Question: Why did Jor-El send the Codex to Earth along with Kal-El? Krypton was being destroyed, everyone on the planet was going to die and Zod and his followers were trapped in the Phantom Zone. There doesn't seem to be any need to send the Codex to Earth as Clark had no knowledge of it and even if he did, he wouldn't be able to use it.
Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more
These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.
Question: How many miles from shore was the oil rig?
Answer: The nearest shoreline would be Louisiana's. It sat about 40 miles southeast from the tip of Louisiana's peninsula (where the Delta National Wildlife Refuge sits). To give it more context, it was also about 100 miles south of Dauphin Island, Alabama, which sits just south of Mobile, AL and the Mobile Bay.
Question: Why did Vision not appear in the film?
Answer: Short version, because he's dead. Bruce only brought back everyone Thanos "snapped", and Vision was killed before that. Now, whether Shuri managed to finish her work before then, somehow "backing him up" or otherwise separating him from the mind stone, we don't know as yet - it may be they somehow revive him in a future film, or the upcoming WandaVision TV series. But for now, he's gone.
Answer: Technically vision wasn't "killed." He wasn't even alive. He's a robot. Maybe they could have used the mind stone they had to try to revive him, but Thanos ripped out a good chunk of his head already. And they needed to put the mind stone back anyway.
Answer: If you noticed Black Panther's sister had just one connection left with the gem, and who said she didn't download a copy of his Consciousness but didn't finish, due to the snap and the end battle.
Question: What did John mean when he told Jack at the bar that Jack's mother was the nightingale and it would have led to Jack? Did Jack kill his own mother? Also why did Jack Shepard, a supposed serial killer, stop killing?
Answer: Florence Nightingale is considered the founder of modern nursing and nurses are often called "nightingales." It has nothing to do with Jack's mother telling on him or "singing like a bird." Whether or not Jack killed his mother is left ambiguous, but it does seem like that's what they are suggesting. In the film we are told Mary Finelli was his first victim. However, they seem to imply that Jack's mother's killing was not associated with the "Nightingale Murders." Had the police connected her murder to the "Nightingale Murders", it night had led them to Jack. So Jack changed his M.O. after killing his mom, which I take as targeting younger nurses. In the film, Jack's dad tells John that Jack got caught up in the Knapp Commission, which was an investigation into police corruption. Jack went to prison, which is why he stopped killing. In the film, it's suggested that perhaps the killer (before they knew it was Jack) was taken off the streets (i.e. sent to prison for a crime not related to the killings) and smartened up once he got out of prison. There's no suggestion that age or lack of testosterone is what stopped Jack from killing after getting out of prison. Of course, it's also possible he did kill again, but due to the gap in killings, those murders aren't related to the "Nightingale Murders." But all that is speculation since they don't really reveal any of that information and it's not central to the plot.
Answer: I can answer part of your question. Most serial killers are under the age of 50. Testosterone levels drop after that age, and it is thought that this may reduce a psychopath's urge to kill. The nightingale reference may be the same as the slang term, "to sing like a bird," which means someone gives up information easily. Jack's mother may have provided info about her son, either knowingly or unknowingly.
Answer: Or maybe Jack's mother abused him as a child, and that's why he hated her and killed her, and then became a psycho serial killer. He continued to kill other nurses because his mother was a nurse.
Question: After Miguel said "Watch what I do to Robby in the finals" why didn't Sam warn Robby and ask him not to fight Miguel and then go home?
Answer: She didn't want to interrupt the match.
I meant while Robby was in the other room with Daniel.
Miguel didn't imply he was gonna fight illegally to beat him and he never did, the only illegal thing he did was pull on his arm. I don't believe Sam got that implication from Miguel that he was going to use illegal moves to beat Robby.
Question: Something that has always bothered me about this movie - Howard Stark discovered a new element when Tony was a child, but did not have the technology to create it. He hid the plans for it in the Expo. I'm fine with that. However, is it just me, or does it seem like an extreme coincidence that the element his father found is the exact element that can replace the Palladium Tony is already using and that is making him sick? It also seems as though Howard knew he wouldn't be around to make it, even though it is only 20 years in the future. Is there implied to be some time travel having happened here, in which Howard Stark learned that at some point, Tony would need an upgraded form of Palladium and that he would not be around long enough to make it?
Answer: While convenient for the plot, there is no indication Howard Stark has knowledge of the future from time travel, although he was a smart enough man to know technology would advance enough for the element to be synthesized and he knew his son was smart enough to understand what needed to be done to create and use the new element. Howard Stark's Arc Reactor wasn't fully clean running and Howard knew with the new element, the Arc Reactor would be as close as possible to sustaining clean energy similar to the Tesseract. I can not say for certain, but I believe Howard's reactor ran on Palladium as well, so he was aware of the dangers it presented, he was not aware Tony would build a mini-arc reactor to put in his chest. Howard put the blueprint in the 1974 expo with instructions for S.H.I.E.L.D. to give to Tony when ready. However, it should also be noted that Stark Industries shifted from trying to provide sustainable energy to weapons manufacturing which was part of the reason Tony never discovered his father's work earlier.
Answer: There's no clear answer to these questions. Perhaps Howard had some theoretical ideas of where Arc Reactor technology would have shortcomings. Also Howard possibly expected Tony would follow his father's thinking, despite their clashes. Probably the filmmakers didn't come up with more detail than that and it's just a plot contrivance to keep the story moving and give us a sense of connection without worrying too much about the details.
Question: How was the plane's explosion able to shatter the terminal windows from that distance?
Answer: It would depend on how powerful the explosion and the resulting shock wave was, though it appears to be a bit of stretch, plot wise.
Question: Why does Nagini stand with Newt, Tina, Theseus, Jacob and aurors at the bridge of Hogwarts? I don't understand why she joins them without Credence who was her only friend at that time?
Answer: She would stand with them to oppose Grindelwald and possibly hopes that Creedence can somehow be saved.
Question: At the beginning, why did Grindelwald let Spielman live by dropping a wand off the carriage and letting Spielman grasp that wand?
Answer: From a story standpoint, Spielman is the only person who could've identified the blood pact as belonging to Grindelwald. Since he appears alongside Newt and the others at the end of the film, I think we're supposed to believe he was the one who identified it after the Niffler stole it from Grindelwald - meaning him surviving the escape sequence was written in so he could do that. From a character standpoint, Grindelwald likely wanted there to be a public account of how he'd escaped custody, so that people would be more in awe of his power than if no-one had lived to tell the tale.
Question: Newt and Tina visit the records room located at the French Ministry of Magic. As soon as they meet with Leta who came to see her family tree, the worker at the records room suddenly walks over to them with Matagots and attempts to attack them, including Leta. Why?
Question: Why did Grindelwald let his acolytes steal the family tree of Leta Lestrange and place it at Pere Lachaise? What's the point? If he wanted Credence or Leta to read it, he could have simply given it to them, right?
Question: How did the church catch on fire? I know that in the scene before, Johnny drops a cigarette but he and Pony were also there the entire night. There is no way the blaze would have started once they left all them hours later. Also, what purpose did the children have being there? Why would they take a school bus to an old run down church? I get if they were going to just look but the adults let the children inside even though it was falling apart.
Answer: We don't know when the fire started, or even that it was Pony and Johnny who were responsible. But they knew that their cigarettes were the most likely explanation and so saw rescuing the kids as their responsibility. I recall the school being near the church for a picnic or something - the kids were explicitly told to stay away from the actual building. They were disobeying their teacher's orders by venturing inside.
Answer: In the novel, it's stated that the children were there for a school picnic, and that there was a possibility of them dropping a lit cigarette (which could have happened another time off screen in the movie).
Question: Three questions: One, why does the Trident glow when Morgana is holding it? It never glows when Triton holds it, unless he's using it; Two, aren't Cloak and Dagger Stingrays? I'm asking because not only were they holding onto Eric's ankles but also, Sebastian was holding them after Eric was free. Wouldn't he be stung or something?; Three, why would Morgana make a "palace" out of ice? Could her tentacles hold on? I just think she would be slipping a lot.
Answer: 1.) It could be that the power-hungry Morgana is constantly keeping the trident in ready-to-fire mode, whereas Triton only summons its power when he needs it for something. 3.) She created a fortress out of ice because the only terrain around her was made of ice, and she wanted a structure she could use to fire down at the opposing forces while leaving them defenseless and unable to reach her. She didn't slip and fall because she arranged a tall platform in the center for her to stand on.
Question: Why does the Captain not like Max? After he tells the children that he'll be bringing the Baroness back with him from Vienna to visit, he says Max will be coming too, and he rolls his eyes when he says that.
Answer: This is proved to be true as Georg loses his temper with him several times about his attitude to the Nazis and about his children singing in public.
Answer: Not to mention that he seems to be a spendthrift and a moocher off his rich friends.
Question: How did Thanos get to the present timeline? Wasn't Nebula left with just one dose of pym particles, which she used to get back?
Answer: It shows Nebula presenting the vial of Pym particles to Thanos, it's probable that he (or someone like Maw) was able to reverse engineer the particles so that they had their own supply to use.
Answer: 2014 Nebula would have needed the vial to power her future self's suit to get to 2023 so she could impersonate her. But Thanos would have had to re-create enough of the particles so that the time tunnel could lock onto his ship and pull it through.
Answer: She used the excess Pym particles that Tony and Cap brought back.
Is that your own personal interpretation of it? They don't show it in the movie, unless I am mistaken. And it should be Thanos to use the Pym particles to jump into the Quantum dimension, how does she having the particles in the present affect it?
Her robotic fingers seem to be red as they go into the machine, implying they're making use of the Pym particles. And they had Nebula's "GPS" unit they all wore on their hands - given Thanos' technology they could presumably have copied or adapted it in some way to work with the ship, positioning it in time and space if nothing else.
Yes that's my interpretation. The machine works differently than the suits. She did a lot of modification to it as well before activating it. She somehow managed to get an entire ship transported to the future in a matter of minutes. The only logical conclusion is that she used Pym particles to power the machine and then pull the ship through.
No. Thanos on his end, would need those particles to get small and enter the Quantum Realm. Like the others.
Answer: The directors have addressed this and confirmed that Thanos gave the Pym particles to Ebony Maw (a brilliant scientist) who then reverse engineered them and created more.
Answer: He could have gotten the Pym particles from Pym himself. Likely by force. He has Nebula's memory and saw their whole plan. But, the official answer that came out was Maw reversed engineered them.
Question: Spoiler! Time seems to be defined as somewhat linear, with alternate realities branching off rather than changing the past of any given timeline. But if that's the case, how can Steve go back in time and stay, which should branch off a new reality with him in it, but then "catch up" with "our" reality? Seems like if he stayed in the past he'll have made plenty of changes.
Answer: The Russo brothers have elaborated somewhat: "the old Cap at the end of the movie, he lived his married life in a different universe from the main one. He had to make another jump back to the main universe at the end to give the shield to Sam." They didn't explain his jump back, which leaves the door open for interdimensional travel. They certainly implied there's a bit more to the story which might get revealed in time. But thus far we know there's an alternate timeline where 2019 Cap was running around helping people (again, per Russo interviews), not interfering with "our" timeline.
Answer: He stayed behind but didn't reveal himself or change anything whilst there. That way the future isn't altered and stays "the same." This does mean that the timeline we have been following is the timeline where Cap stayed behind and there were basically 2 Steve Rogers at all times. That can theoretically work in a linear timeline idea.
True, I think that does mostly line up. Peggy told him she got married to someone he rescued, but that could easily have been a cover story so as not to tip him off about what happens too early.
He originally had the tools to go back return the stones and then return back to his timeline. Instead of returning back right away when the job was done he just hung around and lived his life. Then as an old man used the particle to return back to his original timeline effectively leaving the different timeline he had just been living in for the last however many years. He could always return back to the the original timeline at any point. He just decided to wait.
Yeah see I don't agre to this because if he had used the particles again to go back to the future after living his life in the past he would have ended up on the platform wouldn't he? I say he just grew old and waited for that moment of his younger self going to back to sit down on that bench.
That's not possible. (a) He was in the ice for 60 years. How would he know what not to do? (b) There's nothing he could do that wouldn't change the timeline. Anything he did means someone else didn't do it from the previous timeline. A house he rented, food he ate, places he went. Even whatever fake name he uses alters history as it wasn't there before.
The point is all those things did exist, but they didn't mess with the events that occurred in the movies. So not a different timeline than the one we have been following, but the same. This can only be done if the second Cap stays out of history. I'm not a fan of the butterfly effect, it doesn't have any basis, that's why I always explain timelines in this way. An extra spoon in the dishwasher or an extra tank of gasoline doesn't change the timeline so much that it can't be the one we were following anymore. So yes, he changed the timeline, but that's the timeline we have been following.
Answer: Since Cap was frozen for 70 years, he could potentially live out his life back in that time without risking interfering with his future self's actions which would allow him to arrive back to the same point where he left. It's not too dissimilar from the first two "Back to the Future" films where Marty arrives back in 1985 from 1955. As long as Marty takes no actions to prevent himself from going back in time in that moment, then he can arrive back to the same point he left without causing a major disruption in the space-time continuum. Consequently though, since Cap married Peggy when he went back, this would effectively erase the marriage she revealed having had in "The Winter Soldier," which could cause minor differences in the timeline.
This is the point though - it's made clear that they can't change the past, just branch off a new timeline. And given we know she got married in "our" timeline, him going back created a new one, one where she married him instead. And that's all well and good, but that leaves him stranded in timeline "B", with no way to jump back to "A." That said of course there's no real reason this couldn't be hand-waved away as using Dr. Strange or other tech to cross dimensions somehow, it's just mildly annoying they didn't clarify it. :-).
Well the way they did it makes it complicated I think. The Pym particles made a certain type of time travel possible I think, a different kind than the time gem for example can do. It's irreversible, but not linear. The linear timeline is what the ancient one explained about the gems. They had to be put back in their place in time in order for the fabric of the universe to stay in tact. Only that had to be restored, but not what Cap did, or even creating alternate timelines in general (which did happen with Loki disappearing).
I feel though that since two Caps were existing in the same timeline, one of which was frozen for several decades, then the Cap that went back to be with Peggy can still end up in the same spot as long as he doesn't interfere with himself or his fellow Avengers in their "future" missions. He might cause a slightly different timeline to happen, but as long as he lets his other self play out the events as they originally unfolded, it allows that other self to be in the same position to travel back to return the Infinity Stones and then be with Peggy, rendering any branching timeline to be inconsequential because he is putting himself in a time loop. Just like Marty in "Back to the Future." Marty's actions in the past create a slightly new timeline, but he is still traveling back to 1955 at the exact same point in this slightly different 1985.
Can't compare it to Back to the Future, there was always 1 Marty in Back to the Future since he goes back to a time before he was born. The changes to the timeline in Back to the Future should have butterflied a lot away. Not sure what you mean with "still end up in the same spot" if there are 2 Caps. The Cap that went back to be with Peggy didn't have to "end up in the same spot", just stay out of history until his past self goes back. Like you say, it's a loop for him.
By "end up in the same spot," I mean the Cap that coexists with the Cap that goes back in time is allowed to play out the events from "The Avengers," "The Winter Soldier," "Civil War," etc. without his alternate self interfering in matters, thus he is able to reach the same point in time where he goes back to return the Infinity Stones and then be with Peggy, which is what creates/continues his loop.
He wouldn't be stranded in "B" if he still had his TimeGPS device (which I imagine he would've held onto). That could have allowed him to make the jump back to the "A" timeline. That device is what links/keeps the time traveler tethered/able to return to their original timeline and not get stuck. Either he used it to make the jump back as he normally would have, or he could've employed some of the great minds of the alternate "B" timeline he was living in (i.e. Hank Pym, Howard Stark (if he prevented his assassination in the "B" timeline), Tony Stark, etc...) to use the GPS's 'tether' as a way to get back to "A"
Exactly. What people seem to miss is that throughout the movie, the time travelers are creating alternate timelines, but always return to their original one. That's the way time travel works in the MCU.
That's a good point - if they go to the battle of New York and make any change at all, that's a new timeline which they're technically in, but they can still return to their original one without any problem. That new one then carries on without them.
Answer: What's interesting is that during Civil War when Peggy dies and people are carrying her coffin, there is a white haired man of Steve's build carrying one side, but it never shows his face. I believe this is a little Easter egg to show he was there all along.
Answer: Remember Cap took three vials of Pym particles. One for himself and Tony and another for this reason.
Answer: Theory 1: The MCU as we know it is a product of Captain America going back in time and returning the stones. Theory 2: the older Captain America is from another timeline. That's how he got a new shield.
Question: How did Tony know where to find the Tesseract?
Answer: Both Tony and Steve knew that Howard Stark recovered the Tesseract in 1945. SHIELD were then conducting research on it. They knew it was likely stored in the secret shield facility in New Jersey. They weren't 100% certain, but it was their best chance of locating it and at the very least they could obtain additional Pym particles to try another time if necessary.
Question: Why did Daniel think Mr. Miyagi was making fun of him with the sweeping? He taught him how to block by waxing cars so shouldn't Daniel have figured there was something with moving the broom to teach him how to do a front sweep?
Answer: Daniel was frustrated with Mr. Miyagi because he would not support Daniel entering the tournament. He probably thought that Mr. Miyagi was making fun of him.
Answer: Daniel's an impatient kid who wants everything laid out in a clear, straightforward manner. He may have thought the "wax on-wax off" incident was a one-time ploy and believes from that point on the training will be more conventional. Mr. Miyagi has other ideas about his teaching methods.
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Answer: When Jor-El stole the Codex, Zod and his followers were not yet sent to the Phantom Zone and Krypton had not begun its destruction. Jor-El was opposed to Zod's plan to use the Codex. Once Zod's rebellion against the council had begun, Jor-El stole the main Codex and hid it with Kal-El. While Jor-El knew Krypton would be destroyed, he didn't know when and wanted to prevent Zod from using the Codex as planned. Zod then killed Jor-El, the council regained control and ended the rebellion, and then sent Zod and his followers to the Phantom Zone (not knowing or believing Krypton was going to be destroyed).
Bishop73