Often times I’ll hear someone describe a “fan theory” that’s super complex and connects all these dots and I’ll think, “you’re just patching over holes the writers and directors screwed up, don’t do their jobs for them.”
But other times, they’re kinda compelling. Like the ones on this Reddit thread:
Let’s delve into some juicy theories, yeah?
1. Shrek
Not sure if this counts but Donkey from Shrek being one of the kids from Pinocchio who turned into a donkey is pretty mind blowing…
– Mattmandu2
2. The Empire Strikes Back
Admiral Ozzel is a rebel spy.
Everything Ozzel does in his brief bits of screen time is to the detriment of the Empire. When the probe Droid finds the rebel shield generator, Ozzel tries to dismiss it as smugglers before Piet speaks out of turn and gets Vader involved. Later, Ozzel orders the fleet out of hyperspace too quickly, giving the rebels plenty of time to activate the aforementioned shield generator that Ozzel knew about.
“Clumsy as he is stupid” or Rebel sympathizer who gave is life to give the Alliance as much time to evacuate their base as possible? I side on the latter.
– JustafanIV
3. The MCU
That Loki was controlled by the tesseract more than he let on.
His eyes glowed multiple times and he shed a tear when Thor tried to talk sense into him.
– ELW98
4. The Jetsons / Flintstones
The Jetsons and the Flintstones are living at the same time in a dystopian future where the ‘haves’ live above the clouds and the ‘have nots’ are stuck on a wasted Earth.
The signs include that Flintstones celebrate things like Christmas and other holidays which doesn’t make sense and The Great Gazoo alien appears in both series.
– lowsodiummonkey
5. James Bond
James Bond’s primary purpose is to be a distraction to keep attention off the spies who actually spy.
Villains and other spies know him, he rarely takes an alias, he makes his presence known early on and keeps messing up operations for the villains, but other spies have already infiltrated their ranks and work while Bond does as much visible damage as possible to keep the others safe.
– BettyVonButtpants
6. The Wizard of Oz
Glinda dropped Dorothy’s house on the Wicked a Witch of the East, not the tornado, and uses her to gain control of Oz.
One of the first things Glinda tells Dorothy is that SHE killed the witch. They praise her so she’ll accept it, and when the Witch of the West comes along, who killed her sister? Dorothy.
Glinda then puts the ruby slippers on Dorothy’s feet but DOES NOT TELL HER THAT SHE CAN USE THEM TO GO HOME. Instead, she sends Dorothy to Oz in possession of objects that a witch would MURDER her for.
Dorothy, being forced into a situation where her only salvation is Oz and her worst enemy is the queen inadvertently exposes the Wizard of Oz as a fraud AND murders the Witch of the West.
Now, who’s left to rule Oz? Glinda f**kin’ witch of the north. She used Dorothy as an expendable pawn to gain control of Oz without having to leave her bubble.
And when Dorothy is done upheaving the two biggest powers in Oz, Glinda sends her home and makes her think it was all a dream
– taz20075
7. Pokemon
Pokedex entries are written by young trainers.
When a professor sends a bunch of ten year olds out into the world to document Pokemon, of course the “research” can’t be expected to be professional in the least. This is how we end up with the creepy legends of ghost pokemon that might have been passed around as playground rumors, or impossible facts like macargo being hotter than the actual sun.
There’s no reason why out of all the Pokemon professors, one of them couldn’t have revised their dex information and correct the tidbit about pidgeot breaking the speed of light or gardevoir creating black holes or blazikens jumping over 30 story buildings. Its likely they leave the kids to their own devices without bothering to fact check, and kids, being kids, are going to exaggerate.
– cold_french_fry
8. The Blair Witch Project
I 100% believe the two men accompanying the woman in the original “Blair Witch Project” planned and successfully executed a plan to murder her while they were deep in the woods.
Too many factors point to good old fashion murder than a supernatural occurrence.
– ThatCoryGuy
9. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka knew what he was doing.
There was no seat for Augustus aboard that boat.
He knew Augustus Gloop would fall in there.
– shronkey69
10. Mad Max
The Mad Max films do not take place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, it’s just that’s what happens when a bunch of Australians get lost in the desert.
– CDClagett
11. Peter Pan
Peter Pan kills any lost boy that grows into adulthood.
Captain Hook and his pirates are all lost boys that have escaped and aim to stop him
– An*lCystFist
12. Toy Story
Andy’s parents are in the middle of a divorce when the first Toy Story is taking place.
– irishamerican
13. Pinky & The Brain
Pinky is the genius.
Even the theme song hints at the theory, “One is a genius, the other’s insane: they’re Pinky and the Brain”.
– elee0228
14. Rick & Morty
Rick is Morty, and evil Morty is just a Morty that knows he’ll become Rick if he doesn’t deviate.
Rick said “I used to wear blue pants” and when he’s drunk he asks for redheads (Morty likes redheads).
Can’t think of other coincidences off the top of my head but I rewatched some of those episodes under that context and it made sense
– Destroyer11id1
15. Popeye
Spinach is just a front.
Popeye is on steroids!
– Dark-Knight179
16. The Office
Kevin Malone, if not actually a genius, is certainly much smarter than he lets on.
Clearly he’s lazy, and gluttonous, and blah-blah-blah, but after the merger with Stamford, and its reveal that Martin had served time, Kevin realizes that he needs to give plausible deniability to any sort of financial maleficence that the accountants have been doing, and flanderizes himself in front of the camera.
Occasionally he slips up and reveals himself to be something a math genius, and has to backtrack, and play it off as some kind of Food-based idiot savant.
Its how he was able to afford ownership of the bar at the end of the series, I’m sure he made a bit just cashing in all those free drinks, but actually enough to buy a bar? I don’t believe it.
– Six_Foot_Dwarf
17. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
The reason each It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode starts with a date and time is because they’re all testifying against each other in court.
– BigDirtii
18. The Road to El Dorado
Miguel and Tulio may not be gods, but the armadillo that follows them around absolutely is.
It’s just helping them out because they saved it from being eaten
– Entias
19. Ratatouille
In Disney’s Ratatouille, the old lady in the beginning of the movie living in the house next to the river is the food critic, Anton Ego’s, mother.
In the flashback scene where he eats the ratatouille you can see similarities of the house from the beginning, her face and I think the bridge.
– Bev-Low
20. Footloose/Tremors
The town from Footloose is the same town from Tremors. The ban on dancing wasn’t a puritanical attempt to control the youth. The town elders were aware of the graboid threat, and banned dancing out of the fear that it would cause rhythmic vibrations waking up the creatures sleeping below the town.
Kevin Bacon’s character in Footloose stayed in the town, growing up to be his character in Tremors, at which point he has to try and contain the danger he inadvertently released.
– CorporateNonperson
21. Courage the Cowardly Dog
The monsters in Courage the Cowardly Dog are regular people but seem monstrous from Courage’s perspective (since he’s cowardly).
Also they live in the middle of nowhere because his owners never take him out so that’s how he views the world.
– DaRoosta321
22. The Matrix
The “real world” in the Matrix movies is just another layer of the Matrix, designed specifically to appeal to people unwilling to conform to the normal Matrix.
Humans in this outer Matrix have confirmation of their belief that something was wrong, and get to indulge in the fantasy of being a heroic freedom fighter against the faceless evil machines, thus choosing to accept this false reality.
The anomaly of the One is that he’s capable of rejecting both realities, which is the reason why he had powers in the real world.
– Mikeavelli
23. Gilmore Girls
That the book Rory writes in the Gilmore Girls revival is the original show – that explains why the characters are so different from the show vs revival miniseries.
She’s looking back at the past with rose colored glasses
– Azhreia
24. King of the Hill
Dale knew about Nancy and John Redcorn, but feigned ignorance.
Both to keep his home life stable, and because he knew Joseph would be raised as his son rather than Redcorn’s.
– Bowserdude
25. Mr. Bean
Mr. Bean is an alien.
That would explain his weird behavior and why he falls out of the sky at the beginning of every episode.
– AlphaNepali
26. The Office (part II)
My own theory that in The Office when Andy proposes to Angela the people playing his parents are different actors because they are literally actors. As in he hired them to pose as his “perfect parents” because his own parents couldn’t be bothered to come.
The people in the season 9 episode Garden Party are his real parents, who clearly are d**ks.
– cant_Im_at_work
27. Back to the Future
Marty McFly develops the inability to back down when called chicken in the second movie and on because in the first film, he creates a timeline where his father has confidence, changing the parenting style of his own background
– DrunkDialtotheDevil
28. PAW Patrol
The PAW Patrol pups are part of a post-AI initiative attempting to train enhanced, but subservient, companion animals to replace the robots that almost destroyed humanity.
Everyone in Adventure Bay/Foggy Bottom/Etc are paid actors who place the pups in coordinated training exercises. Which is why Mayor Humdinger gets away with all his bullsh*t.
Parenthood has melted my brain.
– pontoponyo
29. Star Trek
Captain Picard only speaks French, but thanks to the universal translators, no one would ever know.
– drugsondrugs
30. Murder, She Wrote
Jessica Fletcher killed all those people and framed others for it.
No way that a lady just happens to be involved in a murder every week.
– mrploppers
I can’t pick a favorite!
What fan theory do you love?
Tell us in the comments.