Movie franchises have become a big part of Hollywood, and one of the best things about them is getting to see how their characters and stories evolve with each new installment. The problem starts when the sequels pile up, reboots come along and change everything that came before, and/or the story starts relying on so many details that you can barely remember what still counts. Sometimes, it can even make you lose interest in keeping up altogether. And in some cases, watching every installment still doesn’t solve the problem, since some contradict what came before or act like certain events never even happened.
Several franchises have created this kind of frustrating viewing experience and, after a while, you pretty much have to be a dedicated superfan just to keep up, maybe even needing a guide to do it. We’ve picked 5 of the most confusing ones.
It’s impossible to make a list like this without including the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has earned a reputation for having so many movies and TV shows that skipping even one can mean missing anything from a small detail to a pretty significant plot point. When Iron Man hit theaters in 2008, nobody had to watch dozens of productions to understand what was going on, and following the growth of this universe was part of the fun. The problem is the MCU kept expanding until it was difficult to tell which movies and shows actually mattered to the overarching story. These days, it’s not enough to remember what happened to the Avengers, because you also have to keep track of time travel, character variants, and alternate universes.
When you’re going back through the entire MCU to prepare for Avengers: Doomsday, for example, you have to recall how the heroes traveled through time to undo the damage Thanos caused, only for those trips to open the door to different timelines. After that, Loki explored the whole concept in greater detail, while Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness introduced alternate realities and different variants. Then came Deadpool & Wolverine to make things even more complicated, along with Spider-Man: Brand New Day and series like Agatha All Along and VisionQuest, among others. So, at this point, keeping up feels like homework, because missing even one project could leave you confused about something that comes up in a future blockbuster. The MCU knows exactly how to connect everything, but it’s also pretty good at making you feel lost.
At first, The Conjuring movies didn’t seem to have such a complex formula. The setup was pretty straightforward: Ed and Lorraine Warren investigated paranormal cases, came across something terrifying, and tried to help the people involved. The first feature introduced the couple as they looked into a haunted house, and its success paved the way for a series of sequels and spin-offs. However, the universe grew so much that not every installment follows the same timeline, and that’s where the confusion starts (especially if you’ve never watched the franchise before and want to know where to begin). The Nun, for example, takes place in 1952 and introduces Valak, the entity that shows up in The Conjuring 2, which is set decades later. So far, that’s not too hard to follow, right? But then there’s the whole story of the haunted doll.
Annabelle: Creation goes back in time to explore the doll’s origins, while Annabelle Comes Home brings her into the Warrens’ house and ties her story more closely to the main franchise. In other words, watching the films in release order might not be the best way to understand how everything connects. And things get trickier because some installments work as standalone stories, while others pick up on events introduced in previous movies. There’s also some debate over how certain spin-offs fit into the main continuity. So, basically, if you want to binge the entire franchise, you’ll probably need to look up the best viewing order beforehand just to make sure everything makes sense by the end.
Let’s start with the sheer number of movies you’ll have to get through to watch the whole Halloween franchise: 13. Out of all the horror franchises, this one seems determined to make things difficult for you. It all began in 1978, when Michael Myers escaped from a psychiatric hospital and returned to his hometown, where he started hunting Laurie Strode and other residents. The original was a huge success, leading to several sequels, but the franchise never seemed able to stick to one direction for very long. Halloween II picks up right where the first movie left off, but the following installments add new developments to the serial killer’s story, only for Halloween III: Season of the Witch to throw everything out the window with a completely different story.
At one point, the idea was to turn the franchise into an anthology series featuring standalone horror movies, but Michael was too popular to stay out of the picture. And that’s when things got really confusing: Halloween H20: 20 Years Later ignores several previous movies, two others tell a new version of the story, and the 2018 Halloween makes yet another change by treating only the original as part of its timeline. So, where should you start? Well, it depends on which story you want to follow. If you wish to keep up with Laurie’s journey, you’ll have to pick a timeline, while anyone who wants to watch every version of Michael’s story will have to accept that they don’t fit together perfectly.
The idea behind Terminator isn’t all that complicated at first, revolving around an AI called Skynet that goes to war against humanity and sends machines back in time to stop the human resistance from winning in the future. In the original film, a killer cyborg tries to murder Sarah Connor before she gives birth to her son, John, who is destined to lead that resistance. Then Terminator 2: Judgment Day flips the script by sending a reprogrammed Terminator back to protect young John from an even more advanced machine. The movie also suggests the apocalypse can be prevented, but that opens the door to a problem that keeps coming back in the sequels: if the future can change, which version of events actually counts?
Well, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines offers its own continuation of the story, while Terminator Salvation takes place in the future where humans are fighting the machines. Then Terminator Genisys changes some major events from the original movie and creates a new timeline. And, as if that weren’t enough, Terminator: Dark Fate ignores everything that happened after Terminator 2 and takes the story in a new direction. Trying to figure out exactly what’s going on in this franchise can feel like you need to start taking notes. It’s almost like Halloween‘s problem, only twice as complicated, because each feature has a different take on how Judgment Day happens and which characters are essential to preventing humanity’s destruction. Terminator is fun, but the number os changes to its timeline is ridiculous.
Before becoming part of the MCU, X-Men was a Fox franchise with a huge cast of characters, prequels, and timeline changes that somehow turned it into one of the most confusing superhero sagas to follow. First, there’s the original trilogy, which introduced Professor X, Magneto, Wolverine, and the conflict between mutants and humans. But the franchise expanded to explore the characters’ pasts: X-Men: First Class goes back to the ’60s to show how Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr met and eventually went their separate ways; X-Men Origins: Wolverine explores Logan’s past; and The Wolverine follows the character after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand. Keeping track of all these periods is actually a bit of a challenge, but then X-Men: Days of Future Past comes along.
The movie sends Wolverine on a mission to change the past and prevent a future where mutants are hunted by Sentinels. And by changing events in 1973, he also alters the future and creates a new timeline, making it harder to reconcile some of the earlier events with what comes next. So, X-Men ends up with many versions of events, characters whose fates keep changing, and movies that don’t always fit together very well. That’s where Logan comes in, with its own future for Wolverine, before Deadpool & Wolverine brings the franchise into the MCU mix. The series definitely has some fun films worth watching in a marathon, but finding a way to make all of them fit into one coherent story is a bit of a project, even for longtime fans.
Which movie franchise do you think has the most confusing timeline? Did we get it right with our picks, or is there another one that deserves a spot on this list?
