WMG / Glass Onion

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Glass Onion theories

The Louvre rented Miles a forgery of The Mona Lisa.

Although shown painted on canvas in most films, The Mona Lisa is actually painted on wood. Rather than being a mistake by the filmmakers, this was a deliberate move by The Louvre, who figured Miles wouldn't know the difference.

• Confirmed by the director - as far as the canvas Mona Lisa being an in-universe imitation. There was going to be a post-credits scene that shows the real Mona Lisa unburned and well, safely in French hands, that had to be cut for some reason. (Apparently for legal reasons it's better to destroy a high-quality prop like that anyway. They just included it in the movie this time!) The Louvre and/or French government's reasoning for this is unclear.
  • "The Louvre and/or French government's reasoning for this is unclear." Most likely it wasn't them, it was some conmen who learned that Miles wanted the Mona Lisa and sold him a fake. He's certainly enough of an idiot to fall for a scam like that.
  • Actually, he said the opposite of that. The scene was cut because “But that pulls a punch. I like that the real painting gets destroyed in the movie.”

Derol is Trooper Wagner from the first movie.

We never learned his first name, and he seemed to be generally inexperienced during his time investigating Harlan's death. Maybe between then and now, his life fell apart, he turned to smoking and lounging about and somehow wound up on Miles' private island, maybe through help from Lieutenant Elliot. Blanc probably didn't recognize him due to his thick beard, and because he was so focused on his investigation of Miles.

• Or, possibly, he's on the island to investigate Miles undercover (having pivoted from the success of the Thrombey investigation into a job with an intelligence agency). This would further imply that Blanc recognised him immediately and was thoughtful enough not to blow his cover, and their shared smoke break towards the end of the film is between colleagues.

Of all of the surviving Disruptors Birdie will be the one whose career can recover - and it is thanks to her stupidity.

Miles is obviously ruined. Lionel and Claire are probably doomed by their previous association with Miles even without his hold over them.

Birdie, ironically, has the 'advantage' of low expectations. Everyone knows she's an idiot so the revelation that she had unthinkingly used a notorious sweat shop believing it was a place that made sweat pants would simply have many people nodding their heads. Additionally, and again thanks her reputation for cluelessness, people would accept at face value that she had been completely conned by someone like Miles where both Lionel and Claire would face much greater scrutiny as people who should have known better.

• It's also possible that Birdie could claim that it was Miles who recommended the facility to her without her really knowing that it was a sweat shop. Seeing that he'd be seen for the fraud he was by society, as well as being the one responsible for the destruction of The Mona Lisa, people would be more than willing to believe her.

Derol is a Garden Stoner

Miles saw the idea of an ornamental hermit somewhere, and this is the result. Derol gets a stipend from Miles to hang around and amuse his guests.

Miles will be killed before even making it to trial

Ma Cody proved to be far more intelligent and formidable than her son. When she learns from Whiskey that Miles killed her son she will find a way to kill Miles before he even makes it to trial for his crimes. It could even be the basis for the next film's plot.

All the characters got COVID.

Since the magic COVID mouthspray was suspiciously not elaborated on by Ethan Hawke's character and knowing Miles' conman character, it likely was just a placebo. They probably got it from Birdie, who would be too moronic to take effective countermeasures. While Benoit and Helen will be fine in the end, for Miles and the other Disruptors, this will be some extra shit-hitting-the-fan for their reputations.

Derol is Miles' Idea Guy

For a man unable to conceive of an original idea, what better way to come up with outlandish ways of disrupting the world that getting it straight from a stoner.

The reason Blanc thought Miles's murder of Duke was dumb

During The Summation, Blanc says that killing a man who's allergic to pineapple with pineapple juice is plain dumb. There's some good reasons for that:

• An autopsy would show no trace of poison and an increased presence of anti-pineapple antibodies, showing that the victim was exposed to the allergen. Duke's body would also show the classic signs of a deadly allergic reaction.
• A more intelligent murderer would have used grapefruit juice beforehand, as grapefruit can decrease the effectiveness of anti-allergy medicines. Duke not having an EpiPen on him is the only reason Miles' plan succeeds.
• Miles murdering Duke is part of his undoing. If he hadn't killed him, the other Disruptors wouldn't have been as worried about their reputations.
• An investigation would also make it clear that Duke's drink was purposely tampered with. Duke and Miles both like bitter drinks like scotch and whiskey, which don’t usually get mixed in with pineapple juice in more sophisticated settings (and considering that Duke is an MRA, he's probably a believer in Real Men Hate Sugar and avoids fruity drinks). This would mean that the presence of the pineapple juice would be bizarre and WAY too coincidental, pointing towards Miles tampering with it.
  • It would be too coincidental if other people hadn't been drinking pineapple-based cocktails already, but Birdie's Cuban Breeze provided all the plausible deniability Miles needed. All he needed to say was that he'd mixed up the ingredients on the cocktail bar, and then blame Duke for picking up the wrong glass.
• Alternatively: Blanc didn't want to further stoke Miles's already interminable ego by praising his plan.

Miles Bron was partly conceived as a parody of J. J. Abrams.

• While the obvious parallel many have drawn is with modern-day billionaire moguls (and one in particular), none of them are known for their obsession with a mystery box. Nor are they particularly famous for creating stories - like Miles' Murder Mystery - that tease excitement and thrills but are in fact childishly predictable to the extent that the creator has to switch up the formula at the last minute to maintain the "twist".
  • Alternatively, Bron could be Johnson sending himself up, as his movies run on "disrupting" audience expectations, and his own admission about being equally pleased if his films are hated as much as they are loved. Furthermore, the plot point of The Mona Lisa being destroyed could be dig at the Fan Dumb who claimed Star Wars was Ruined FOREVER after The Last Jedi, as if making a movie they didn't like was the equivalent of burning Leonardo.

Miles will attempt to frame Helen for Andi and Duke's murders

He and/or his lawyers will spin a narrative that Helen killed Andi, snuck to the island and killed Duke, possibly conspiring with Blanc all the way. Honestly, not reporting her sister's death, impersonating her to sneak to a secluded island and another person dying on the island is not very innocent sounding.

Andi was magnitudes smarter than Miles, but like him, she portrayed and thought of herself as much more intelligent than she really was.

Sending a picture of the envelope containing the napkin to people who you don't just know will just suffer from it and have contact with your enemy, but you have first-hand experience that they will stab you in the back to save themselves? That is a very Miles-like act of impulsiveness.

Sequel theories

Settings

• A wedding
• A cruise ship
• A ski resort
• A prison
• A school/college
• An airport
• A train
• A hospital
• A small, podunk town
• A campground
• A courthouse
• The suburbs
• A church

Victims

• A bride or groom
• An actor
• A politician
• A government spy
• A celebrity psychic
• A pro athlete

The killer will be be a white man

Seems to be a theme considering the two films so far, unless...

The killer will be a member of the working class, a POC, and/or a woman

Ransom and Miles were both obnoxious rich white guys, the third could break the formula.

None of the suspects will be white men

The killer will not be someone featured in the main poster

There will be more than one killer

The killer will be The Dog Was the Mastermind situation

Ransom and Miles were both featured pretty prominently in the plot. The next killer could be a servant, an assistant like Peg, a police officer, bodyguard or security guard who spends most of the film in the background.

Blanc will wrongly suspect a character

The killer will use Apple products in the next film

...somehow. Through some kind of heavy-magic negotiations, perhaps?

• Perhaps the killer rigs an Apple product to blow up or electrocute its owner.

The killer will be a Tragic Villain

Compared to Ransom and Miles, who had selfish reasons, the next killer could be snapping after years of abuse from the victim or trying to stop them from hurting someone they love. It could relate to one or both of the two above theories.

• Considering that the first film Knives Out is a love letter to the whodunit mysteries of the 1970s, with the Tragic Villain idea, it may also change the style of story to reflect the howdunit murder mystery genre that Columbo is best known for (where not only the crime is seen up front and the murderer is trying to avoid being caught, but sometimes presents the audience with a killer that they end up relating to because they understand the circumstances that drove them to do what they did).

The killer in the third movie will be played by Robert Downey Jr.

• We've already had Steve Rogers and the original Bruce Banner as killers, why not have Tony Stark round it out?
• Or Scarlett Johansson.
• Or as opposed to the previous two films, he'll play a rich character who looks like he's guilty of the crime, but instead will be a Red Herring and is actually an actual nice guy who happens to actually have some sense and intelligence (which would oppose the previous depictions of rich people as dumb and ignorant in the past two films).

The third film will be related to the Russo-Ukrainian War

The third film will be set amidst the 2024 presidential election

The next film will have an even more murderous villain

It'll have a higher body count as a result, and be Darker and Edgier, but not gratuitously so.

There will be no actual killer

The first "murder" will be some sort of accident, possibly done by the victim him or herself. Additional "murders" will more accidents, attempts to cover up the accidents, or the paranoia driving the others to pick each other off one by one.

• So it'd be Bodies Bodies Bodies but with Benoit Blanc?

Phillip will have an expanded role in the next film

Blanc and Phillip could be holidaying or going on a date somewhere when the murder happens. They may even have The Big Damn Kiss later in the film after one of them is almost killed.

It will have a Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot and have a title that as such serves as a metaphor

Whereas the first was about a crime hidden within a seemingly solved crime, and Glass Onion was about something nowhere as complex as it looked, the second sequel will start off with Benoit getting drawn into a very small time thing only to discover it's part of something way bigger and serious.

• It could be The Conspiracy for example.

Cast members

• Léa Seydoux
• Mads Mikkelsen
• Ralph Fiennes
• Lashana Lynch
• Christoph Waltz
• Ben Whishaw
• Rami Malek
• Javier Bardem

Blanc will face consequences for the Mona Lisa's destruction

Due to Bron shifting blame everywhere but himself, he may blame the detective who brought Helen aboard the island in the first place. Blanc will either have a tarred reputation or lawsuits against him.

Blanc's new "Blanc Girl" will be Asian or Asian-American

Peg will reappear

Either in another assistant role or as Blanc's new sidekick.

Another LGBTQ+ character that isn't Blanc or Philip will appear

Blanc will affect a British accent some point in the next film

Blanc will finally be the main character in the next film

After two movies of being a Decoy Protagonist, the third one will be the one fully centered around him, albeit without taking away his mystique.

The next film won't have a murder

It'll seem like there's one at the beginning, but as things are revealed Blanc will determine that the person who's death he's investigating was never dead to begin with.

The next film will be spring or winter themed

The first film was autumn themed with red/brown leaves, fog and knitted sweaters and the second film was summer themed with an island, lots of sun and swimming clothes. That means the third film will have either a spring theme with lots of flowers, green and clothes with floral patterns or a winter theme with lots of ice and snow.

The third film will (initially) focus on a different crime

Instead of a murder, Benoit will be hired to solve something else like the theft of an important object or a missing person case. Of course someone may get killed later on to try to cover up the crime.

Blanc's "helper" will be a guy.

We had two girl protagonists on the first two movies. Maybe the third will feature a guy to break the mold.

• It may be Blanc's partner Philip, given the warm reception he recieved by viewers, and the interest in his and Blanc's relationship.

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