Top 10 Characters Who Meet Their Older Self

In this version of the timeless Charles Dickens story, Jim Carrey plays Ebenezer Scrooge as an old man, a middle-aged man and a young man. The prototypical miser and curmudgeon Scrooge is shown his past, his present and the grim version of his future that will come to pass if he doesn’t change his ways. Scrooge may not interact directly with his younger self, or with his apparent corpse during his experience of things yet to come. However, his older and younger selves ultimately send the present Scrooge down the right path, demonstrating that it’s never too late to change.

As a young orphan inventor, much of Lewis’ motivation throughout “Meet the Robinsons” is his desire for a family. And not only does Lewis meet his future self; he also encounters his future adopted family and many extended relations, including his eventual wife and son – the latter of whom sets much of the plot in motion. Lewis’ own older self, who’s been given the nickname Cornelius, doesn’t meet Lewis until the second half of the film, but he does give himself some valuable advice, helping to assure that his future is a bright one.

Although we wish we could’ve seen Max Walker meet himself properly, our pick goes to the villainous Senator McComb. The slimy politician uses time travel to fund not only his bid for the presidency, but also to eliminate anyone who opposes him. McComb meets himself on several occasions, the first time to kill their former partner in a software company that made it big after buying him out. They next meet when the younger version is tricked into going to Walker’s house at the film’s climax, which allows the timecop to defeat him by getting the two McCombs to touch, causing a grisly paradox.

Hard to believe, but these two wannabe rocker-slackers are destined for greatness. Even Bill and Ted find this notion pretty farfetched when a time traveler named Rufus tells them so outside a Circle K. However, it’s the arrival of their future selves, who are slap-bang in the middle of their own time traveling adventure with historical figures, that convinces the most triumphant duo to begin their journey in the first place. Well, that and their future counterparts’ ability to guess a certain number. This moment is unusual in that we see it from both versions’ perspectives, as it’s returning to this event that gets future Bill and Ted back on track.

In this Disney film, an image consultant named Russ finds himself mysteriously confronted with his childhood self, Rusty. Unlike most of the entries on our list, Russ and Rusty’s interactions form the bulk of the film’s plot, with each assisting the other with their troubles: Russ comforts Rusty over their mother’s death and their father’s inability to cope, and Rusty’s presence reminds Russ of his childhood dreams. A third, elderly version is even seen before the film’s end, effectively showing how the experience will change Russ for the better in the future.

David Bowman is the last surviving astronaut on a mission to investigate an unusual monolith’s transmission to Jupiter. When he arrives near the gas giant, however, another mysterious object draws Dave into the vortex. In the film’s famous and surreal final sequence, Dave views progressively older versions of himself and then becomes them, in an elegant room that appears to have been provided for him. Whether the elder Daves are aware that their younger selves see them is open to interpretation. However, there’s nothing ambiguous about this scene’s place in popular culture.