Interesting Fan Theories From Superhero Movie Franchises

From Redditor u/rafael-a:

The real reason Red Skull got deformed and Captain America didn’t. Bacteria is the answer. In the scene of the transformation of skinny Steve Rogers into big buff Captain America there is a small joke where Erskine injects him penicillin beforehand. The penicillin shot was much more important than it seems, because human body is full of bacteria, and the Super Serum would enhance microbes as well, therefore they should be killed beforehand.

In the movie it is shown that Johan “Red Skull” Schmidt injected the serum by himself, it worked but it also enhanced the bacteria, the grow in such a way that they destroyed the skin of his face (and maybe entire body), and it would have killed him if he wasn’t enhanced as well, so his body is in a constant battle against super microbes and that messed up his face.

From Redditor u/poeir:

In the interrogation scene, the Joker says, "For a minute there, I thought you were Harvey Dent," referencing Batman's actions at Bruce's fundraiser.

This explains a couple of apparent plot holes. First, when the Joker arrived at Bruce's fundraiser for Harvey Dent, the Joker wasn't randomly killing people--he had a plan, and part of what made his plans horrifying was his ability to tell the police exactly who he was going to kill and then kill them. Killing random bystanders doesn't accomplish that. When the Batman (who the Joker thinks is Harvey Dent) jumps out the window to rescue Rachel, the Joker expects them to be the same person, so there's no reason to keep looking for Harvey Dent at the party.

Later, when Harvey Dent is being transported by police, the Joker uses an escalating series of weapons against the convoy, but doesn't use the rocket launcher on the paddywagon containing Harvey Dent. The only weapons he uses are ones that can't penetrate the paddywagon's armor, and he gradually escalates to make the threat to Harvey Dent seem real. He does this to discover if they really are the same person: If the Batman shows up, Harvey Dent isn't Batman. If the Batman doesn't arrive, Harvey Dent is Batman.

The Joker never wanted to kill Batman (he says as much in the interrogation scene, "I don't, I don't want to kill you! What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no, NO! No. You... you... complete me."), he wanted to force Batman to break his "one rule." A dead Batman cannot be corrupted, so as long as Harvey Dent might be Batman, Dent must not be killed.

From Redditor u/jimmy_talent:

In most Batman origin stories the Waynes hand over their money to the mugger but the mugger gets spooked and shoots Thomas and Martha anyway, the point of this is that they are killed by random pointless violent crime. I feel like this is why Batman is usually more interested in justice and order rather than revenge and punishment.

In Dawn of Justice however, Thomas Wayne tries to fight the mugger and that leads to both him and Martha being killed, so in this universe it wasn't just a random pointless thing it was Thomas standing up a criminal and getting killed because of it.

I think this would significantly impact Bruce's moral code, instead of seeing crime as a symptom of chaos and poverty maybe now he sees criminals as scum that need to be punished.

From Redditor u/Elranzer:

tl;dr: Splinter is way too strong and talented to be captured by mere teenage Foot Solders. He let himself get captured by the enemy to gather intelligence.

In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, something about Splinter being captured didn't sit with me right. It was a little too Raphael "damsel in distress" for such a character. Then I thought that he let himself get captured. Consider the order of strength of the characters:

• The four Turtles can easily defeat rooms and rooms of Foot Soldiers, despite being teenagers and new to fighting (though the Foot Soldiers are also troubled teenagers in the film). This is due to being trained by Master Splinter, and their massive, mutant muscles.
• Regardless of the above advantages of the four Turtles, Master Shredder can defeat all of them in 4-vs-1 combat
• And regardless of above, Master Splinter can easily best Master Shredder.
• So are we to believe the weakest link here (the Foot Soldiers) could easily take Master Splinter?

Now follow the timeline of the film:

• When the film begins, both the Turtles and the Foot operate from the shadows, and neither knows of each others' existence.
• When April O'Neil starts doing news stories on the Foot, she is told to be silenced.
• And for good reason... April's stories are the first mention Splinter hears of "the Foot"

Splinter here allows himself to get captured, to confirm his enemy is indeed his old enemy from Japan

Splinter does not say a word to Shredder, who gets up in Splinter's face. Splinter at this point is 99% sure Shredder is Oroku Saki. (Splinter had a hunch that if his enemy was indeed Oroku Saki, that Saki would keep Splinter alive to try to gather information.) Splinter tells Danny that "You wear his symbol upon your brow." (the Kanji for "oni"/"demon" which visually looks similar to the Kanji for "foot")... by this point, Splinter is sure. Shredder is able to best the four Turtles in 4-v-1 combat, though he gets slashed once by Leo.

Shredder then plays Leo's emotions to gain an advantage on Leo. Splinter then throws Shredder's tactic right back at him... Splinter, now speaking to Shredder for the first time, has been saving this piece of information as a weapon... that he is Hamato Yoshi's pet rat. Splinter opens decades-old wounds, and hurts Shredder's ego, and reviving the kind of old grudges the Japanese are famous for.

Shredder is defeated by Splinter outsmarting Shredder, and also letting Shredder's dishonor cause his own demise... simply catching Shredder's backstabbing knife mid-air causes Splinter to let go of Shredder. (Of course, Shredder might not be dead, and the corrupt NYC police are not gonna just arrest him. And if they do, Shredder might have enough bribe money to be released. What's there to do? I guess it was a good thing true vigilante Casey Jones was there to "correct the problem"... "OOPS!")

From Redditor u/Ttran778:

TL;DR-- Bruce Wayne may be genetically hardwired to sleep less, giving him more time to do other stuff, like being the Batman.

I'm a huge Batman fan, always have been since I was a kid. I always wondered how he was able to successfully operate one of the largest and monetarily strongest companies in the (his) world. He's also a pinnacle human being, with a physique that rivals the classic Roman statues and abilities that are borderline superhuman. He's trained in almost every single martial art. He's had the time to invent and build nearly his entire armory. He's a founding member of the Justice League. He is easily hands down one of the greatest and most capable people in his universe, and often times only bested by people with superhuman or supernatural powers......but how is he able to make the time for all of that?

After doing some reading, it dawned on me. Bruce Wayne may actually have a genetic abnormality that allows him to operate on less sleep than the average human being. Specifically, in ADRB-1. Recent testing in both humans and rats demonstrated findings where subjects who were known to sleep and feel fully rested in as little as FOUR HOURS.

That's why Bruce Wayne can operate a huge conglomerate during the day, and why Batman can protect Gotham at night.

From Redditor u/LemoLuke:

tldr:  Thanos 'adopted' Gamora specifically as a sacrifice for the Soul Stone, but when he grew too attached to her, he adopted Nebula to be sacrificed by Gamora instead.

Thanos knew the price that had to be paid for the Soul Stone, which is why he 'adopted' Gamora, knowing that he had no family or loved ones of his own. However, in raising her, he found himself genuinely coming to love her and could not bring himself to harm her, so instead, he adopted Nebula and planed for the pair to seek out the Soul Stone together with the intention of Gamora sacrificing her sister.

This is why he constantly pit the two against each other in combat, to be absolutely certain that Gamora would always be the victor. Every time that Nebula lost, he would replace a part of her body with cybernetics, not to make her stronger, but actually the opposite, making sure she would always be at a handicap against her sister, as well as fostering a deep resentment in Nebula, ensuring she would be willing to fight to the death even if Gamora tried to refuse. This is also why Nebula seemed to know the price of the Soul Stone but not Gamora. In Infinity War Nebula comments that Thanos returned from Vormir with the Stone and not Gamora and instantly knew her sister was dead, and in Endgame, when Clint and Natasha set off for Vormir, she states that she hopes the pair do not fall out on the way.

I also suspect that Thanos probably had a similar plan in place for Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive if Nebula and Gamora failed.