The Coolest Fan Theories About Upcoming Movies

For anyone paying attention to the DC Extended Universe, it's not exactly shocking news that some stars aren't too keen on sticking around—and Ben Affleck is reportedly among them. Rumored to be in discussions with his contractual headmasters at Warner Bros. about hanging up the cowl and shedding the batsuit for good, Mr. Affleck's not-so-secret disappointment with the current state of the DCEU begs the question: how can the studio let him go without causing massive continuity errors across their interconnected movies?

One fan has quite the theory. Simply put, because Wonder Woman ages much slower than normal humans and she's Warner Bros.' first breakout cinematic success, the alleged plan is to have her set the pace of a new timeline post-phase one DCEU. This means the next Batman solo film will take place 20 years in the future and be a Batman Beyond story, revolving around the end of the Batman and subsequently the end of Ben Affleck. From there, Warners can start the DCEU's second phase with Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill's Superman and Jason Momoa's Aquaman; any other characters and external factors can be reset, giving the executives a window with which to soft-reboot a DCEU no longer marred by the memories of Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad.

A new Predator movie is on its way—and it's neither a sequel or remake, whatever that means. It's being loosely described as a reboot that maintains the other movies' continuity, which simultaneously opens creative doors for Shane Black and his team while also closing others. Chief among those new possibilities: a theoretical third Aliens vs. Predator movie.

With actors Keegan Michael-Key and Olivia Munn letting slip that the AvP movies are included among the canon in Black's eyes, this means 20th Century Fox could easily segue into AvP 3. And, given that this would once again marry the Alien and Predator franchises into a single canon, the effects of such a crossover might even bleed over into a truly shared universe wherein future Prometheus sequels feature Predator influences, and vice versa. The potential possibilities are endless—we could even get a AvP movie that truly takes advantage of either franchise's sci-fi/horror strengths.

Ah, the age-old question of who would win a battle between Godzilla and King Kong. The colossal lizard with atomic bomb-flavored bad breath, or the comparatively puny monkey with a weakness for blondes? Everyone's got their own personal preference, but the facts generally favor the skyscraper-sized lizard. It's how it is, people: a giant Komodo dragon with radioactive fire-breath is just statistically more likely to kill an unarmed gorilla than vice versa.

But that hasn't stopped the fan theories. Kong lovers the world 'round refuse to accept the idea that the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong won't end in their favor, so they've concocted some theories as to how Kong could come out on top. Chief among them is the primate's intelligence, which has routinely enabled him to utilize environmental weaponry and external advantages in pursuit of victory against an opponent. That, coupled with the prediction that in this upcoming movie he might grow to a size comparable to Godzilla, means that both brains and brawn might actually be in Kong's favor by the time the two kaiju titans go head to head.

Deadpool played it pretty close to the vest when deciding just how hard to align itself with Fox's official X-Men continuity, meaning the lines are still pretty blurry as to whether Deadpool 2 will play it canon or go rogue. There's one fan theory that imagines a scenario in which the Deadpool team can have their cake and eat it too: stay in line with the current continuity, but use time-travel shenanigans to have any potential universe complications exclusively affect the nonexistent, completely alterable future.

According to this theory, the Cable in Deadpool 2 (played by Josh Brolin) might very well be one of the mutant children that escaped from Transigen in Logan. This means that Deadpool 2 would still be in line with X-Men canon—it would just employ a canonical character that hasn't been born yet. Thanks to Cable's notorious use of time travel in the comics, this is a theory that's not only foolproof, but a completely plausible way for the writers of Deadpool 2 to shoot a wink at their X-Men cohorts.

As Disney continues to drift further from the original George Lucas-helmed saga, it only makes sense that they'd act to mold the Star Wars brand into their own creative vision—and YouTuber Dash Star has a pretty plausible theory as to why we might see the extinction of Jedis and Siths by the end of the new trilogy.

The franchise's seventh installment, The Force Awakens, very rarely mentions either group. At most, it seems like main characters Rey and Kylo Ren are neither Jedi nor Sith—they just happen to vaguely align with the core tenets of either ideology. And the title of Episode VIII: The Last Jedi makes it easy to assume we're being steered away from the strict good-versus-evil struggle that's defined the story thus far. With the moral landscape tilted away from black and white, the ninth Star Wars chapter could very well introduce find fans in shades of gray—the color embraced by the ancient order known as the Whills, who taught that rather than embracing light or dark at either's expense, the two sides needed to be kept in balance. Of course, it's all speculation at this point, but there's an undeniable appeal to the idea of ending this blockbuster saga with its galaxy far, far away finding true harmony at long last.

This is a theory with so little backing that its inclusion is based mainly on how incredibly inventive it is. Basically, here's the scoop: The Incredibles 2 will arrive 15 years after its predecessor, which is notable because of Syndrome's complaint about Mr. Incredible being 15 years too late to fix their relationship during the emotional climax of the original film. According to this theory, this wasn't just a reference to the past 15 years, but also to the future—and opens up all sorts of possibilities, including giving Syndrome and Mirage a secret love child that continues his villainous legacy as a full-grown teenager.

Genius.