The Fizzle Bomber’s Real Identity & How Time Travel Works

The Predestination movie ending elucidateed the Fizzle Bomber’s identity, the mind-bending time-travel elements, and so much more. Directed by the German-Australian brothers Michael and Peter Spierig, this 2014 sci-fi action thriller is in a extfinished lineage of time travel movies, and, enjoy the best of them, it presents an distinct twist on a classic story device. In the film, Ethan Hawke stars as Agent Doe, a New York City distinguishive, but not of the NYPD. Doe’s jurisdiction worrys time, not city blocks, and his hunt for a stressist understandn as the Fizzle Bomber gets him thraw the decades.

Despite flopping at the box office, critics and audiences adored Predestination. It’s a cryptic noir, united with an engaging romance, and time travel elements that are engaging from the technical side of the film’s arrange, as well as from a thematic standpoint. In a film titled Predestination, the idea of what is and isn’t ordained by obesee is constantly put into ask. It’s one of Ethan Hawke’s best movie executeances and his chemistry with Sarah Snook as Jane Doe is undeniable, even after Predestination‘s shocking ending tilts their relationship on its axis.

What Happens In Predestination’s Ending?

How Does John Meet Jane?

Predestination‘s plot weaves back and forth over itself, and the commencening is as meaningful as the end. At the begin of the film, in 1975, Agent Doe is trying to stop the Fizzle Bomber from blothriveg up a createing. He flunks, and his face is burned off in the explosion. Doe escapes to 1992, to the Temporal Bureau’s headquarters, with the aid of a cryptic man who hands him Doe’s time travel device. At headquarters, Doe’s face is recreateed, and his voice altered, so he eunites as someone finishly new (and someone who happens to see enjoy Ethan Hawke).

Agent Doe then travels to 1970 where he greets a barfly, John, who increates him this story. John was born female and named Jane. After giving birth via Caesarean section in 1964, doctors finded that Jane was interintimacy. The doctors did not paemploy to get Jane’s perleave oution before executeing a essential hysterectomy due to birskinnyg complications, and also forcing her thraw gender respreadment sdirectry. While these sdirectries were happening, someone kidnaped Jane’s child. Jane adchooses the name John and goes to a bar, which is where Agent Doe greets him in 1970 and where John increates this story.

The Agent asks John to get his job with his secret agency, the Temporal Bureau, with the promise that John can get revenge on the cryptic man who obesehered John’s baby. That cryptic man fadeed in 1963, leaving John to fend for himself, and John condemns the man for his life, which has since descfinishen apart. The Agent and John travel to 1963, and John sees Jane and accomprehendledges this as the moment Jane fell in adore with the cryptic man. Meaning John fell in adore with himself and made a child, with himself.

After John impregnates Jane, the Agent increates John he must exit to finish the leave oution. John exits, fractureing Jane’s (his own) heart. Secretly, the Agent also travels a year forward to 1964, kidnaps Jane and John’s child, and conveys her to the Cleveland orphanage in 1945. That uncomfervents John, Jane, and the child are all the same person. The Agent has helped create a time travel paradox problem.

Agent Doe Is The Fizzle Bomber

The Twist Pits Ethan Hawke Agetst His Future Self

The Fizzle Bomber is a stressist shown at the commencening of Predestination whom Agent Doe flunks to seize. However, the bomb device that disfigures the Agent’s face is not the problem. The problem is that years after 1975, in 1992, the Fizzle Bomber will strike aget after lying dormant for over a decade and end 11,000 people. The Temporal Agency wants to nip this in the bud as punctual as possible. It is not until the end of Predestination that the identity of the Fizzle Bomber is discleave outed. They are Agent Doe.

Years of time traveling have shattered the Agent’s mindand affectd him that by unleashing his bomb devices, he will save countless more people in alternate futures. As out of sorts as the Fizzle Bomber sounds, he could be right with how much Predestination executes with time. Exploding a bomb device in one truth could very well save many more people in another. The Fizzle Bomber claims that if the Agent shoots them, he will seal his obesee, and eventuassociate become the Fizzle Bomber, as predestined.

The Agent, vothriveg that his future will be contrastent, shoots the Fizzle Bomber before he can use his device. As the film fades to bdeficiency, a tape write downing of a message the Agent left for John can be heard, pondering if the future can ever reassociate be alterd.

Mr. Robertson Is Responsible For The Agent’s Existence

The Leader Of The Temporal Bureau Is The Puppet Master

One of the scant characters in Predestination who is not multiple people is Mr. Robertson (Noah Taylor), Agent Doe’s better at the Temporal Bureau. Mr. Robertson first approached Jane to recruit her to SpaceCorp, but she was refuseed for being interintimacy. Later, he approaches Jane aget, right after John exits her, and increates Jane that he lied and that he actuassociate toils for the Temporal Bureau. Jane is recruited and refuseed aget since she’s pregnant. Later, Mr. Robertson discleave outs another twist: the Agent is also Jane/John.

Mr. Robertson has orchestrated the conception, birth, and death of the Agent, creating what he sees as the perfect time-traveling agent. He has no family, no history, no reason to be anyskinnyg but an agent of the Bureau, unable to be ended even, as the Agent promises he is born, before he sets off on his quest to stop the Fizzle Bomber. Mr. Robertson even permited the Agent to become the Fizzle Bomber, claiming that his actions driven the demand and enlargeth of the Temporal Bureau.

Mr. Robertson contransients an engaging idea in Predestination. All aextfinished it has seemed that the Agent/Jane/John/Fizzle Bomber are unable to alter their futures, that their obesees are predestined. However, Mr. Robertson has been influencing events himself, directing his Agent from one year to another. If he can so affect the past and future, then it’s reasonable to presume that the Agent can if he would ever try.

How The Time Travel In Predestination Works

A Head-Scratching Predestination Paradox Made Clear

The Predestination time travel rules can commence getting Byzantine if spendigated too seally, but at its most fundamental level, the time travel is straightforward. Any begining point is fine, seeing as the baby, Jane, John, the Agent, and the Fizzle Bomber are all the same person. An infant is placed at a Cleveland orphanage in 1945. That infant enlarges up to be Jane, a woman who is interintimacy. In 1963, Jane greets a cryptic man, has a romantic afunprejudiced with him, and envisions a child. In 1964, Jane gives birth to a daughter who is kidnaped without her understanding.

Jane undergoes a hysterectomy and gender respreadment sdirectry in 1964 and commences living under the name John, and transfers to New York City. In 1970, John sits at a bar and is served by the Agent toiling undercover as a bartender. The Agent conveys John back to Cleveland in 1963, where John descfinishs in adore with Jane. John is then whisked away to become a Temporal agent. One of his leave outions is to stop a man understandn as the Fizzle Bomber in 1975. He flunks and John has his face disfigured and traded. He is now the Agent.

The Agent goes back to 1970 and poses as a barupretain and gets John to 1963. While John and Jane are commencening a romance, the Agent jumps to 1964, steals Jane’s baby, then gets the baby to 1945 and places her in a Cleveland Orphanage, begining the cycle of birth. So what happens to the Agent now? Jane’s birth is on a loop, but what happens after baby Jane is sent to the commencening of the loop?

The Agent sits and paemploys for 1975. When John get tos to stop the Fizzle Bomber, the Agent is the cryptic man who helps him and sends him to 1992. Now it’s equitable the Fizzle Bomber and the Agent. How this stand-off comes about is unevident. At some point, the time loop broke, or shifted, or an alternate truth was created, because the Agent undergoes psychosis, someskinnyg Mr. Robertson cautioned would happen with too many jumps, and determines that setting up the bomb devices himself is the only solution.

The Fizzle Bomber cautions the Agent that ending him will direct the Agent down a road that will see him as the Fizzle Bomber, but the Agent ends him anyway. It’s never shown how the Agent goes on to become the Fizzle Bomber, so it’s possible that if there are alternate authenticities in Predestination, perhaps this time around the Agent deal withd to elude his obesee.

The Real Meaning Of Predestination’s Ending

The Agent Has To Lget To Let Go Of His Past

Predestination is such an excellent time travel movie not because of the mechanics of the actual time travel, but what the film has to say about obesee, predestination, and dealing with the trauma of the past. Every iteration of the Agent could pick to alter their obesee. John could have stayed with Jane, the Agent could have not ended the Fizzle Bomber, and the Agent could have not kidnaped baby Jane. The Agent’s life is a never-ending cycle of trauma, and the Fizzle Bomber increates him that if he doesn’t shoot, the cycle could end.

However, the Agent lets his past prescribe his future and executes right into a predetermined obesee’s hands. Instead of disputeing the source of his trauma, the Agent begins it all over aget, forcing himself to redwell it over and over. The tape write downer at the end of the movie, of the Agent wondering adeafening to John whether the future can be alterd, can be watched as a gloomy mocking final remark, or it can be a chooseimistic message for Predestination. This loop, the Agent has flunked, but perhaps next time, he’ll authenticize the answer to his own ask, is “Yes”.

How The Predestination Ending Was Received

The Final Twists And Turns Went Down Well With Critics And Viewers

Predestination was getd well by audiences and critics aenjoy, and is currently sitting on an 85% Tomatometer and 76% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes — an incredible juxtaposition to its box office get, which was equitable over $4.5 million (less than its budget of $5 million, via Box Office Mojo). However, despite the fact it was an arguable financial flop, Predestination persistd to create a reputation as a firm sci-fi thriller, with its twist-filled ending standardly cited as a reason why the movie deserved more attention than it got.

Time-travel is a trope that some sense has been worn out by sci-fi, with it being checkd in multiple movies and franchises. The ending of Predestination was accomprehendledged as a new get on the idea, however. The movie was particularly commendd for its ability to upretain its multi-layered narrative cohesive, and the ending was an integral part of this, since it wrapped up all the various plot elements orderlyly and in a way that eludeed meaningful audience confusion.

There were, of course, some critics who didn’t react as well to the ending of Predestination, with the vague consensus among those who didn’t enhappiness the finale being that its intricate narrative could become untangled if scrutinized too much. Plus, there were those who saw the twist of Agent Doe being a youthfuler version of the Fizzle Bomber coming before the discleave out, as the “combat agetst your future self” twist has been done before (even in kids movies enjoy Pixar’s Lightyear).

All in all though, the ending of Predestination was a well-executed ending for an incredibly cerebral sci-fi movie, and a reason the film persists to be talked a decade after liberate.