A goodsci-fi movie’s job is to transport audiences to complex worlds and realities different from our own, providing mind-bending narratives to leave viewers in shock and awe. However, when creating such detailed main storylines, it can be easy to lose track of some of the minor ones in the process. The result is a bunch of confusing and unnecessary subplots that don’t really add much to the film in the grand scheme of things. From inexplicable character decisions, to convoluted world-building, here are some side plots that, despite their best intentions, didn’t do anything except leave viewers confused and frustrated.
Peter Parker’s Parents - The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
amazing spider-man 2
Andrew Garfield’sSpider-Manmovies had a lot wrong with them, but one of the worst was the subplot of Peter Parker’s parents. InThe Amazing Spider-Man 2, the death of Peter’s parents is shown in the first few minutes. His father, Richard, conducted research into crossed-species genetics, which resulted in the genetically modified spiders that later bit Peter, as well as Dr. Connor’s becoming Lizard. When Richard tries to delete this research, he and his wife, Mary, are assassinated. It’s also revealed that the spiders were made with Richard’s blood, which is why Peter had no negative side effects when bitten. Given this was a reboot off the back of Sam Raimi’sSpider-Mantrilogy, it makes sense why they wanted to switch things up, but it just didn’t feel necessary.
Why It’s Included
Of course, it plays intothe conflict between Peter and Harry Osbourne, but this could have happened even without this subplot. In fact, a lot of time was wasted on the subplot of Peter’s parents, without the payoff that it had inThe Amazing Spider-Man. Where before it tied in nicely to Dr. Connor’s arc, it starts to ruin a lot of the reasons why people love Spider-Man in the sequel. Stan Lee once said that anyone could be under the mask of Spider-Man, yet Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker wouldn’t be the webbed-slinger if it wasn’t for his father, destroying that idea. If this plot was as important as the films portrayed it to be, it should have been saved for another sequel, rather than stuffed into an already overfilled storyline.
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The Love Triangle - The Hunger Games (2012)
The Hunger Games
In most Hollywood adaptations of films, romance storylines are often amplified to keep fans invested. This works nicely in franchises likeTwilight, but not at all inThe Hunger Games. In the books, Katniss does fall in love with Peeta, and there are some sparks with Gale, but it’s not as prevalent as it is in the movies. Yet even in the first film, this love triangle already becomes well established, even though Gale and Katniss barely have any screen time together. As Katniss and Peeta embark on the very early stages of their showmance during the games, Gale is shown to be watching on with a look of both betrayal and jealousy.
This isn’t a perspective the first book focuses on, as it’s more occupied with emphasizing the lengths that the pair will go to in order to survive. The film even leaves out Madge, Katniss' other friend who gives her the Mockingjay pin, in order to focus more on the love triangle subplot. Even in the marketing for the film, the actors' real-life relationships with each other were brought into play in order to bring more attention to the romance. It was incredibly nonsensical, asThe Hunger Gamesis one of the most important YA dystopian stories ever told, with many of its more critical subplots and underlying themes being erased by the muddled love story.
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Stryker Kidnaps the X-Men - X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Apocalypseis one of the most ambitious films in the franchise, as it had the task of introducing an array of new characters while fans were still getting used to the previous generation. As a result, there are quite a lot of pointless subplots in the movie, but things really take a turn for the worst when they’re abducted by Stryker. After En Sabah Nuh arrives at the X-Mansion with his four horsemen, Alex causes an explosion and accidentally destroys the mansion. Stryker then randomly appears, taking Moira, Hank, Raven, and Peter for interrogation. This is when the movie does some serious pandering, muddling the timeline and having Jean, Scott, and Kurt release no other than Wolverine to save the day.
It’s always nice to see Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, until it isn’t. The purpose of this scene in particular was to explain why Wolverine had a hazy memory after escaping Stryker’s lab, but there’s already so much going on in this film that it just goes over the audience’s head. You’d think having the main characters take this momentary detour would give En Sabah Nuh time to wreak havoc on the world, yet by the time they’ve escaped and reached Cairo, the important stuff is only just beginning. As a whole, the Stryker subplot just felt like a way of giving the olderX-Menmovies a nod, while simultaneously adding nothing of substance to the film.
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Dillon Lying to Dutch - Predator (1987)
At the start ofPredator, Vietnam veteran Dutch is sent on a task with his rescue team to save a foreign cabinet minister from an unknown South American country. Overseeing their task is CIA officer Dillon, whom Dutch was apprehensive of at first, but agreed to proceed with the mission regardless. However, it’s revealed that the mission is actually a set-up, and Dutch’s team is actually going to eradicate a rebel movement that is trying to overthrow an American-backed government. Dillon was always aware of this, and it’s explained that he lied to Dutch because he was only willing to perform rescue missions.
After a brief confrontation between the pair, they continue on with the mission.It’s then that they encounter the Yautja, and the rest of the film proceeds. The thing that makes this subplot so stupid is that it doesn’t actually add anything to the film. Sure, it can be argued that if Dillon hadn’t lied, then Dutch wouldn’t have gone on the mission, thus ending the film before it began. But, it quite literally didn’t need to be in the plot at all. It could always have been written as a rescue mission, where they encounter the Yautja and realize it’s the cause of the problem. All it did was add in a tiny flair of shock value, which quickly gets overshadowed by the action anyway.
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The Mitchell Family Drama - Jurassic World (2015)
Jurassic World
Every film in theJurassic Parkfranchise has an element of family drama. However, the impending divorce between Zach and Gray’s parents inJurassic Worldfelt ridiculously out of place. The duo is shipped off to Jurassic World, where their aunt Claire works as the operations manager. It’s clear that there’s something not quite right at home, as the parents plan to begin the divorce process. This is confirmed by Gray, who begins crying about his parents splitting up to his brother. However, it is never addressed after the fact. While Zach has a momentary realization about being there for his brother, he goes back to teasing and ignoring him just a few scenes later.
It’s a clear nod to Spielberg’sJurassic Parkfilms, where divorce and parenting are two clear underlying themes. Not only did Spielberg use greedy corporations to show how destructive humans can be, but he also reflected this through how caregivers who only think about themselves will affect their child. In turn, Alan and Ellie are forced to become pseudo-parents for Tim and Lex, which ultimately becomes the heart of the film in many ways. However,Jurassic Worldfails to achieve this, rendering a lot of its emotional moments pointless, feeling more like an annoying distraction from the action and dinosaurs.
Spock and Uhura’s Romance - Star Trek (2009)
When J.J. Abrams rebooted theStar Trekfranchise in 2009, it was always clear that it would be completely different to what fans were used to. However, they attempted to keep some of the main characters familiar enough, including Spock concealing his emotions from others. Yet this is still sacrificed for a baffling romance with Uhura, which, in some ways, can be explained. However, it’s the direction their relationship takes that makes it ridiculous, with creative decisions made that completely ret-con core parts of the characters. For example, when Uhura kisses Spock after the destruction of Vulcan.
At first, this scene is quite a good way of demonstrating the ways in which Spock is conflicted between his Vulcan ways and his human emotions. He was clearly unsure of how to respond to her moment of passion, and for a moment, it seemed like this moment might grow into something bigger. However, after this kiss, Spock goes back to his usual self - suppressing his emotions, which causes problems in their relationship down the line. As a result, their romance feels useless in the grand scheme of things, and felt largely pushed by the production company, even though the film would have worked the same without it.
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Mechagodzilla - Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)
Godzilla Vs King Kong
The epic next chapter in the cinematic Monsterverse pits two of the greatest icons in motion picture history against one another - the fearsome Godzilla and the mighty Kong - with humanity caught in the balance.
Godzilla vs. Kongseemed likethe perfect turning point for the MonsterVerse, which previously focused less on the Titans and rather on the humans within their stories. Yet right when it felt like fans were going to watch an epic showdown between Kong and Godzilla, it introduced a random subplot with Madison. The youngster enlists the help of conspiracy theorist Bernie and her friend, Josh, to investigate Godzilla’s behavior. During this, they discover Mechagodzilla, who is activated and takes on both of the Titans.
Not only was Mechagodzilla ridiculously underwhelming, but Josh stalling Mechagodzilla by pouring a liquor flask on the control panel was stupid. It felt as though Mechagodzilla was only thrown in to give Madison more screen time, given her actress is Millie Bobby Brown, and it wouldn’t have been stupid to assume she would bring in an audience. But that’s not the reason why people truly wanted to watchGodzilla vs. Kong. It should have focused more on the battle between the Titans, with the humans taking more of a back seat this time around. Instead, it didn’t do anything to correct the mistakes the MonsterVerse had already made.
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The “Romeo and Juliet” Law - Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)
Transformers 4
TheTransformersmovies have always had fairly questionable moments, but a subplot inTransformers: Age of Extinctionis so inappropriate that it’s straight-up disgusting. The main character, Cade Yeager, is a single father to his 17-year-old daughter, Tessa. Cade isn’t aware that Tessa is in a relationship with 20-year-old Shane, which they keep a secret due to Cade’s overprotective nature. Eventually, Cade finds out about their relationship, threatening to have Shane arrested for statutory rape. This moment then takes an extremely weird turn when Shane quite literally pulls the Texas “Romeo and Juliet” law out of his pocket to explain the legality of their relationship.
Firstly, Shane’s immediate reliance on that law just indicates that he knows what he’s doing wrong. But more importantly, it didn’t have to be in the film at all. Nicola Peltz, who plays Tessa, was older than her character at the time when the film was made. Therefore, there’s no excuse for having even written the age-gap in. If they wanted there to be tension, they could have left it with Cade being overprotective of his daughter due to people treating her poorly. Adding in this element makes it feel incredibly creepy and unsettling, and doesn’t serve any greater purpose in the film’s main plot whatsoever.
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Finn’s Force sensitivity - Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
force awakens
Since the earliest marketing forStar Wars: The Force Awakens, it was hinted that Finn might be Force sensitive, especially since the trailer features him holding a lightsaber. Yet, this didn’t end up being the primary focus of the film, with hints at his Force sensitivity being sprinkled into his character arc throughout the sequel trilogy. For example, he manages to overcome his Stormtrooper brainwashing, and is also sensed by Kylo Ren when he tries to escape. Additionally, he is able to wield a lightsaber with confidence. While this is something he could have learned during his time as a Stormtrooper, it’s not common for someone who isn’t Force sensitive to do it as well as him.
This subplot continues through the remaining two films, without ever truly being fully explored. Finn is also drawn to Rey, which is something common in Force sensitive individuals. Yet, they made it clear that they wanted his primary arc to focus on his redemption from being a Stormtrooper to a hero, with Rey serving as the main protagonist. What makes it worse is that J.J. Abrams has since revealed that Finn is Force sensitive, and he was supposed to reveal this to Rey. However, it just adds insult to injury, proving how stupid the subplot was if they were never planning on fleshing it out properly.
Weyland Actually Being Alive - Prometheus (2012)
Prometheus
Prometheussets its main characters out on a philosophical quest to understand their own mortality. Archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway discover proof from various ancient cultures that God exists, and they’re aliens from a distant planet known as Engineers, the creators of humanity. They determine that the wise thing to do is gather a crew and visit them, interpreting a star map to be proof that they’ve been invited. However, the Engineers aren’t as friendly as they believed them to be, and the crew encounters various biological weapons that cause them problems. It’s a pretty straight forward plot, but it takes a weird turn when it introduces the subplot of Weyland Corp. CEO, Peter Weyland, secretly being alive on the ship the entire time.
It’s revealed that Weyland is convinced that the Engineers can grant him eternal life, with no other ulterior motives for joining the expedition. However, he is killed by an Engineer moments into meeting it, killing him off almost as quickly as they introduced him. Of course, this subplot enabled an Engineer to then be awake and causing problems, but this could have been done in ways that made the plot feel more coherent. For example, David having more sinister motivations throughout the film was an interesting subplot, and given his character arcin the sequel,Alien: Covenant, it would have made sense for him to seek the Engineer out on his own accord and malevolence.
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