Best sci-fi movie character mistakes of all time

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Superman/Doomsday picture

Character mistake: As Lex is studying the recording of when Superman's body vanishes, he says "A 19 second black out at 3:47 AM." But the clock on the video shows it goes from 3:47:05 when the blackout starts, to 3:47:26. The blackout was 21 seconds, not 19. (00:45:55)

Quantom X

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Wall-E picture

Character mistake: Captain McCrea tells the passengers that it's the 700th anniversary of the Axiom's first flight. The Axiom has been in flight for 255,642 days. Actually, 700 years is 255,675 days. That figure includes the additional day in 175 leap years.

Steven Lee

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Suggested correction: Leap years only occur because of the earth's rotation around the sun. As the AXIOM is in space, there is no need to correct for the earth's rotation.

game.iq

First, rotation is the spin of the Earth (which cause day and night). Revolution is the earth orbiting the sun (which causes years). However, this correction is not valid on the premise you're trying to present. Many films set in space still use Earth time, so a day is 24-hours, even though they're in space and there is no sunrise and sunset (although it's stated the Axiom operates on a 25-hour day). So they would use Earth's year, which takes 365.256 days. Since the Axiom isn't orbiting the Sun, it wouldn't experience a year, so they're using something else. The fact that they're slightly off suggests it's a writing mistake and there's no evidence they use an arbitrary 365.203 day year.

Bishop73

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Inception picture

Character mistake: In the final scene Cobb's children class him "daddy!" but Cobb's son also calls him "Leo!"

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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen picture

Character mistake: In the original Transformers, the final battle takes place in a fictional city known as Mission City, which according to Lennox is 22 miles away from the Hoover Dam, putting it close to Las Vegas. However, when Sam is in his dorm room, it's stated that the battle was in LA.

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Spaceballs picture

Character mistake: During the scene in the diner, there is a sign that reads "EMPLOYEE'S ONLY." There shouldn't be an apostrophe.

Low Cow

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Little Shop of Horrors picture

Character mistake: Both in the movie (and stage) versions, Mushnik makes a verbal mistake. Seymour shows Mushnik his new plant (Audrey II) for the very first time, but seconds later when the plant suddenly droops, Mushnik asks Seymour, "Why is it always wilting like that?" Always? He's just seen the plant! The line should be, "Why is it wilting like that?" Some smart stage directors of the play version have wised up and changed the line.

CCARNI

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Men in Black 3 picture

Character mistake: Griffin states about the New York Mets saying "They were in last place every single season until they won it all". That is not true. They came last ever since they started in 1962 to 1967. In 1968, the year earlier, The New York Mets came second to last where as The Houston Astros came last. (01:07:30)

Casual Person

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Journey 2: The Mysterious Island picture

Character mistake: When Sean and Hank are trying to get to the Nautilus, they swim right through a big school of jellyfish. Seems really unlikely that Sean, raised by a scientist and Hank, an ex Navy man would do this, considering how many species of jellyfish can give a sting ranging from agonizing to deadly. And, while they have a limited oxygen supply in this scene, and time is a factor, the scene shows there is room to swim under them. They actually pause in the middle of the school to grin at each other. There would have been sufficient time and oxygen to avoid the school.

Grumpy Scot

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Plan 9 From Outer Space picture

Character mistake: The pilot says to his wife that the flying saucer was cigar-shaped. The actual shape was more like two dishes attached together. (00:04:45 - 00:12:20)

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G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra picture

Character mistake: Scarlett says that since McCullen is from Scotland, he speaks Celtic. Celtic is a group of languages, not a language unto itself (something a genius like Scarlett would most likely know); it would be like saying someone speaks Semitic or Germanic. McCullen would probably speak Scots or Scottish Gaelic, the official languages used in Scotland.

Jedd Jong

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Suggested correction: Scarlett certainly took this into account when she suggested the words for Ripcord to speak. Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language so Scarlett was still correct, she was just simplifying for expediency.

Phixius

No she wasn't correct. There is no such language as "celtic."

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Avengers: Endgame picture

Character mistake: When they infiltrate the military facility, Steve and Tony are trying to blend in. Steve wears his hat the entire time he's indoors. He's a soldier, taking his hat off when he comes through the door would be second nature to him. Not removing it would make him stand out as someone who doesn't belong - Steve knows better than that.

ssgemt

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Captain America: The First Avenger picture

Character mistake: Dr. Erskine says he lives in Queens at 73rd Street and Utopia Parkway. Actually, 73rd Street is well to the west of Utopia Parkway (both run north-south). Erskine must have meant 73rd Avenue, which does cross Utopia Parkway.

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Quatermass and the Pit picture

Character mistake: Colonel Breen theorises to Quatermass that the spaceship is an experimental German V-weapon from the second world war: However according to the story, the underground station (Hobbs End) was dug in 1927: The V-weapons first landed in London in 1944, so how was it possible for a V-weapon to land where it did underground, impacted soild in clay right next to a deep level underground railway station seventeen years later without anyone noticing at the time? Breen should realise that his theory makes no sense.

Will

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Zack Snyder's Justice League picture

Character mistake: Diana categorizes without a doubt Aquaman as "a mixed blood" Atlantean because Bruce tells her that he could breathe air. However Steppenwolf interrogated one of the guards from Atlantis on the ground, and he could breathe just fine.

Sammo

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Wild Wild West picture

Character mistake: When Gordon describes Leonardo Da Vinci's idea for a flying machine, he mentions Da Vinci designed it in 1540. However, designs for Da Vinci's flying machines were dated as early as 1488 and Leonardo Da Vinci died in 1519.

Darius Angel

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Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 picture

Character mistake: When Barb introduces herself to Flint, Steve calls her a monkey, and she corrects him saying that she's an "Orangutang", pronouncing the G at the end. But the correct word is Orangutan, with no G sound. Barb would surely know this, as a genius ape.

immortal eskimo

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Outbreak picture

Character mistake: Salt states that the range of their Hughes OH-6A helicopter is 400 miles. The actual range of this model is 267 miles. (Source: FAS.ORG).

wizard_of_gore

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: The FAS site lists 4 different ranges, but according to Boeing's own website, the range was 413 miles.

Bishop73

Suggested correction: The range of the OA-6 is 380 statute miles.

More Outbreak character mistakes
See You Yesterday picture

Character mistake: Right at the beginning of the movie, introductory technobabble. "In this canister, there's a solution of protons. The canister is attached to a rotor circuit that generates the protons to the speed of light." I believe the science genius and creator of time travel mixed up the words "generate" and "accelerate" here. (00:00:50)

Sammo

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The First Purge picture

Character mistake: During an intermission following Dmitri's revenge after the attempted hit on him, the Chief of staff discusses the data with Dr. Updale. There's a pie chart in the screen in the background, and the segments are; 5%, 25%, 16%, 14% and 50%, which add to...110%. It's not a pie chart, it's a pie and a slice. (00:50:15)

Sammo

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