Time Travel Paradox: How Did Marty McFly Prevent Technological Progress in Back to the Future 3?

Robert Zemeckis' iconic trilogy captured the hearts of audiences and critics alike and has proven to be one of the greatest family films ever made. The first installment of Back to the Future follows the adventures of Marty McFly and Dr. Emmett Brown as they travel back in time in a time machine, and the sequel takes the heroes to the future.

Dr. Brown tells Marty and his girlfriend, Jennifer, that in the future they will get married and have children who need to be saved because they could get into a lot of trouble.

In Back to the Future Part II, which came out in 1990, the characters travel to the year 2015. Of course, the film's depiction of the future (our past) is different from what was happening in reality, and some fans have come up with their own explanation for the discrepancy.

Redditor FishnamedSteve has a fascinating theory, which draws a connection between the real universe and the universe of the movie. The fan believes that flying cars, hoverboards, and those very famous Nikes might have existed in reality if Marty hadn't changed the past… Wait, we're going to get things straight in a second.

When Marty McFly finds himself in 2015, he realizes his future isn't so great. As a result of a 1985 car accident that took away his music career, adult Marty is forced to work a lame job that he gets fired from as soon as he, Jennifer, and Doc arrive in the future. When they travel back, Jennifer keeps Marty's resignation letter, and this detail plays out in the next part of the trilogy.

At the end of Back to the Future Part III, Marty has a race with Needles, a classic bully who was meant to keep tormenting McFly throughout his whole life. In 2015, it was Needles who pulled a scam with Marty that got him fired.

The tragic accident was supposed to happen during that race, but Marty decides to change the events and backs up, while Needles almost crashes into a Rolls-Royce. Jennifer notices that the text on the resignation letter disappears, which means that the future in 2015 has been changed.

Now, back to the Redditor's theory: according to FishnamedSteve, the Rolls-Royce driver was meant to invent the hoverboard and possibly flying cars, thanks to a lawsuit settlement with Marty McFly in 1985. However, the accident didn't happen and the driver didn't get the money, so that person wasn't able to raise enough funds to invest in the technology.

The Redditor believes that it was this change that led to the abandonment of hoverboards and self-lacing Nikes. So, if Marty and Dr. Brown decided to visit the future after this event, they would find themselves in the year 2015, which is familiar to ours — with no flying cars and no self-drying jackets.

Source: Reddit