Top 10 Movie Questions Answered in the Prequel

“Prey” (2022)
“Predator 2” ended with a prolonged battle where Police Lieutenant Harrigan defeated a Predator in its own spaceship, coming face to face with a group of its allies. As a sign of respect, one threw Harrington a flintlock pistol with the engraving “Raphael Adolini 1715.” This was the first indication that these hunters had been coming to Earth for a long time. “Prey” gave audiences a look at one of those past hunts, with a predator going up against Comanche warriors in 1719, with some dishonorable French fur traders making things complicated along the way. Those Frenchmen had an interpreter with them, and he happened to be none other than Raphael Adolini, with the Italian’s engraved pistol, along with a Predator’s skull, serving as a trophy for the Comanche warrior Naru.

“Wonder Woman” (2017)
In “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” Batman attempted to steal an encrypted drive and met a mysterious stranger, Diana Prince. On that drive existed information about various super powered beings including Diana, notably including a picture of her dating to the First World War with an unknown group of people. In her solo film, audiences were shown Wonder Woman’s past, where she was raised by ageless Amazon warriors on the hidden island of Themyscira. After thousands of years, she became swept up in the outside world by pilot Steve Trevor, her love interest standing beside her in the picture. Over her adventure, she’d also meet; the secret agent Sameer, the sharpshooter Charlie and the stoic smuggler Chief, who would all pose alongside her one day in 1918.

“Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me” (1992)
For two seasons, “Twin Peaks” proved to be one of the most revolutionary and interesting shows on television. Despite the central mystery of who killed Laura Palmer being solved by Agent Cooper, many unresolved questions lingered when the series received an untimely cancellation. The most notable of these involved; the strange connections between Laura’s murder and Cooper’s previous case, and Laura's final whereabouts. The theatrically released prequel film addressed these questions across two plot lines. Cooper’s investigation into the death of Teresa Banks, a teen who knew Laura, showed Teresa killed by Laura’s father Leland while possessed by the Demon BOB. A year later in the final seven days of Laura’s life, her death played out in a similar manner, with BOB/Leland murdering her in a horrific way.

“Minions” (2015)
In the first “Despicable Me” film, the supervillain Gru had quite an impressive operation: with gizmos, a secret base, and of course a loyal following of minions. These little yellow fellows’ history was shrouded in mystery, as was the reason they chose to follow Gru. Once they got their own spinoff, which also served as a prequel to the “Despicable Me” franchise, their backstory was uncovered. For millions of years, the minions constantly searched for the most nefarious villain to follow, having a slew of bosses over the years with varying results to say the least. After a betrayal by their last boss, Scarlet Overkill, the Minions encountered a young prodigal thief using a freeze ray. The prodigal? None other than an adolescent Gru.

“Black Widow” (2021)
When Black Widow was introduced into the MCU in “Iron Man 2,” much of her backstory remained a mystery. Over the next decade, we got mere glimpses into her past largely through her banter with other Avengers, particularly Hawkeye. One of the most notorious of these was a reference to a mission in Budapest that the pair remembered very differently. When Black Widow died in “Avengers: Endgame,” it seemed like many of these answers would never be revealed, but a prequel set before her death gave deep insight into her past. That included info on her mission in Budapest, where she seemingly killed her former employer by destroying a building, fully cementing her defection to S.H.I.E.L.D.

“Prometheus” (2012)
When the crew of the Nostromo discovered a derelict ship on a barren moon in the first “Alien,'' they found a number of strange things inside. Notably, there was a mysterious giant figure in a chair that was never explained or revisited. The figure, which its race nicknamed pilots, space jockeys or engineers, and their connection to the alien xenomorphs remained shrouded in mystery for decades. That was until the prequel “Prometheus'' in 2012. Rather than being a straight up “Alien” prequel, Prometheus focused on telling the story of a crew looking for the origins of humanity. The engineers were shown to be creators of life, including on Earth, but also dealers in death, designing bio weapons that would lead to the existence of the Xenomorph.

“X-Men: First Class” (2011)
The X-Men film timeline is convoluted to say the least; however a few things are clear. When he is introduced, Charles Xavier uses a wheelchair. There are, however, a number of hints and flashbacks showing definitively that at one point he had the use of his legs. This question, and many others, was finally answered in “First Class,” which detailed the origins of the X-Men. The film follows a young Charles and his then-friend Magneto in the ‘60s attempting to stop the villainous Hellfire Club, culminating in the Cuban missile crisis. In the ensuing battle, Magneto is shot and while deflecting the bullets, accidentally causes one to pierce Xavier’s spine, tragically wounding his friend and permanently setting them on different paths.

“The Godfather Part II” (1974)
The first “Godfather'' film introduced filmgoers to the powerful crime family led by Don Vito Corleone in the twilight of his years, played by Marlon Brando. The follow up served both as a sequel, continuing Vito’s son Michael’s story, and a prequel, with the prequel half detailing the life of a young Vito, played now by Robert de Niro. His story began with young Vito witnessing the murder of his father in Sicily before being spirited away to New York City. Beginning as a small-time crook, Vito became an enforcer, killing his employer to gain power. Over the years, Vito accumulated more influence through murder and intimidation, finally culminating in him taking vengeance against the mob boss that killed his father.

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” (2012)
The iconic MacGuffin known simply as “the ring,” is explained to be one of the most important and powerful objects in existence during an extended prologue for “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. During a brief scene in that prologue, we learn the ring passed to the seemingly insignificant hobbit Bilbo Baggins. Other than a brief mumble by Gandalf, the particulars of how he got the ring from the creature Gollum went untold cinematically. That is until the film adaptations of “The Hobbit” were released. Lost in the dark, Bilbo finds the ring by chance and is able to escape with it from its previous owner when they engage in a clever game of riddles in one of the film's best sequences.

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (2016)
For decades, Star Wars fans complained of a “plot hole” in the original film, wondering why the evil Empire’s most devastating weapon would have such an easily exploited fatal flaw. The Death Star, a space station the size of a small moon, was destroyed simply by shooting a missile into an exhaust vent. Decades later, this plot hole was paved over in “Rogue One.” The film explained that that weakness was not an oversight, but sabotage! Rebel sympathizer Galen Erso was forced to complete plans for the planet-destroying weapon, but secretly designed the vulnerability to be exploited by an ally. The chase to expose this weakness to the Rebels made for one of the best film finales in recent memory.