“Us” is currently in theatres and on top of being a thriller that is a cut above all the rest, it is also the kind of movie that allows your mind to continue to runaway with the themes, foreshadowing moments, homages and clues presented throughout the film. This is a very welcomed and familiar feeling that “Get Out” also inspired in the minds of audiences everywhere. Both films say something deeper about our current social and/or political climate, but they also contain their own deeper lore that may bleed into each other. It is my suspicion that Jordan Peele is secretly creating his own horror shared universe, and that the key to peeling away the veil to his concealed universe, is a certain secret society. Specifically, the Knights Templar.
Jeremy on the hunt with his Knights Templar helmet
In “Get Out” we see Jeremy dawning a knight helmet as a reference to the Knights Templar. Peele even states in the commentary that he came up with an entire backstory for the secret society seen in the movie. They are supposedly decedents of the original Knight’s Templar and are still seeking the Holy Grail of immortality and godhood. Of course in “Get Out,” they find immortality by switching their minds into young, physically superior bodies. But really, this is just the latest Knight Templar scheme in a long mission that started with their formation in 1119 A.D. Since then, they have been seeking immortality and power through any means necessary.
The ancient quest for the Holy Grail, or in this case, immortality
Enter “Us.” In the film, we learn that humans have successfully been able to clone the human body, but not the soul. The created clones’ bodies share one soul that is tethered to the original body. However, Jordan Peele intentionally does not go into the specifics of who is responsible for cloning, building the underground facility, or the original reasons for doing so. What is said in the movie is that humans created the facility and clones to use them as a means to control the original bodies like puppets. How could people who set out to secretly clone the human body have known that the manipulation of the source human was in the realm of possibility? It seems that this manipulation just happened to be a side effect of the cloning process but the original program to clone the human body involved a different end goal. Clearly, by 1986, the starting of the events in “Us,” the facility and the cloning program had long been abandoned, leaving the duplicates to fend for themselves.
An already iconic image that perfectly foreshadows what’s to come
As you may have already guessed, I am implying that the creators of the clones and the architects of the massive underground facility are actually the Knights Templar. Originally, they developed the cloning technology to further their mission for immortality. If they were able to clone themselves indefinitely, they would achieve their goal of essentially living forever. But the result was not what they expected. The Knights Templar quickly realized that the doppelgangers state of mind was compromised due to the shared souls. However, all was not lost as they discovered that the connection between the two individual bodies could lead to world domination! By controlling the clones, the Knights Templar could potentially dominate the surface people like puppets on strings. Unfortunately for the secret society, things didn’t go as planned and they were unable to maintain authority or control over the duplicates. This led to the society abandoning their experiments and the facility.
What the secret society didn’t count on was that much like the Japanese island, Ōkunoshima, famous for being overrun with rabbits when abandoned, the underground facility somehow grew out of control. By modern day, the army of doppelgangers was large enough to invade the surface in an unprecedented coup of immense proportions.
I think it is fitting that the descendants of the Knights Templar had a dual approach in conquering the world as seen in “Us.” They want to gain immortality or be the unchallenged rulers of the human population. When both of these approaches failed in their latest scheme, they thought they could easily abandon their experiments without any further consequences. But now that the clones have made such a bold statement to the world, they have put their own organization at risk of being discovered once the world tries to figure out the mysterious origins of the duplicated humans. One thing is certain though, now with their cloning program and their mind switching programs compromised or defunct, the Knights Templar are certainly going to persist with yet another scheme to obtain the Holy Grail. Only time will tell, and until then, keep theorizing!
We all know the story of three young wizards meeting on a train ride and miraculously being placed in the same house before forging a lasting friendship that ends up saving the world from evil. The thing is, Hermione, Ron and Harry all show traits that should have landed them into completely different houses other than Gryffindor. As we learn later, Harry chose to be in Gryffindor to be with his new friends and distance himself from the likes of Draco Malfoy. Up until this point, we have assumed that for all the other students, the sorting hat essentially read their minds, or was able to determine their compatible qualities with a house. But what if both Ron and Hermione also chose Gryffindor for their own reasons? What if the sorting hat placed the trio together intentionally?
To understand the decisions of the sorting hat, let’s review the qualities that each of the Hogwarts houses value the most.
Gryffindor, represented by a lion on the house crest, values courage, bravery and determination. The founder, Godric Gryffindor was the most accomplished duelist of his time and supportive of muggle-born wizards attending Hogwarts.
Ravenclaw, represented by a raven on the house crest, values wit, learning, and wisdom. The founder, Rowena Ravenclaw, was known for her creativity, which she used to create the magically, ever-changing floorplan of Hogwarts.
Hufflepuff, represented by a badger on the house crest, values hard work, patience, loyalty and fair play. The founder, Helga Hufflepuff, was a good natured woman known for her compassion and accepted “all the rest” of the students not readily placed in other houses.
Slytherin, represented by a serpent on the house crest, values cunning, resourcefulness, determination, and ambition. The founder, Salazar Slytherin, was a Parselmouth and Legilimens that was disdainful of muggle-born wizards. While many dark wizards started as Slytherin, this house has also helped create many ambitious leaders.
Harry Potter, through a unique connection with Voldemort, is able to speak Parseltongue, which is practically an instant invite into Slytherin. This could easily be dismissed seeing as Harry is a half-blood wizard. During the time of the founders, only pure-blooded wizards were accepted into Slytherin. So speaking Parseltongue is no more likely to place Harry into Slytherin, as being of mixed blood is to keep him out of it. Slytherin has come a long way since Salazar’s time and now readily accept wizards regardless of their blood purity. After all, Tom Riddle, another confirmed Parselmouth, was a half blood wizard.
Harry had other traits that would have served him well in Slytherin. He is extremely resourceful. Having grown up with hardly any possessions of his own, he has only ever known how to make do with situation given to him. Also being bullied by his cousin Dudley Dursley for most, if not all of his childhood, Harry had to be cunning just survive. Along with this, Harry has proven time and time again that he is one of the most determined characters in the series.
Harry Potter in Slytherin colors.
With all these characteristics, even the sorting hat commented that Harry could do great things in Slytherin. But as Dumbledore said, “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” Harry, in the end chooses not to be in Slytherin and instead finds himself sorted into the same house as his new friends.
Ron was possibly always going to be in Gryffindor by choice as well. Ron is a Weasley, and all the Weasleys before him were sorted into Gryffindor. Ron is always trying to live up to his brothers and made up his mind a long time ago that he would be a Gryffindor or bust. In fact, he was probably completely horrified by the possibility of being placed in any other house. Imagine the ridicule he would have gotten for breaking the Weasley chain from Fred and George!
Ron’s sigh of relief upon being placed in Gryffindor.
However, it is my belief that Ron’s strengths are showcased by a very different house, Hufflepuff. Ron is a bit of a slacker and starts off as the most immature of the trio. He isn’t particularly bright in an academic sense, but we do see him shine when it comes to strategy. Ron loves a good, fair game of chess. So much so, that he approaches most problems like a game of chess. This definitely falls under the category of “fair play,” one of the major values in Hufflepuff. Ron also remains Harry’s most loyal friend throughout the entire series, showcasing another major value of Hufflepuff House.
That being said, Ron isn’t particularly hard working, or patient, but in the same way that he isn’t particularly courageous. He displays all these characteristics when push comes to shove, but it’s not the first thing fans think of when they think about the youngest Weasley boy. To be honest, Ron is a bit of an oddball and doesn’t fit perfectly in any house, which is why he is perfect for Hufflepuff, the home of “all the rest.” Chances are, he was placed into Gryffindor because he wanted to be like his brothers and he also wanted to stay with his new friend, the famous Harry Potter.
Hermione also displays many qualities of a different house, Ravenclaw. She is not only one of the smartest (if not the smartest) students of her graduating class, she has a passion for learning, problem solving and displays great creativity. Rowena Ravenclaw herself would have been impressed. So why did Hermione get placed into Gryffindor? Being a part of Ravenclaw, she would have been surrounded by fellow intellectuals and would have also done great things in this house.
Hermione is never far from her books. Artist: Sophia Canning
Going to Gryffindor may have been her choice as well. Even though Ravenclaw has housed many muggle-born wizards since it’s start, it was Godric Gryffindor that stood up to Salazar Slytherin and his pureblood agenda. Perhaps being a proud half blood, Hermione wanted to be a part of Godric’s legacy. More likely, she really wanted to stay with her two new friends, Ron and Harry, and the sorting hat picked up on this.
A far more likely reason that Hermione was chosen for Gryffindor, is that the sorting hat knew of the fate and worth of Harry Potter and armed him with the most capable witch of the entire class. The Sorting Hat has been privy to almost all of Dumbledore’s secrets, having been in his office when it’s not classifying children. It is capable of determining worthiness, as seen when it produces the sword of Gryffindor for Harry in a time of need. In this way, the dusty enchanted hat is able to understand the tough times that lie ahead, and knows that Harry Potter would need to not only survive Hogwarts, but be allied with friends that would be loyal to him and help him conquer any challenge put in front of him.
The troublesome trio.
Even though Hermione, Harry and Ron may have all had their reasons for wanting to be a part of Gryffindor, the Sorting Hat ensured that Harry Potter, the boy who lived, and was prophesized to take on the Dark Lord, had allies. Allies like Ron, who would be loyal to a fault, and Hermione, the most competent and intelligent wizard of her class. The Sorting Hat went against it’s enchanted programming and took the first step into creating a friendship that would trump all evil to come. The old, worn, hat of Godric Gryffindor is the true unsung hero of the Harry Potter franchise.
Perhaps in the future, the Sorting Hat will continue to look into the minds of magically gifted children and sort them into houses that will launch them into greatness. Perhaps there will be a future protagonist that is sorted into a house that doesn’t seem to quite fit their abilities in order to nudge them toward their destiny. Only time will tell, and until then, Keep theorizing!
A common theory that a lot of fans have fun with, is to line up characters of their favorite franchise with the 7 deadly sins, as defined by Dante’s Inferno. Popular examples include, SpongeBob, Winnie the Pooh, and Willie Wonka. I’m a big fan of this break down of the personality of various characters and categorizing them. Of course, it seems more and more frowned upon to place unnecessary labels on people, so I’ve decided to categorize 7 popular emotions into the 7 deadly sins. Specifically, the 7 lantern corps powered by 7 different universal emotions.
One thing that has always bothered me about the various lantern corps and their emotional spectrum of Rage (red), Greed (orange), Fear (yellow), Willpower (green), Hope (blue), Compassion (indigo) and Love (violet), is that these 7 emotions do not properly encapsulate everyone. I have always felt that the way these lantern members are presented, that a lot of people, including myself, fail to see themselves fit into any one category. Each lantern corps is put to such an extreme in their emotional category, that people can only relate to a couple of them.
The members of the Red Lantern Corp are so consumed by rage, their blood is replaced with liquid fire and become a sinister force in the universe.
There is literally only one member of the Orange Lantern Corps because the epitome of avarice means only one being, Larfleeze, holding all the power of the corps.
Enter a caption
The Yellow Lantern Corps, or Sinistro Corps, lives to spread fear in the universe, while their mortal enemies, the green lantern corps use their willpower to police it.
The Blue Lantern Corps aren’t very powerful on their own since hope is all but useless without willpower and action.
The Indigo Tribe turned out to consist of some of the worst criminals in the universe that were forced to feel the emotions of other beings, and yet they are arguably some of the strongest lanterns because of it.
And the Violet Lanterns, or Star Sapphires, take love to an unhealthy level and is almost exclusively all female.
On the surface, relating to any one of these emotions would be easy, but the way they are presented in DC comics, it becomes a bit difficult to do so. This is where we will step in by trying to expand the relatability of each corps by matching it to one of the 7 deadly sins. I think it would only be appropriate to start with the classic ROYGBIV order.
The Rock of Eternity in the DC Universe features the 7 Deadly Sin avatars: Wrath, Greed, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth and Pride.
It comes as no surprise to anyone that the red lantern corps, whose members are powered by their own rage, represent the capital vice of wrath. Those inflicted with the sin of wrath are vengeful, hateful, and self destructive. Each member of the red lantern corps has a backstory of being personally wronged and enraged to the point that a red rage ring finds them and gives them the power to exact their revenge at the cost of their own life. If a red lantern ever relinquishes their ring, they will die, since the ring literally replaced their blood with boiling rage juice.
An equally obvious placement is Agent Orange, Larfleeze, as the avatar of greed. Those inflicted by the sin of greed have an insatiable need to acquire material possessions. They will often equate personal property with their own self worth. Larfleeze is the perfect representative of these traits. He literally wants to own everything in the universe, including the souls of his enemies and at the same time refuses to share his power with anyone else.
Another individual that was the sole member of a corps for a short time is Sinestro. Although, in his effort to spread fear throughout the universe, he shared his powers with other fear mongers who became the Sinestro Corps. The reason he founded the Yellow Lanterns in the first place was to seek revenge on the Green Lanterns after they imprisoned him for forcing the people of his home planet to worship him as a god. Sinestro desires to be respected and feared by everyone because of his overwhelming envy of those with more power than him. He craves power and is crazed by it. When he was disgraced from the Green Lantern Corps and stripped of his power ring, he envied the power they took from him, and created his own corps in mockery of them. In this way, he is able to spread fear with the help of his recruits, which grants him even more power. Sinestro constantly tries to obtain the same putreach and influence as Green Lanterns.
The Green Lanterns are basically the space police of the DC Universe and although they are protectors and guardians by nature, one of their biggest flaws is their pride. The Green Lanterns pride themselves on their organization, ideals, efficiency, and power. They police the universe, even though not every planet or civilization has agreed to their militant intrusion. It is clear that for this reason alone, the Green Lanterns expect everyone to just be okay with their involvement and interference. The lanterns may serve the citizens of the universe and protect them from evil forces, but at the end of the day they answer to the Guardians of Oa who have a significant amount of unyielding pride in their unofficial rule over the universe. The guardians are often depicted as a stubborn high council that remain rigid in their ideals. They represent the laws of the universe and have the overwhelming power to enforce it.
There is another lantern corps that has a greater amount of power than the Green Lanterns, but ironically, this is only the case when a Green Lantern is close by. The Blue Lanterns have a very basic power set powered by hope, but in the vicinity of a Green Lantern, their power greatly exceeds that of any other spectrum member. Hope is a very weak force if there is no willpower to carry it out. Needless to say, the Blue Lanterns don’t do much of anything on their own and embrace an enlightened monk-like lifestyle. Since they are mostly unwilling to interfere without the presence of their emerald counterparts, their sin is that of sloth. Even though this is my personal favorite lantern corps, I am constantly disappointed by their lack of action and it almost seems criminal that we don’t see them in the fray more often.
What is even more criminal is the Indigo Tribe, powered by the emotion, compassion. Literally, most of these guys are criminals. The indigo power source completely dominates their host if they lack any compassion for other living beings. If the host is already imbued with a capacity for compassion, the indigo power doesn’t seem to mind control the subject. However, the vast majority of the Indigo Tribe are mind controlled criminals experiencing the emotions of other beings and serving the tribe against their will in retribution of their past crimes. The ringbearer has little self-control in their voluntary actions and thus have to be mind controlled and inflicted with the unending desire to experience the emotions of others. The rings compel them to lust for other’s emotions and to understand them. Yes, that is correct, I am assigning the Indigo Tribe to the deadly sin of lust instead of the Star Sapphires.
I am willing to bet that you were expecting lust to be assigned to the Star Sapphires, the lantern corps powered by love. But love is very different from lust. Love is a powerful bond experienced between two or more organisms while lust is an overwhelming craving for something. The reality of the violet lanterns is not what someone expects to find when talking about a group of people powered by love. They are actually known to go to great extremes to ensure that the power of love remains a dominant force in the universe. They will even take new recruits against their will and convert them to their cause. They believe love to be the dominant force in the universe and are often foiled by their immense overconfidence in their power. One could say that the power of love consumes them to unhealthy extent. Gluttony, although often associated with the over-consumption of food, can actually be the over-consumption of anything. The violet light power effectively consumes the consciousness and desires of any willing or unwilling member of the corps. This consumption is particularly fitting when you consider that the entity that embodies the universe’s power of love is an immense, grotesque manifestation known as The Predator.
Well there we have it, we have successfully matched the 7 emotional spectrum powers to the 7 deadly sins. in recap we have:
Red Lanterns: Wrath
Agent Orange (Larfleeze): Greed
Sinestro Corps: Envy
Green Lanterns: Pride
Blue Lanterns: Sloth
Indigo Tribe: Lust
Star Sapphires: Gluttony
At the end of the day, there is no right or wrong answer to this kind of theory, but that’s why they are so fun. Hopefully this speculation has successfully given you a greater understanding of the various lantern corps and possibly made it easier to relate to them. I would be interested in hearing how you would place the 7 ring powers into Dante’s 7 sins of man, so leave a comment with your thoughts. Perhaps in the future we can include white rings of life, the black rings of death and even the newest invisible ultraviolet powered rings in some other category convention, but only time will tell, and until then, keep theorizing!
*Update: This theory turned out to be correct for the most part! Tony turned out to be the Avenger to make the sacrificing play and was one of the major casualties of series. I was off a little when talking about Tony’s arc reactor and being able to contain the power of the stones, but, I think I can count this as a win!
Spoilers for Infinity War ahead, but if you haven’t seen it yet, chances are you got dusted by Thanos. During the events of Infinity War, we have the deaths of a lot of characters. Of course, every character was killed off in such a way that the writers could easily bring them back to life. Loki held the space stone that can literally teleport him anywhere in space and can produce life-like replicas of himself, vision’s brain was basically downloaded or copied in a Wakandan database, and Gamora’s soul is trapped within the soul stone. Every other major character was killed off from Thanos snapping his fingers and reducing half the universe’s population to dust, or according to some theories, put them in the soul stone as well. Since we know there are Spider-Man and Doctor Strange movies in the future movie line-up, its safe to assume that the heroes will end up defeating Thanos, which means preventing him from snapping his fingers in some way in the past or reversing the snap heard around the universe.
One of the survivors of the snap is Ironman and it’s implied in the movie that Tony Stark may be the key to Avengers 4. Doctor Strange sacrifices the time stone, himself, and the rest of the heroes on Titan to spare Tony’s life. Doctor Strange even passes an all-knowing glance to Tony before he disappears. Essentially, whatever timeline Doctor Strange saw, Thanos already used the Infinity Gauntlet, and the universe would need Tony as a key player in reversing the effects of the snap. But why the genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist?
It’s been theorized before that Stark’s arc reactor is essentially a man-made infinity stone. While I believe this isn’t true, it is correct in saying that Stark has developed a way to contain and stabilize a massive energy source in a container, in order to utilize said source. As we have seen, containers are very important in utilizing the infinity stones. The space stone was in a tesseract, the mind stone in a staff, the reality stone, time stone, power stone, they were all a container. We know from Guardians of the Galaxy that a living being cannot hold a stone for long without the use of some container to serve as a conduit for it’s energy.
The THANOS theory, while the names of the items are shoe-horned in to form the name “Thanos” shows us the containments each stone was kept in.
This is why Stark is so important. He is a living receptacle and would be able to contain a massive energy source with his arc reactor technology. Infinity War even makes a point, in the park scene with Tony and Pepper, to show him retaining his arc reactor even though he doesn’t really need it anymore. That is particularly interesting since the Russo brothers have said that scene was much longer before with a bunch of character cameos but they had to cut it down, and still they kept this piece of exposition in it.
Tony and Pepper in the park together
It’s still not clear what stone he will posses or if he will be the vessel for all the stones to undo the snap. The infinity gauntlet is destroyed and can’t be reused for this, and it’s even hinted that Thanos’ arm was mangled with it. There is a reason people haven’t used the gauntlet before, because the use of all the stones together had such a huge cost and would kill a normal living being. My prediction is that Tony will the be the one to undo the snap and he will be the major casuality of Avengers 4. I think that at the very least, we will see Tony shove an infinity stone into his chest outlet (possibly the soul stone?). This sort of makes sense though, since Stark has been trying to undo all his mistakes and continually tries to atone for them. His sacrifice would complete his arc of atonement and show that Stark has been set up to be Thanos’ counterpart all along. Not only is he burdened with knowledge like Thanos, but he will represent what a hero would do with the power of the gauntlet.
Tony Stark’s absence in the MCU could very well be justified at this point as well. We have recently been introduced to a much more resourceful, intelligent, technology oriented character to serve as both financial and science benefactor to the Avengers.
Shuri, will definitely be up to the task to fill the gap of tech genius in the post Thanos Avengers line-up. She even has energy blasting gauntlets! At this point, this can only be speculation, but I think we have enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that Tony Stark will be key to the fourth Avengers movie. I think it would be quite appropriate to start the MCU with Ironman and end the current version as we know it with Ironman, but really, only time will tell, and until then, keep theorizing!
This fan theory is a little different from the other ones I normally post. Normally, the fandom or subject I focus on is a movie, tv series or video game, but the idea of being a fan is not limited to just these forms of entertainment. I, like so many other people, have always been fascinated by magic tricks and have always adored Penn & Teller for their mastery of their craft. Not only can I appreciate the final product of an illusion for its beauty, simplicity and performance, but I can also appreciate it for how it was executed and the amount of hard work that it takes to deliver a sincere and realistic performance. In reality, I have absolutely no performing talent and my evaluation and appreciation of art may be lacking. However, I still love to speculate on the subjects that I love because this is how I personally gain the maximum enjoyment from them. At the end of the day, that is the true purpose of entertainment is to enjoy it in your own way, and my way to is too endlessly speculate on it. That being said, if you are of the school of thought that magic tricks are more fun by simply not knowing how they are done, perhaps this post isn’t for you. My theory is wrong anyway so take everything I am about to say with a grain of salt.
If you would like to see a couple videos of the Magic Bullet trick check out these YouTube links here and here. I will leave these links here in lieu of a detailed description of the entire trick.
An interesting aspect about this trick, is that at no point does Penn Jillette lie to the audience. As a magician, he is a professional liar and deceiver which serves to convince the audience that certain events are happening or not happening. This makes Penn’s performance for this particular trick critical and eloquent. It is true that Penn and Teller will be moving a signed bullet from the end of the stage to the other because they really do fire the very real bullets from their very real Colt Python 357 Magnum “magic wands.” In fact, they really shoot each bullet through a pane of glass.
The pane of glass is very important. It can exhibit a bullet hole without giving away the bullet’s true trajectory. The reason to hide the bullets’ actual path is because each one is being fired to the left of Penn and to the right of Teller; offstage away from the audience. The laser sight attached to each gun is both a misdirection and a guide. It is slightly angled so that the shooter confidently knows that as long as the laser is on their partner, the bullet will safely miss them.
Let’s just pause this right here and appreciate the level of preparation, practice, trust and safety protocols that would be required to pull off this much of the trick. Seriously, if it is true that every time this trick is performed, a bullet is fired in the general direction of each participant, the two performers should receive a standing ovation for the quality of production, preparation and practice it would take to pull off this trick.
Now the question remains; how does each polished performer appear to catch the bullet between their teeth and seem to present the exact bullets to the volunteer audience members that wrote their initials on each bullet? Again, Penn is very honest about the trick. The daring duo have successfully moved two bullets to the other side of the stage without anyone crossing the center. Penn will continue with his frankness and never once claim that the bullets in their mouths are the exact same bullets that were just fired, because they are not. In fact, they are previously fired bullets that have been shot into some medium such as ballistic gel (to show evidence of being fired on the bullet while leaving it undamaged). How Penn and Teller get identical bullet tips into their mouths is the tricky part.
While the original bullets, still in their casings, are being signed by the volunteers, a member(s) of the Penn & Teller crew is copying the initials being displayed to the audience (and the counterfeiter(s) on a screen. The forgers use the same color marker and copy the initials on the fraudulent pre-fired bullets. At this point the hidden assistants carefully place each bullet into the bullet proof vests that are hung on a wall. The wall contains a small trap door that someone can reach into the bullet vests unseen and rig the forged bullets in such a way that both magicians can seamlessly slip the vests over their heads and put the bullets in their mouths in one graceful, well practiced, natural movement. It should be noted that this is the only time during the entire performance that Penn and Teller ever cover their mouths, albeit for the briefest of moments.
Following a convincing performance of pretending to receive the bullets between their teeth with a snap back of the head, Penn cleverly leads the volunteers to identify their initials without betraying his truthfulness. The audience members that have identified themselves as being familiar with firearms, confirm that each shell has been spent and each initialed bullet tip also shows signs of being fired.
And that is my theory of how Penn & Teller’s Magic Bullets trick is executed. It may seem simple, but if this theory is correct, it only confirms the beauty that is contained in simplicity. I say simplicity, but it is only so on paper. The actual trick has been agonized over and meticulously rehearsed to the umpteenth degree. The very act of firing a live firearm on stage would be a whirlwind of coordination, safety protocols and obsessive analyzing of props and placement.
This is an absolutely stunning trick that leaves the audience breathless. Honestly, examining this trick with the assumption of knowing how it could have been performed, gives me a greater thrill of anticipation and appreciation. I also take my own flawed assumptions lightly knowing that I am undoubtedly wrong about the whole process. I have come to terms with this but relish the opportunity to take the time to think on and enjoy the trick on another level. Remember that this theory is most definitely wrong, but I hope that you had even a fraction of the fun that I did trying to figure it out. The definitive mechanics of this trick may never be fully revealed, but only time will tell and until then, keep theorizing!
Home Improvement is a classic 90’s sitcom featuring Tim Allen that is a genuinely funny yet sincere look at family life balanced with work life and seasoned with stereotypical gender roles. The show is generally regarded as a typical cheesey 90’s family sitcom but upon re-watching the show, the viewer can plainly see it’s genuine attempt to relate to the average family and isn’t afraid to address tough, real world issues. If you don’t believe me, perhaps you should check out the Grunt Work Podcast, where co-hosts Landen and Truman watch every episode of Home Improvement and critically review them while bringing new life, comedy and meaning to each installment.
Fan Theory World has worked closely with Grunt Work in the past to discuss various fan theories that inevitably pop up during a thorough rewatch. In the past we have discussed many theories and connections about the show, including the connection to the Pixar universe. Now, upon further investigation, I believe that Home Improvement actually fits into the Pixar Theory timeline.
Tim Allen’s character, Tim Taylor, is under the employment of Binford Tools which created and sponsors the show, Tool Time. Tim Taylor hosts the show with his trusty and seemingly more competent co-host and assistant, Al Borland and teaches their audience how to do various home improvement projects that often lead to disastrous results. The show, Tool Time, is really a meta-program that often relates to much of the “real life” events that occur in Tim Taylor’s life. Just as being a TV personality on Tool Time can become an allegory for Tim Taylor’s life, Tim Taylor’s life can often become an allegory for Tim Allen’s real life. Events in reality will often shape the events of the show. In fact, in season 2 episode 1, “Read My Hips,” we see Tim Taylor looking at fan letters from his “Male Bag” on Tool Time. The letters say things to the effect that Tool Time is being too masculine and male oriented, and as the guys over at Grunt Work have pointed out, seem to be referring to the actual show, Home Improvement. Tim dismisses these letters saying that he will go on to do what he has been doing, sending a subtle message to the viewers of Home Improvement that the show is exactly how he wants it to be, and is not changing.
There are various other examples of this meta-programing happening but moving on to the theory, we know that Tim Allen and Tim Taylor share a passion for acting/showmanship and it is not uncommon for an actor to accept side gigs while working on other projects. In this case, Tool Time star, Tim Taylor, took the job to be a voice for a new line of toys, the Buzz Lightyear action figure.
But how on earth would a local TV star ever become the iconic voice of a top of the line action figure? The key here actually lies with his boss, Mr. John Binford. Season 2 Episode 8, “May the Best Man Win,” Mr. Binford elopes with a model leaving his daughter Maureen in charge of Tool Time. But why the sudden disappearance of Mr. Binford and why is he only now leaving everything behind to pursue his manly passions? Perhaps Mr. Binford has suddenly come into a lot of money and can now afford to escape to a far away place and begin anew. Perhaps, this large amount of money came from selling his company to a larger company. It is not uncommon for a mega corporation to buy smaller companies for the sake of expanding, and there is only one corporation that I can think of to buy Binford Tools, Buy n Large.
BnL as seen in the movie WALL-E. Possibly the last remaining corporation of humanity that controls every market.
BnL is the mega corporation at the center of the Pixar universe and is responsible for the shaping of many events that take place there. We know for a fact that Binford exists in the Pixar universe, as we see a tool box in Toy Story with the Binford logo on it.
We also know that BnL is an established company at the time of Toy Story and we actually see that Buzz Lightyear action figures come equipped with BnL batteries.
At this point we are going to make the assumption that since BnL owns everything from banks, gas stations and even batteries, that they started creating toys a long time ago, including state of the art toys. Being the parent company for Binford Tools, and subsequently Tool Time, BnL eventually develops their most advanced and most powerful toy to date. In order to make the toy appealing to children, they need the voice of a man that can give the toy “more power” to take sales to infinity and beyond. It only takes a single person during the right meeting to suggest Tim Taylor of Tool Time fame (a recently acquired asset) to be the voice of their action astronaut, Buzz Lightyear. In a later episode of Home Improvement, we see Tim Allen, in character as Tim Taylor, recreating the voice of Buzz while also declaring himself as the real Buzz Lightyear.
Along with this pretty conclusive evidence of Toy Story toys being in Home Improvement, we have evidence from the show that toys are capable of coming to life on their own. In season 2, episode 18, “Bye Bye Birdie,” we have definitive proof that toys are capable of achieving sentience. At the end of the episode, in a final attempt to rid his house of a woodpecker, Tim Taylor deploys a toy helicopter to chase the bird away, when suddenly Tim loses control of the helicopter as the toy seemingly gains consciousness and begins to chase down and target him instead. The helicopter even goes so far as to open the doors to the house when Tim takes shelter inside. Though this makes for a cartoonishly funny representation of what can go wrong when Tim modifies a piece of machinery, there could be no other explanation for the complex thinking patterns that the toy exhibits other than a Toy Story-like sentience.
We also have a more subtle clue to the possible sentience of toys in Home Improvement. Throughout the show, we see a toy Godzilla meticulously placed in the background of some episodes. This Godzilla toy, affectionately named Shawnzilla by the guys at Grunt Work (named after Wallace Shawn, the voice of Rex the dinosaur in Toy Story), has been seen in many different poses that appear to be the result of the toy freezing in place when a human approaches.
Shawnzilla as seen in “Shooting Three to Make Tutu”
These seemingly random poses and placement are actually the result of the crew of Home Improvement having some fun with the available props, but could easily be explained away in the show as being left there by one of the three Taylor boys. After seeing a toy helicopter come to life to attack Tim, it seems that the explanation of coming to life periodically could be an equally plausible scenario.
An interesting side note involving Shawnzilla, is that we see the exact same toy appear in Roseanne and, more specifically it, makes an appearance in the rebooted season 10 of the show.
Shawnzilla sighting, dead center!
I mention this appearance of the Godzilla toy, because Grunt Work has evidence to suggesy that Roseanne takes place in the same universe Home Improvement and is therefore also a part of the Pixar universe.
The proof is contained in the above GIF, where we see a “Lanford Electric” bowling shirt make an appearance in season 1, episode 13 “Up Your Alley.” of Home Improvement. True Roseanne fans will know that the Conner family resides in Lanford, Illinois.
So at this point it seems pretty definitive that Home Improvement (and by association, Roseanne) takes place in the Pixar universe and that we have exhausted our connections. But wait, it’s time for a few bonus points! Now we can start to analyze some other aspects of Home Improvement from a Pixar theory point of view.
Let’s analyze the legendary Wilson W. Wilson Jr. His proclivity for partially hiding his face behind a wooden fence has led to many speculations on the mysterious nature of the character. The guys over at Grunt Work even have an ongoing theory that the seemingly all-knowing Wilson could be God living in the mortal world and offering sagely advice to Tim Taylor while also hiding his holy visage from humans.
What are you hiding “Wilson?”
However omniscient Wilson may appear, he only ever offers advice in the form of a historical quote, which originates from other humans. None of his advice seems to be original content (unless we consider that God had given the original authors of the quote their ideas in the first place, and personally, I would prefer to stay out of that rabbit hole). With this, we can assume that he is human that displays unusual powers from time to time. For example, in season 2 episode 13, “Bell Bottom Blues” we actually see Wilson phase his hand through a wooden fence. When we see Tim’s expression, he is very much confused about this event to the point that he stares at the place Wilson’s hand had come through after Wilson withdraw it. If we look carefully at the fence in past episodes, there is no opening in the fence sizable enough to allow Wilson’s hand to come through it.
Please, never do this again Wilson.
I believe that Wilson’s power can actually be channeled through the wooden fence. In the Pixar universe, we actually have a character that can do the exact same thing but on a larger scale and is the centerpiece to the Pixar shared universe theory. Boo from Monster’s Inc, according to the Pixar Theory, is really the old Witch from the movie Brave.
The theory states that Boo, in her attempt to find her long lost friend Sully, learns how to channel magic through the wooden doors of Monsters Inc. travels back in time to the movie Brave to become the old witch that has both traveled time and is able to create portals in wooden doorways. I believe that Wilson from Home Improvement has learned how to channel a small amount of magic through the seemingly ordinary wooden fence in his yard. We see that he creates a small portal in the fence to put his hand through to shake Tim’s hand. We also see him time and time again give his sagely advice in the form of historical quotes while standing up against the wooden fence. Wilson has a seemingly endless well of knowledge of these quotes that he can recite word for word with hardly any errors, which appears to be an impressive feat even for a well educated man. But what if Wilson, an aficionado of ancient cultures and traditions, is really channeling a small amount of magic into the fence to pull the quotes that he has “memorized” directly from the exact point in time that they were spoken? “Insane!” I can hear you say, but if Home Improvement is within the Pixar Universe and this universe has a time traveling witch channeling energies into wooden structures, then it would be likely that a man who has thoroughly studied ancient cultures, their beliefs and even magic, would have picked up a trick or two along the way.
So there we have it! Binford was bought out by BnL, Tim Taylor was the voice of the Buzz Lightyear toy, and Wilson is a witch! Also, it is worth mentioning that at about the time that BnL bought Binford, Home Improvement began featuring a living logo in their show that could be seen helping with transitions throughout the season. The Truman and Landen at Grunt Work have affectionately a named this character “The Gruntcreep.” Since we see everything coming alive and sentient in the Pixar universe including, dinosaurs, toys, cars, animals, and even emotions, would it be implausible that a logo could also come to life?
I believe that this theory warrants even further investigation on how Home Improvement perfectly fits into the Pixar universe. I’m sure there are several other connections that will be dug up in the future, but really only time will tell, and until then fellow fans and theorists, keep theorizing!
We would like to extend a special thank you to the Grunt Work Podcast for helping create this theory. They have just finished watching every episode of Home Improvement through season 2. Check out their amazing show at http://gruntworkpodcast.com/ or wherever podcasts are played!
Recently, our Steven Spielberg Fan Theory episode covered the many theories that surround the Steven Spielberg films. Naturally, connections through the films have been spotted throughout the years and today I will attempt to not only connect all of the major Spielberg films into one shared universe, but prove that it is what our universe would be if aliens had visited Earth! This new universe and the movies contained within are all the result of extra-terrestrial interference. The films that we will be looking at include, the Indiana Jones films, Jaws, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, War of the Worlds and more. I call this shared universe The Spielbergverse. I wanted to call it the Steven Universe, but it was taken. Anyway, let’s take a look at what I consider to be a shared universe consisting of Steven Spielberg movies.
First, it should be stated that Spielberg’s films that take place during historical events such as Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, and Lincoln, take place at a time when alien involvement did not occur and are therefore establishing that this universe is identical to ours until aliens visit Earth. Actually, I should say until aliens return to Earth, but more on that later. For now, let’s establish a few basic connections between movies.
Let’s start with one of Steven Spielberg’s first major movies, Jaws (1975). In Jaws, we have our main character Martin Brody, played by Roy Richard Scheider, attempts to rid Amity Island of a giant shark problem.
Martin Brody
Martin Brody was born in New York City in 1932 and went on to become Chief of Police in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. His place of origin is very important here as it is our first connection with another Spielberg property. We know of a character in the Indiana Jones movies who worked as the Director of Special Acquisitions at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in 1931. Yes, Martin Brody’s father is in fact, Marcus Brody.
Marcus Brody
After obtaining his new position at the museum in 1931, Marcus decided it would be the perfect time to settle down and have a family. By the next year, in 1932, he had a son, Martin, who would inherit his penchant for getting into trouble and would eventually go on to do battle with a giant shark in Jaws.
The next connection works better if we accept that Star Wars, also takes place in the same universe as the Spielbergverse. The Spielbergverse still works without the addition of Star Wars, but adding it is a wonderful bonus that shouldn’t be overlooked. We know that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are best friends, so it makes sense that they would collaborate ideas with each other and reference each other’s work in their projects. However, as soon as something is referenced or given a nod in an official film, it becomes canon to that universe. Indiana Jones once referenced Star Wars in Raiders of the Lost Ark, seen here in this image of C-3PO and R2-D2 making an appearance as hieroglyphics.
This may seem difficult to put into canon until we consider the controversial movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Some people may consider this movie non-cannon but this movie introduced the idea of multiple dimensions and will always live on as some sort of alternate Indiana Jones dimension. In this movie, we discover that aliens are real and they are actually inter-dimensional traveling beings. When traveling through dimensions, it would be easy for them to wind up in a time long ago in a galaxy far far away. While these aliens are said to be from the “space between spaces,” we see that they have already influenced some of our history and they can travel to our universe, possibly at any point in time and space that they choose. These inter-dimensional aliens are actually the ones responsible for the C-3PO and R2-D2 hieroglyphics by passing down the knowledge of other distant civilizations to people via telepathy. This telepathic passing of knowledge is something that they seem inclined to do in this movie. This is one example of when aliens had visited humans in ancient times. It’s only recently that we see aliens returning to impact modern society, such as in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
E.T., who was given the name Zrek in the sequel that never was, Nocturnal Fears, is part of a race of aliens that have come to be known as Asogians in the Star Wars universe. They make a famous cameo as a species of alien taking part in a senate hearing in The Phantom Menace, as seen here:
The Asogians, like most races in Star Wars, have access to faster than light-speed travel. This allows for intergalactic travel and eventually takes them to Earth. During the events of E.T. we even see that they are capable of being force sensitive and even use the powers of the force for levitation, healing, and even establishing deep connections to other individuals. There is even a popular theory that E.T. was a Jedi. This may be too far of a stretch; just because someone is force sensitive, does not mean they are associated with Jedi or Sith.
At the beginning of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, we see that a group of Asogians are on Earth for some uknown mission, only to be forced to leave Zrek stranded on the alien planet.
E.T. being stranded on Earth.
So let’s talk about the Asogians’ mission on Earth. If we watch the opening scene of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, we see that the E.T. and his clan are gathering various plant life from Earth and also, it appears, a number of other planets. Since their spacecraft is relatively compact and containing only a handful of representatives from the species, is it could be a safe assumption that the ship takes off to join up with either a mothership, or fly to a nearby base to examine the plant life. But why are they studying the plant life of Earth, when it is the host of so many other species of creatures, not the least of which is humans? We actually see Zrek in this opening shot appear to be fascinated by human civilization and at the same time, he seems to know enough about humans that he would run away from them. I believe that the reasons the Asogians try to remain hidden from humans is because they know that people are endlessly interesting but they are still a young race and have tendencies of fear and violence to creatures that are different from them. The Asogians know that that humans still have a long way to go before they are able to accept aliens and possibly make a contribution to any outside worlds. Humans must be allowed to reach this point in their evolution first, but they may need some help surviving until then.
“Survive what?” you may ask. Themselves, more than likely, but if a species ends up destroying itself, it probably wasn’t a great candidate for collaboration. What mankind needs help surviving are other aliens. The Asogians aren’t the only race of aliens out there, and they are also not the only race that knows about humans. In fact, humans have been known to exist for about 5 years. Or a more accurate phrasing would be that the government has known that aliens exist for the past 5 years.
In 1977 (5 years before the events of E.T.) humans were able to reach out and contact alien lifeforms in an encounter that took place on Devil’s Tower in Wyoming as seen in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
In this movie we see that aliens and humans successfully make a connection with each other by means of music. The aliens eventually release the various people and animals from their ship, all of which appear to have not aged a single day since their disappearance. This would indicate either near-light speed travel (or faster) or the ability to travel to any point in time and space that they choose. Sound familiar? Yes! The aliens from Close Encounters of the Third Kind are actually the same race of aliens from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Close Encounters Alien
Crystal Skull Alien Skeleton
Alien from Crystal Skull
In the above image we see the Alien from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Left) compared to the body and facial structure of the alien from Crystal Skull. These are definitely of the same species, and remember that individuals of the same species can have very drastic difference in both physical appearance and personality (just look at humans as an example). Even given that, these two look remarkably similar and they seem to share the same level of technology. We know that the interdimensional beings from Crystal Skull were credited in teaching the Ugha people agriculture, irrigation and technology. Despite making a woman’s eyes catch fire, these beings seem pretty generous in sharing their knowledge, just like the aliens from Close Encounters seem to be. This may also be true of them sharing their knowledge about Earth and the inhabitants that on it to other alien species.
As far as being benevolent creatures of knowledge, it is very likely that they shared some knowledge that the ancient people were not advanced enough to use. Since we see evidence of ancient civilizations recording otherworldly knowledge (see the Indiana Jones hieroglyphics picture), it’s possible that there exists ancient records of utilizing advanced alien technology. After giving knowledge of things like agriculture, irrigation and technology, it is clear that the extra-dimensional beings want to boost humanity and ensure it’s survival. As stated before, humans at the time are unable to utilize knowledge such as genetic modification so it the teachings are recorded in ancient texts. We know from the Indiana Jones franchise that alien influence can be seen in ancient times. In fact, it is likely that the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, and the Sankara stones are all artifacts of alien origin.
Ark of the Covenant
Holy Grail
Sankara Stones
In fact, the Sankara stones were even said to be given to Sankara by the Hindu god Shiva on Mount Kalisa, which definitely sounds like an extra-terrestrial encounter. It is through these artifacts, hieroglyphics and actual encounters in the Indy films, that we know that aliens have influenced the ancient civilations of Egypt, Tibet, Hatay and Akator. Knowing this, we can see that alien influence is seen throughout the ancient world and any one of these sights could hold ancient alien secrets of advanced technology, just waiting to be discovered and used by modern day scientists. Enter InGen, the company responsible for successfully cloning prehistoric animals using the DNA found in the blood of insects trapped in amber, founded by the infamous John Hammond.
John Hammond, CEO of InGen
John Hammond is the CEO of InGen and most famously, Jurassic Park. He made his fortune running a flea circus and later opened parks in Kenya, Costa Rica and Isla Nublar. Flea circuses are actually a series of mechanical props that appear to be moved by invisible forces or nearly invisible such as a tiny flea. The whole premise of the flea circus is built on the deception that someone has trained fleas when in reality the props move on their own. John Hammond essentially built his fortune on deceiving his customers. These lies extend to the idea of cloning dinosaurs. DNA only has a half life of 521 years, so the idea of cloning anything from millions of years old amber simply doesn’t work. InGen is really just a facility that is working on genetically modifying existing animals or even creating them from scratch using advanced genetic technology, which could be considered morally different from reviving an extinct species. However, the real deceits lay in the amber mines (or alleged amber mines) throughout the world that are funded by InGen on the pretext of obtaining DNA trapped in amber.
The amber harvesting, just like Hammond’s flea circus, is just a front to what is really happening at specific dig sites. While certain sites are set up to be actual amber excavation sites, like the one we see in the Jurassic Park movie in the Dominican Republic, others sites in other parts of the globe are really archaeological dig sites with the sole purpose of obtaining ancient artifacts containing the secrets of alien technologies. Sounds preposterous, right? But is it any more insane than scientists on their own being able to magically come up with the technology to create animals from scratch in the 80’s? To leap so dramatically ahead in genetic technologies almost points to some sort of intervention. InGen is fully aware of Indiana Jones’ exploits and have reached the understanding that there are remaining alien artifacts and ancient records that could unlock future advancements in science. Even with a cheat sheet on genetic manipulation, there are bound to be hurdles to overcome. Hammond and InGen didn’t just create dinosaur-esque creatures on the first try, it would have taken them years of trying with lots of failed or successful experiments. I posit that Jaws is in fact a genetic experiment that was able to escape (which seems to be a common side effect of InGen experiments), made his way to Amity Island.
Jaws is a giant great white shark that attacked and killed 5 people (and 1 dog) at Amity Island in 1975. Jaws, affectionately named Bruce by fans, is 25 foot, 3 ton great white shark. The average great white shark is known to reach up to 21 feet in length and up to 2,400 lbs (a little over 1 ton). The size of Jaws seems to be a just a slightly bigger great white in length but the weight is triple the normal weight. This probably stems from the actual robot shark that was made in the production of the movie and it’s weight being translated to the weight of the shark in the movie. Even so, we have a more than above average sized great white shark since no living great white has been reported to reach the size of Bruce. So the question is, is Bruce really a great white shark? After all, Bruce does have very prominent jowls, something that isn’t seen in a great white.
Jaws with jowls
A normal great white (no jowls)
InGen successfully created their first prehistoric animal in 1984. The lore states that John Hammond dreamed up the idea of “cloning” dinosaurs by the 1980’s, but what made him so sure this was even possible? The answer is that he had success with genetically modifying animals before. Just before the 1975 Amity Island shark attacks, John Hammond had planned to open a marine park in Costa Rica and began genetically modifying various sea creatures. One of his prized attractions would be a giant great white shark with a voracious appetite. John Hammond had this shark modified to not only be bigger, but also to have an insatiable appetite so it could eat any meal at any time of day for any performance. Of course Costa Rica is outside the native habitat of the great white, the waters are just too warm. It much prefers to be further north. As the shark grew bigger, it became more destructive and was eventually able to escape and migrated up the east coast of United States and eventually ended up in Amity Island in New York. This long distance journey is actually not that uncommon for great whites, and certainly wouldn’t be an issue for an enhanced specimen.
great white shark habitat
migration pattern of the great white shark
After the Amity Island incident and the reports of the attack on civilians, InGen decided to implant the Lysine fail safe in it’s future specimens in case of another escape so the animals would surely die before causing another incident and risk exposure to the company.
Going back to the Asogians from E.T., they were able to learn about humans from the interdimensional beings that visited Earth in 1977. But the Asogians weren’t the only beings that were privy to this knowledge. Other, more sinister alien beings also learned about Earth and it’s inhabitants in this way and planned to invade and occupy the newly discovered planet. The Asogians know of these planet killing aliens and have enacted a plan to save the various planets that the invaders have chosen to conquer. These hostile space invaders are none other than the tripod aliens from Spielberg’s War of the Worlds.
Once the tripod aliens learned about Earth and it’s resources, they decided to conquer it and take the resources for themselves, as they had done with so many worlds before. The Asogians know that the tripod aliens needed to be stopped but don’t possess the means of combating them with brute force. In order to save the alien worlds from the greedy invaders, they developed a biological weapon that is dispersed using the native plant life of vulnerable worlds. They begin to visit the newly detected planets that would be likely targets for the invaders and collect the various samples of the flora and take it back it with them. There, they develop a virus that is harmless to the native life on the planet but is deadly to the tripod aliens and infuse it with the plant samples that they collect. Plants are a remarkable and natural means of dispersing microscopic particles like pollen, and the Asogians make use of this mechanism. Once back on Earth, the plants infect all the other plants around them and those plants also begin to disperse the virus via pollen. In this way the virus is eventually be spread throughout Earth awaiting the invaders and is in fact exactly how the tripod aliens are defeated.
It doesn’t seem to make sense that an advanced alien species that have developed invading and conquering worlds into a science and a way of life, would be overtaken by the native microbes of that planet. This is one of the very first concerns of visiting an alien world and we as humans have even developed protocols to protect us from possible alien microbes from the moon and Mars. The only explanation I can think of for being easily overtaken by Earth’s microbes, is if they were actually killed by a virus that was designed to specifically target them and get past their defenses. So what was the point of E.T.’s mission to Earth? To save it. Perhaps E.T. really was a Jedi after all. At any rate, this interaction definitely gives further meaning to “War of the Worlds.”
Goody guy E.T.
So there we have it, a bit of a long theory but we were able to connect Jaws to Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park, connect E.T., Indiana Jones and War of the Worlds through Star Wars, and also connect Close Encounters of the Third Kind to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. These connections all prove that aliens are responsible for the Spielbergverse. They visited us during the dawn of humanity in our early civilizations teaching the various people new technologies and leaving behind a record of technologies to come. This is seems to be proven in the Indiana Jones movies and we see the results in Jurrassic Park and Jaws. Later, the same aliens returned to Earth only to trigger a chain reaction of other alien visitors who fought to either exterminate or save humanity. And so, without alien intervention we would not have the Spielbergverse and would instead be left with the world we currently live in.
Perhaps in the future I will also try to add in movies such as A.I., Minority Report and even BFG, but for now I leave you with this lengthy theory as is. I hope that we get more evidence of a shared universe in the future, but only time will tell, and until then fellow fans and theorists, keep theorizing!
Post Update: Like many theories posted about Infinity War, this theory was most definitely proven wrong. It is worth mentioning that some themes that are pointed out in this theory may carry over to Avengers 4.
The latest Avengers: Infinity War trailer has officially dropped and one of the biggest questions on everybody’s mind is whether Cap and Iron Man make it out of the Avengers 3 alive! After reviewing the evidence, I have come to this conclusion. Steve Rogers will die and Tony Stark will survive. This conclusion is certainly not my preference, because if I had my choice, it would be the other way around; I am absolutely a huge Cap fan. So then why come to such a bleak conclusion? Well first, let’s discuss the actual trailer.
In the latest trailer, we see what looks like a broken and defeated Tony Stark in what remains of his Iron Man suit. Thanos, who appears to be in the same location says, “I hope they remember you” as he appears to deliver a final blow to Tony Stark. This scene immediately cuts to Thanos attempting to grab Steve Rogers as Cap resists the infinity gauntlet’s massive clutch, appearing to stave off the mad titan. Of course, like many people on the internet, I believe this to be an obvious misdirect! In fact, I believe that both Iron Man and Captain America’s situations will end in a similar, but different outcome. It seems likely that Iron Man will be rescued at the last moment by another hero in a classic narrow escape. Steve Rogers on the other hand appears to be the one stepping in between Thanos and his intended target, taking him by surprise.
Thanos reacting to Steve holding him off
I believe this is the scene in which Thanos kills Captain America, who sacrifices himself in a last desperate attempt to save either an infinity stone or to save someone’s life. More specifically, if Cap is saving someone, it will definitely be Bucky. I know what your saying, “Bucky? why would Cap die saving Bucky?” I believe the answers are in the previous movies.
Throughout the Captain America movies, we not only see the evolution of Cap as a superhero, but also (and more importantly) the evolution of Bucky Barnes the Winter Soldier. In Captain America: The First Avenger, we see the friendship between Bucky and Steve as well as both of their unsuccessful deaths. In The Winter Soldier, we see the return of Bucky and his return to the good side. Finally, in Civil War, we see Bucky’s struggle to redeem himself as a hero. I would strongly argue that the Captain America movies are more about Bucky Barnes than Steve Rogers. So much so, that I think the only way the story can proceed between our two favorite super friends, is if Cap sacrifices himself to save Bucky, inspiring him to pick up the mantle as the next Captain America.
In Avengers 4, we will see Bucky picking up the shield…. oh wait the shield! The literal symbol of the Captain America mantle (so much so that without the shield, steve appears to have rid himself of his iconic imagery). What about the shield? Someone certainly cannot become Captain America without the iconic American shield! Well, we do know that after Tony and Steve had their fallout in Civil War, that Cap gave up his shield (and his mantle) to Tony Stark. It also appears, from what we have seen in the trailers, that Iron Man and Cap are no where near each other for any part of the film, hence why cap has to use his new Wakandan shield.
Since Steve Rogers will not be able to pass the shield to Bucky, it will be up to the person who currently has possession of it; Tony Stark. Another reason why Tony will live on, and perhaps the biggest reason, is that he needs to complete his hero arc by making Bucky the new Captain America. Allow me to explain.
In all the Iron Man movies we see a different kind of journey for Tony. He goes from a billionaire arms-dealing playboy, to vigilante hero, to government sponsored hero. Tony has constantly been struggling to become a better person and a better hero. In Civil War, we see him over compensate for this and decide to enforce the law, even if it meant betraying his allies.
Now in Infinity War, we will see Tony finally have a chance a to make amends to both Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes by bestowing the mantle of Captain America to Bucky, and in doing so, making himself a fully realized leader and hero.
So there we have it, in a nutshell, if we take a step back and look at the individual character arcs of Tony, Steve and Bucky, we see that Steve will nobly sacrifice himself to save his friend, which leaves an unreconciled rift between him and Tony. Tony, in a way of redemption will give Bucky the shield, giving Bucky a chance of redemption as a legitimate hero.
I like to think that since Bucky’s Captain America suit in the comics was shiny, that this will translate into a tech suit from Wakanda in the movies.
One last clue to all of this, comes from Thanos himself when he says “When I’m done, half of humanity will still exist.” If we view Captain America and Iron man; heros of polar opposite opinions as “humanity,” then it becomes clear that one will die and the other will survive. Perhaps, this is looking into it a little too far, but once again, only time will tell, and until next time, keep theorizing!
What are your thoughts on the survivability of Captain America and Iron Man? What about the other heros that weren’t mentioned here? Let us know your theories!
Theory Update: This theory has been proven wrong as per Star Wars: The Last Jedi. It appears, that while I was right about the Rey/Kylo team up, almost everything else was wrong.
The new Star Wars trailer for The Last Jedi has dropped along with millions of fan speculations and theories for the upcoming film. Not wanting to be left out, I decided to craft my own theory. Bear with me because this theory is really two separate theories mashed into one. I can hear you saying “I have a bad feeling about this” but don’t worry! Even if I am completely wrong, I will at least try to make this interesting. The basic concept of my theory is that both Kylo and Rey have a connection to another main character and will embrace each other as allies. Oh, and maybe Rey is a clone. Before we get into that, lets take a look at the new trailer.
The new trailer is doing a rather fantastic job of making people question the allegiance of the main characters and challenging our perception of good and evil in the Star Wars universe. In fact, up until this film, every force sensitive character in the movies can be clearly defined as either light side or dark side; Jedi or Sith. The Star Wars shows (Clone Wars and Rebels), on the other hand, have experimented more with the concept of neutrality, or at the very least, the idea of force-using characters that are outside of the definition of Jedi or Sith. The most famous in-canon neutral-force wielder is Ahsoka Tano.
Ahsoka Tano
Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker’s apprentice, was once falsely accused, hunted and convicted by the Jedi council. Once proven innocent, she realized that the Jedi code was fundamentally flawed by being too strict and unyielding in it’s policies. Once proven innocent, she was invited back into the ranks of the Jedi, when she promptly declined in favor of finding her own path. We later see Ahsoka return in Star Wars Rebels where she operates outside of the Jedi code wielding white light sabers to signify her neutrality.
“Fulcrum” Ahsoka Tano
Her fate remains ambiguous after her confrontation with her former teacher turned evil, Darth Vader, but there is a theory floating around that Ahsoka didn’t die. The theory is a bit a of a long one but in short, Ahsoka retains the spirit of The Daughter of the planet Mortis from her near death in the episode Altar of Mortis and instead of dying or becoming a force ghost, her spirit is transformed into an animal avatar, a white wolf.
The white wolf, Season 4 of Star Wars: Rebels
There are various pieces of compelling evidence for this theory that I would recommend checking out in the previous hyperlink. Out of an infinite amount of color/animal combinations we are presented with a white wolf avatar. This is where we will bring Ahsoka Tano into the mix for this theory about The Last Jedi.
During the new trailer we get a quick glimpse at a new, unnamed creature that fans are calling an Ice Fox.
It is essentially a white wolf covered in crystals that live on the planet Crait. Is this just coincidence that we are suddenly seeing the appearance of a white wolf creature in the upcoming film after we see the possibility that Ahsoka’s spirit could have lived on through a white wolf avatar? Perhaps. Do I think that this specific Ice Fox in the trailer is really an Ahsoka Tano cameo? No, and I think that it would be rather silly to think that. However, I firmly believe that the Ice Fox wasn’t casually thrown into the trailer without meaning. In fact, I believe that the crystalline fox-wolf is really serving as a symbol of neutrality or at the very least, a clue of a main character turning away from their current allegiance to pursue their own path. I am talking of course, about Kylo Ren.
The First Order on Crait, inlcuding Phasma/Kylo’s ship
We see in the new trailer that the First Order is invading Crait, home of a rebel base where Leia Organa is seen to be residing. I believe Kylo Ren will come to Crait and will come face to face with his mother, Leia. At this point, I speculate that something will happen to Leia (after Kylo does not follow through with killing her with his TIE silencer and Kylo will begin his redemption away from the dark side. At the risk of getting into another theory, I do believe that Kylo did not 100% kill his father, that in fact Han pushed the button to Kylo’s lightsaber after he asked him for his help to go fully to the dark side. This would mean that Kylo still has chance of redemption away from the Sith since he could not have killed his father on his own. In short, I believe that Kylo will end up not being the one to have killed his parents and will end up betraying Snoke in the upcoming movie. But where’s the proof?
Well, a little while ago there was footage released of Adam Driver training against two stuntmen using pole weapons for the upcoming sequel.
Adam Driver training against elite Praetorian guards?
These pole weapons look very similar to the weapons used by the elite Praetorian guard, Snoke’s personal body guards. Either Kylo is doing some intense training with the elite personal bodyguards of his mentor or we will see a scene in which Kylo and Snoke are at odds with each other in The Last Jedi.
Speaking of being at odds with a mentor, it also appears that Luke and Rey will not have a typical master/apprentice relationship. in fact, we see in the trailer that Luke is absolutely terrified of Rey’s raw power and will more than likely refuse to train Rey. It is interesting however that we see a Jedi master that is so easily succumbed to fear.
“Fear is the path to the dark side..” -Yoda
Afterall, “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” It is possible that Luke does not trust himself to teach a new Jedi (hence his isolation) and turns Rey away for fear that she will end up like Kylo.
So now we have two neutral, very powerful force wielders that have been spurned by their previous masters. Perhaps the last scene of the trailer is which it appears Rey asks for Kylo’s help to guide her in her path is not a misdirect as many fans have speculated. I believe that Kylo and Rey will join forces by the end of the Last Jedi and we will see a new faction of force-users that reject both Jedi and Sith code.
There is one more thing I would like to speculate on, however. Going back to the symbolism of the Ice Fox and Leia on Crait.
Leia Organa on Crait
I believe that we won’t just see a pivotal scene for Kylo’s loyalties when he reunites with his mother, I believe that the symbolism also points to a connection between Leia and Rey. I think that Leia will reveal to Kylo, her connection to Rey, and this will be when he realizes that he has a chance of redemption through Rey. What is the exact nature of the Leia/Rey relationship? We already know that Rey has a vague connection to the millennial falcon, so perhaps she is related to Han and Leia is some way. This could be an exciting reveal, but I propose an even more mind-blowing realization. Maybe, Rey is Leia’s clone that was hidden on Jakku after Snoke found out about her possible connection to the force.
Okay, maybe I have gone too far now, but I really do think that there is a legitimate connection between Kylo and Rey via Leia and this will bind them together in a new order of force wielders. In fact, Star Wars: A New Order has a nice ring to it for episode IX. But truly, only time will tell, and until then fellow theorists, I encourage you to embrace your crazy fan ideas, and keep theorizing.
October is well underway and with it the ritualistic watching of horror films both old and new. A new horror film has made an appearance on Netflix and it is fantastically gory, hilarious and a hell of a lot of fun. The best way to describe The Babysitter is that it is the horror equivalent to Home Alone. In fact, it is so similar, that I believe the two movies are not only in the same universe, but the main characters are related.
In the beginning of The Babysitter, we see that our main character, Cole, still needs a babysitter at the age of 12… a very mature 12. While this doesn’t seem like a big deal on the surface, the movie does make it appear to be unusual and that Cole is too old for said babysitter. Cole’s father even asks him at one point what his friends think about him still having a babysitter and Cole promptly responds by saying his friends make fun of him until they see what the babysitter looks like. So why are the parents more protective over Cole than the other parents in the community?
I believe that the reason the parents are so “overprotective” is because the mother’s family had gone through an ordeal involving a child left alone to defend against two home invaders.
I am talking, of course, about the McCallister family. This may seem like a purely thematic concept, but is there any evidence? There may not be anything definitive, but there are two points worth considering.
Both Kate McCallister (Kevin’s mother) and Cole’s mother (name unknown) are both married redheads who live in large, expensive houses. In Home Alone, we know that the McCallister family resides in an inexplicably large house, but what if Cole’s mother also resided in a large house because she comes from a well-off family. I posit that Cole’s mother is really Megan McCallister, the eldest sister of the Kevin McCallister and daughter of Kate McCallister.
Megan McCallister, Home Alone
Megan understands what could go wrong when a preteen is left home alone in a giant house and therefore hires a babysitter to watch over him.
Cole vs. The babysitter and her cult members
This may seem like flimsy evidence but lets think about this another way. The fight-or-flight response, or the acute stress response, is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival. This response determines whether the subject would flee in the event of a dangerous situation or turn around and confront the danger. This response is thought to be hereditary. During adulthood, we are more likely to overcome our immediate reactions in favor of a more logical choice. In childhood, we are more susceptible to our initial reaction. Both Kevin McCallister (age 8) and Cole (age 12) initial reactions are to stay and fight in response to a home invasion danger. This response could be seen to have been inherited where uncle and nephew share similar Macgyver-esque survival instincts.
In summary, I believe Cole from The Babysitter is actually Kevin McCallister’s nephew. Perhaps we won’t know for sure until we see the return of the wet bandits as they attempt to use baby sitting as a cover for their latest crime spree, but only time will tell, and until next time, keep theorizing!
Fan Theory World 