History Fridge / TheIronGiant

* While deserved, depending on your point of view, Mansley might've been more than just incarcerated for his actions when the general arrested him. He committed crimes against his own country in his crusade to kill the Giant(nearly bombing an entire town and fleeing in the face of duty). Given the General wanted to have Mansley ''die'' along with the town when the missile hit, he likely had Mansley executed during the time skip at the end.

** A deleted scene actually implies he lost his memory when he was electrocuted by the power grid rather than the bump on his head.

* This one could be considered FridgeBrilliance AND FridgeHorror: Hogarth is able to speak so eloquently about death because his DisappearedDad (presumably, judging by the picture on his bedside table) may have died in the KoreanWar.

* [[spoiler:Before Mansley orders the missile to be launched]], Hogarth is in the Giant's hand and yelling at the soldiers not to shoot. Why? Not because he might be hit. It's because [[spoiler:the guns might trigger the Giant's defence mechanism eye-beams, much like Hogarth's toy gun did twice in the junkyard, almost obliterating him.]]

* In the battle sequence near the end of the film, the Giant's seen blowing up, shooting holes in and deleting from existance several M41 Light Tanks. In each case the animators are sure to show the crews bailing out before bad things happen. The only problem is that the M41 has a four man crew- we only over see the Tank Commander and Driver escape the doomed vehicles, leaving the gunners and loaders trapped and more thank likely horribly killed.

* All those threats Mansley made against Hograth while trying to get him to reveal the Giant's location? Despite Hograth's protest, he probably ''could'' do all of them considering Annie's vulnerable position and single parent status.

** A deleted scene actually implies he lost his memory when he was electrocuted by the power grid.

** Plus, there's a good chance that most or all of the destroyed planets were, like the vast majority of planets in the universe, uninhabited. Who's to say the creators of the giants won't leave Earth alone when they learn it ''is'' inhabited? They may simply have not realized there was life here when they first sent out the giants.

** And imagine how much easier it would have been to carry out said threats if Hograth wasn't an only child!

** And imagine how much easier it would have been to carry out said threats if Hograth wasn't an only child!

** Plus, there's a good chance that most or all of the destroyed planets were, like the vast majority of planets in the universe, uninhabited. Who's to say the creators of the giants won't leave Earth alone when they learn it *is* inhabited? They may simply have not realized there was life here when they first sent out the giants.

* When Hogarth and the Giant go out walking at night, pay attention to the moon in one scene. Just to the right of it, one of the stars can be seen moving. That\'s [[RedsWithRockets Sputnik]].

** Dean is a counter-cultural {{Beatnik}} who could potentially be a bad influence to Hogarth and when the kid turns up in his scrapyard late at night, he promises not to tell anyone, which would definitely raise eyebrows these days. But Hogarth takes an instant liking to the guy and when it\'s revealed to Annie that her son sneaks out to play at the scrapyard, she seems unquestioningly okay with it. Their trust is ultimately rewarded when Dean puts Hogath\'s safety at top priority [[spoiler: and becomes his stepfather in the end.]]
** Mansley on the other hand is a professional man who works for the government and even though Hogarth immediately despises the man, Annie has no reason to worry about her son\'s safety even suggesting that he take the stranger on a tour around town. Her trust is ultimately misplaced when Mansley treats Hogarth with increasing hostility [[spoiler: going so far as to lie to General Rogard about the Giant killing a kid to provoke a military strike when he knows damn well that the boy is in the crossfire.]]

* The gigantic robotic super weapon had to come from \'\'somewhere\'\' (which the movie never acknowledges). It\'s likely that those who sent the Iron Giant to earth are not going to just give up after one failed attempt. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05XM9huSWNU This deleted scene]] shows the Iron Giant\'s memory of him and an army of others of his kind destroying another planet. The fact that the creators were so willing to sacrifice an army of them also strongly hints that there are plenty more of them, too. Also, the end of the movie explicitly shows us that the robots can survive nuclear blasts. And who\'s to say that he\'s still friendly after reassembling himself?
** The very last image of the film is him giving a friendly smile to the camera. We\'re fine.
** Plus, there\'s a good chance that most or all of the destroyed planets were, like the vast majority of planets in the universe, uninhabited. Who\'s to say the creators of the giants won\'t leave Earth alone when they learn it *is* inhabited? They may simply have not realized there was life here when they first sent out the giants.
*** Nothing about the dream or his armament suggests that he wasn\'t originally intended to blow up planets regardless of inhabitants and fight those inhabitants if he had to do so to carry out that mission. He\'s one scary machine and Hogarth should be really glad that he took the damage to the head that he did.
* All those threats Mansley made against Hograth while trying to get him to reveal the Giant\'s location? Despite Hograth\'s protest, he probably \'\'could\'\' do all of them considering Annie\'s vulnerable position and single parent status.
** And imagine how much easier it would have been to carry out said threats if Hograth wasn\'t an only child!

* The giant arrives on Earth with what looks like a meteor impact responsible for its amnesia. If it ''was'' such an impact, it might not even be on the planet its creators intended to launch it at.
* When Hogarth and the Giant go out walking at night, pay attention to the moon in one scene. Just to the right of it, one of the stars can be seen moving. That's [[RedsWithRockets Sputnik]].

** Dean is a counter-cultural {{Beatnik}} who could potentially be a bad influence to Hogarth and when the kid turns up in his scrapyard late at night, he promises not to tell anyone, which would definitely raise eyebrows these days. But Hogarth takes an instant liking to the guy and when it's revealed to Annie that her son sneaks out to play at the scrapyard, she seems unquestioningly okay with it. Their trust is ultimately rewarded when Dean puts Hogath's safety at top priority [[spoiler: and becomes his stepfather in the end.]]
** Mansley on the other hand is a professional man who works for the government and even though Hogarth immediately despises the man, Annie has no reason to worry about her son's safety even suggesting that he take the stranger on a tour around town. Her trust is ultimately misplaced when Mansley treats Hogarth with increasing hostility [[spoiler: going so far as to lie to General Rogard about the Giant killing a kid to provoke a military strike when he knows damn well that the boy is in the crossfire.]]

* The gigantic robotic super weapon had to come from ''somewhere'' (which the movie never acknowledges). It's likely that those who sent the Iron Giant to earth are not going to just give up after one failed attempt. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05XM9huSWNU This deleted scene]] shows the Iron Giant's memory of him and an army of others of his kind destroying another planet. The fact that the creators were so willing to sacrifice an army of them also strongly hints that there are plenty more of them, too. Also, the end of the movie explicitly shows us that the robots can survive nuclear blasts. And who's to say that he's still friendly after reassembling himself?
** The very last image of the film is him giving a friendly smile to the camera. We're fine.
** Plus, there's a good chance that most or all of the destroyed planets were, like the vast majority of planets in the universe, uninhabited. Who's to say the creators of the giants won't leave Earth alone when they learn it *is* inhabited? They may simply have not realized there was life here when they first sent out the giants.
* All those threats Mansley made against Hograth while trying to get him to reveal the Giant's location? Despite Hograth's protest, he probably ''could'' do all of them considering Annie's vulnerable position and single parent status.
** And imagine how much easier it would have been to carry out said threats if Hograth wasn't an only child!

* Plus, there's a good chance that most or all of the destroyed planets were, like the vast majority of planets in the universe, uninhabited. Who's to say the creators of the giants won't leave Earth alone when they learn it *is* inhabited? They may simply have not realized there was life here when they first sent out the giants.

** The very last image of the film is him giving a friendly smile to the camera. We're fine.

* This one could be considered FridgeBrilliance AND FridgeHorror: Hogarth is able to speak so eloquently about death because his DisappearedDad (presumably, judging by the picture on his bedside table) may have died in either TheKoreanWar or WohldWarII.

* This one could be considered FridgeBrilliance AND FridgeHorror: Hogarth is able to speak so eloquently about death because his DisappearedDad (presumably, judging by the picture on his bedside table) may have died in TheKoreanWar.