality. Speaking of healthcare, it’s so great that it’s almost impossible to die from an accident. Even incompetent doctors like Zoidberg can save a person from complete dismemberment. Even decapitation is a pretty trivial injury.

Basically, the only ways to die are complete disintegration, eaten alive, or suicide booth. And it seems in this world, people aren’t as adventurous as the main cast, so the grand majority of people will die by suicide (assuming the die at all and don’t have implied immortality on the Near Death Star).
Source: boredpanda.com