Deconstructing Sci-FiJust a few mind-blowing and potentially life-changing fan theories to consider while thinking about your favorite science fiction shows, films, franchises, and universes.
Updated June 15, 2019 27.4K votes 4.3K voters 412.4K views
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Vote up the theories you believe are true.
On Feburary 4, 2018, Netflix finally dropped the highly anticipated, wildly enigmatic Cloverfield sequel, The Cloverfield Paradox. Though the release date had been postponed numerous times and the film was stripped of its original title, God Particle, fans are buzzing how the third installment is a continuation of the films that came before it. So, what's really going on in the new space-based film? A few Cloverfield fan theories take a guess at how the worlds truly are connected and where that may take us.
The Cloverfield universe has long been a hotbed for fan theories. It's just business as usual for the type of movie franchise that has an insanely detailed backstory built into a viral marketing campaign (the Cloverfield ARG or altered reality game) and not once touched upon in the actual movies. Abrams has also made an art out of hiding Easter eggs that string his films together in the same bizarre, sci-fi universe. Basically, it's a perfect storm for fan theories about Cloverfield.
Fan theories about 10 Cloverfield Lane question our idea of a villain just like the film's tagline, "Monsters come in many forms." Sometimes, these forms are weirder than we could've ever imagined, especially when you realize the film is playing off very real conspiracy theories. We're talking 13,000-year-old alien satellites that might exist in real life and government space conspiracies. These Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane fan theories will get you totally ready to question everything that happens in the Netflix sequel. With the fourth already confirmed, the limits of where the franchise will go remains as wide open as a paradoxical other dimension.
In the first film, Marlena is scratched and bitten by one of the tiny Cloverfield monsters that's running around the subway. She later dies a gruesome death from the monster's venom. This fan theory from Inverse reasons the tiny monsters are actually toxic to humans (i.e. the seeming chemical attack that wiped out thousands in 10 Cloverfield Lane). It's also possible these monsters were more or less hidden underground until the events in the second film.
According to Redditor/u/ImJonJordan, the attack in Cloverfield is what made Howard retreat to his bunker. It wasn't the red light Emmett suggested. This means 10 Cloverfield Lane directly follows Cloverfield, and this is further proved when you look at the franchise's ARG game. Howard is shown to have worked for fictional company Bold Futura, a subsidiary of the Tagruato Corporation. The Tagruato Corporation is what supposedly woke up the original Cloverfield monster in its deep-sea drilling efforts.
Howard also states the aliens "will attack all major population centers first, then send out ground troops to kill the survivors... Like us." It definitely sounds like the situation in New York sent him running.
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The Red Flash Emmett Describes In '10 Cloverfield Lane' Isn't Aliens. It's The Hadron Collider In 'The Cloverfield Paradox'
Even before The Cloverfield Paradox dropped on Netflix, Redditors were buzzing with the idea the film is connected to the previous Cloverfield iterations. One theory by Redditor/u/Cysubtor argues the red flash in Emmett sees in 10 Cloverfield Lane was actually the result of a scientific experiment inthe third film.
Even after the movie's release, this is definitely plausible. In an attempt to create renewable energy, the scientists in The Cloverfield Paradox set off an explosion so large it shoots them into another dimension. This could very well be the flash that Emmett describes in 10 Cloverfield Lane.
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Howard Saw Proof Of Aliens, And That's Why He Was Discharged From The Army
One theory by Redditor/u/ dingding91234 claims Howard knew the aliens were coming, but the Navy didn't believe him. Apparently, Howard spotted evidence of aliens while working in the military, but when he brought the evidence to his superiors they thought he was crazy and discharged him. Upon being discharged, Howard fell into some sort of PTSD paranoia that caused his wife to divorce him and take their daughter, which led to him kidnapping Michelle - a surrogate daughter of sorts - when he thought the world was going to end. He truly just wanted to protect his daughter, but his wife wouldn't let him anywhere near her.
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1,686 VOTES
Emmett Is The Bad Guy In '10 Cloverfield Lane,' Not Howard
Throughout 10 Cloverfield Lane, Howard is painted as an unhinged villain in the unfortunate circumstance of being locked in a bunker at the end of the world. Hey, criminals and psychotic murderers still exist even as the world is ending! Redditor/u/Juke777 believes Howard isn't the bad guy in the sequel. Instead, Emmett is the sneaky antagonist.
The film paints a picture of Michelle slowly figuring out Howard is crazy, but everything Howard says actually turns out to be the truth. The aliens did attack major population centers first. They did send ground troops down to slaughter everyone. Howard even nurses Michelle back to health and is wildly insistent on keeping Emmett and Michelle separated. Why? Because something happened between Emmett and Megan, Howard's daughter (i.e. Emmett did something horrible to her). The theory alleges when Howard's daughter tried to escape, Emmett got injured, which is why he wears a sling. He also doesn't plead his case very well after lying to Michelle about Howard's daughter. When Howard kills Emmett, it's to protect Michelle.
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'Cloverfield' And '10 Cloverfield Lane' Absolutely Exist In The Same Universe
This fan theory runs really, really deep, but the gist of it alleges Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane exist in the same universe. 10 Cloverfield Lane is a true sequel. It all boils down to the idea the Cloverfield monster is one of many baby aliens whose eggs were laid in the ocean by an alien species thousands of years ago. These eggs are being monitored by the species through a mysterious satellite called the Black Night Satellite (which actually is a real-life conspiracy theory).
This is where Cloverfield starts leading up to 10 Cloverfield Lane. The monster in Cloverfield hatched early because it was disturbed when Tagruato discovered the egg and built a station over it to research what was inside. The monster is then killed by the military and the alien species returns to Earth in the sequelto avenge their child's death. This is how the movies are linked, and considering Paradox is set in at least partly in space, we may see a whole lot more from this mysterious satellite.
