9 Outrageous Movie Theories You Didn’t See Coming

There are a lot of fan theories out there that explain questionable character motivations or gaping plot holes in movies. While some theories are too outlandish to believe, others seem fairly reasonable—at least if you use your imagination. We’ve shared some outrageous movie theories in the past (and then a few more). Here are nine more of them.

1. THE THEORY: DOROTHY IS THE WICKED WITCH OF THE EAST

In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy wakes up from a dream, but is convinced Oz is a real place. She explains how her aunt’s farmhands were also there, but in the form of The Scarecrow, The Tin Man, and The Cowardly Lion. There are alternative versions of Professor Marvel and Miss Gulch in Oz, too—as The Wizard of Oz and The Wicked Witch of the West, respectively. There is, however, no alternative version of Dorothy; but there’s a fan theory that suggests she’s The Wicked Witch of the East.

When Dorothy arrives in Oz, her house lands on top of the Wicked Witch of the East and crushes her under its weight, so we never see her face. We only see her Ruby Slippers, which fit perfectly on Dorothy’s feet. Dorothy accidently kills the Wicked Witch of the East and takes her place in Oz.

2. THE THEORY: JAR JAR BINKS IS A SITH LORD

Jar Jar Binks is probably the most hated character in the entire Star Wars universe. It seems that George Lucas had bigger plans for the Gungan: at one time, the filmmaker said that Jar Jar was a key to the Star Wars story, yet his appearances in the prequel trilogy were dramatically reduced after The Phantom Menace, due to fan backlash. Some fans believe that Lucas’ plan was to turn Jar Jar into an evil Sith Lord.

At the end of The Phantom Menace, Jar Jar seems to be stumbling around, as he inadvertently takes out a number of droid troopers. Though most viewers attributed it to dumb luck, if you look closely, his fighting style resembles a style of martial arts known as “drunken master.”

Jar Jar also seems to be secretly using the Jedi mind trick to influence the characters around him during key story points throughout the prequel trilogy. Jar Jar is even the lead senator who calls for emergency and absolute power to be transferred to Emperor Palpatine in Attack of the Clones, which leads to the Dark Lord’s rise and ultimate control of the Galactic Republic.

3. THE THEORY: LOKI LOST TO THE AVENGERS ON PURPOSE

Loki is much smarter than anyone in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The god of mischief has repeatedly established that he’s a master manipulator. There’s a fan theory that suggests that Loki lost to The Avengers on purpose, as part of his bigger plan to rule Asgard and bring the blue Mind Stone to Thanos.

At the end of Thor, Loki falls into deep space after battling his brother on Bifröst Bridge. We soon find out that he made a deal with Thanos to get the Tesseract and rule Earth—but Loki wants to rule Asgard. Once the Avengers “defeat” him, he’s returned to Asgard with the Tesseract. Loki later makes a play for the throne and by the end of Thor: The Dark World, he is the ruler of the realm after he disguises himself as his father, Odin.

As for Thanos: the Infinity Gauntlet is on Asgard, in Odin’s throne room, and now so is one of the Infinity Stones. All thanks to “losing” to the Avengers.

4. THE THEORY: THE TERMINATOR’S SKYNET KEEPS HUMANS ALIVE TO GIVE ITSELF A PURPOSE

In the Terminator film series, Skynet is an all-powerful supercomputer that sets off every nuclear bomb in the world to kill off a majority of humanity in an event known as “Judgment Day.” However, a small handful of humans survive to fight against Skynet to regain control of the planet. To stop the human resistance, Skynet sends a Terminator back in time to kill the mother of their future leader—only to inadvertently create its human resistance leader, John Connor, when Sarah Connor gets pregnant from her time traveling protector Kyle Reese in a time paradox.

Over the course of the series, Skynet and the many Terminators they send back in time fail again and again because, as one theory suggests, the all-powerful supercomputer allows it to happen. Skynet knows if it completely wipes out humanity then it would have no purpose to exist. Skynet needs the humans to fight back, so it can stay alive and be of use.

5. THE THEORY: SID SAVES ALL THE TOYS IN TOY STORY

Sid from the original Toy Story is often seen as the villain, when he’s actually just a little boy with an active imagination. At the end of Toy Story, Woody comes alive in front of Sid to show him that toys were meant to be played with nicely, which scares the little boy. We don’t see Sid again until the end of Toy Story 3, where he’s all grown up and working as a garbage collector. While that might not be seen as a glamorous job, a theory suggests that Sid chose that profession in order to save discarded and forgotten toys.

As Reddit user londongarbageman states, "Now, let's imagine you're a guy who just learned that inanimate objects are alive. What job would you get?" he asked. "Sid isn't f*cked up and working a crappy job. He's trying to save them. He is trying to save the toys. He picked the one kind of job where you can rescue those things. And Sid is uniquely equipped to fix those toys that he finds that are broken. He's pretty damn creative."

6. THE THEORY: AQUAMAN IS IN MAN OF STEEL

In Man of Steel, Clark Kent saves a group of oil workers on a fiery oil rig in the middle of the ocean. Once he gets all the men to safety, the rig explodes and Clark Kent is submerged underwater. There are many movie theorists who believe that Aquaman saved Kent’s life by sending a herd of humpback whales to get him to safety on land.

7. THE THEORY: NEO IS NOT "THE ONE" IN THE MATRIX

As one fan theory goes, Neo is not “The One” in The Matrix film trilogy, but rather it’s Agent Smith. Here’s why: The Oracle describes “The One” as a man born inside the Matrix, while in the sequel, the Architect states that their job is to return to the Source and reload the Matrix. Neo was born an incubator in the real world, while Agent Smith was actually born in the Matrix.

At the end of The Matrix trilogy, Neo and Agent Smith fuse together, while Neo is still plugged in from the Source in the real world. However, Agent Smith is actually the one who resets the Matrix, while Neo brings him the Source.

8. THE THEORY: JURASSIC WORLD'S OWEN GRADY IS THE YOUNG VOLUNTEER FROM JURASSIC PARK

During the dinosaur dig in Jurassic Park, when Dr. Alan Grant describes how the freshly unearthed dinosaur might be more closely related to a bird than a reptile or lizard, a young boy comments that a Velociraptor “doesn’t look very scary” and looks “more like a six-foot turkey.” Grant explains to the boy that Velociraptors are very dangerous and tells him to “show a little respect.” At the end of the scene, the boy is visibly shaken.

A fan theory posits that young boy grew up to be Raptor trainer Owen Grady, Chris Pratt's character in Jurassic World, which takes place 22 years after the events of the original movie, after Dr. Grant changed his life and view on dinosaurs. In fact, Grady describes his relationship with the Raptors as “a relationship based on respect.”

9. THE THEORY: JAKE SULLY WAS BRAINWASHED IN AVATAR

In Avatar, Jake Sully is a former Marine who volunteers for an experiment to become a member of the Na’vi to help colonize the planet of Pandora. Throughout the film, he’s a good soldier who follows orders until he falls in love with Na’vi princess Neytiri and later helps her alien race regain control of their home planet.

There’s a fan theory that says that Jake Sully didn’t actually fall in love with Neytiri; rather, he was brainwashed into submission after connecting into Eywa. Sully becomes just like the dragon-like Mountain banshees, a species that hates the Na’vi but are under the submission of their warriors. The Na’vi became the dominant species on Pandora after they learned how to manipulate the planet through neural queue contact.

All images via YouTube.