A Cinematic Look at Time Travel
Want a nostalgic glimpse of a bygone era? Have an insurmountable adult adversary? Longing to meditate on the nature of humanity? Look no further than that most convenient of plot devices, time travel! Let’s check out some of the movies that have employed it best.
Back to the Future (1985)
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Looper (2012)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
A scientist shows a friend his newest invention, a time machine. Friend accidentally goes back to 1955 and messes up his parents’ meet cute, putting his very existence in jeopardy.
The accidental time traveler
The genius scientist
vs
The lifelong bully
A time traveler from the future is sent back in time to help two high school slackers pass their history class, so they can go on to found a bodacious future society.
The slacker musical revolutionaries
The helper from the future
vs
The insurmountable obstacle
Killer cyborg is sent back from the future to murder a child, before the child can become the leader of the human resistance in the war against the machines.
The future leader
The badass mom
The helper cyborg from the future
vs
The killer cyborg from the future
The mob of the future sends people back in time to be assassinated. When one of their hitmen fails to kill his target—his future self—he’s forced to go on the run to set things right.
The conflicted hitman
The mysterious telekinetic
vs
The root of their problems
After a colossal defeat, the Avengers conduct a time heist to bring back the 50% of the universe that was turned to dust.
The earth’s mightiest heroes
vs
The destroyer of worlds
“Wait a minute, Doc. Are you telling me that you built a time machine...out of a DeLorean?”
—Marty McFly
Whether created by a current-time genius or a future society, an iconic time machine can make or break a time travel movie.
Some of our characters are on personal journeys of self-discovery. Others have millions of lives hanging in the balance. Some even find themselves contemplating child murder. Let’s take a look at how the stakes measure up.
Filmmakers agree. Time travel is complicated. Don’t overthink it.
“You were standing on your toilet and you were hanging a clock, and you fell and you hit your head on the sink. And that’s when you came up with the idea for the flux capacitor, which is what makes time travel possible.”
“Billy the Kid, you are dealing with the oddity of time travel with the greatest of ease.”
“Who sent you?”
“You did. Thirty-five years from now, you reprogrammed me to be your protector here, in this time.”
“I don’t want to talk about time travel because if we start talking about it then we’re going to be here all day talking about it, making diagrams with straws.”
“If we can do this, you know, go back in time...why don’t we just find baby Thanos, you know, and...”
“Time doesn’t work that way. Changing the past doesn’t change the future.”
“So, Back to the Future’s a bunch of bullshit?”
“This time travel thing we’re gonna try and pull off tomorrow, it’s got me scratching my head about the survivability of it all. Then again that’s the hero gig. Part of the journey is the end.”
—Tony Stark (Iron Man)
Some of our characters cover more time territory than others. The Film's Present
Witty banter and/or badassery are core skills for any time traveler.
“The future’s not set. There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.”
—Sarah Connor
All of our heroes triumph, crushing their foes. So, how did the big bads fare? Some better than others.
Covered in manure
Crushed
Terminated
Cycle broken
Turned to dust
Can you guess what movies these quotes come from?