History Fridge / TerminatorDarkFate

* Sarah Connor's first fight with Rev-9 was informed by her battles in the previous films; She shot the endoskeleton with a rocket launcher, when the original T-800 was heavily damaged by and ultimately blown apart by explosives. Using the shotgun against the liquid metal component was a weakness of the T-100's; the impact knocked it back even if it wasn't damaged, which also held true for the Rev-9. Finally, the incendiary grenade she dropped was probably intended to melt the liquid metal body to finish it off, much like the T-1000. This ultimately establishes early on both that Sarah is very experienced with fighting terminators, to the extent that she has a foolproof method, and that the Rev-9 has different origins to the Cyberdyne ones, and doesn't have all the same weaknesses.

** This installment also justifies the various sequels' existence by exemplifying the T-800's words in the [[Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines third film]], "Judgement Day is inevitable." While Judgement Day might be inevitable, that doesn't mean it can't be postponed, over and over and over again. Conditions in the present lead to a Future War between man and machine. Man and/or machine try to use TimeTravel to change the outcome of the war. This changes the timeline, changing the conditions of the Future War. Here we explicitly see the result, [[ChronicHeroSyndrome it is now Sarah Connor's job]] to prevent constant parade of [[BadFuture bad futures]].

* Carl's knowledge of immanently-arriving Terminators is apparently limited to time and place, but not the actual mission or intent of the traveler. Hence, it's entirely possible that, following one of his messages, Sarah has killed an agent of the resistance (whether human, mechanical, or a combination like Grace), or any other sort of time traveler. (Though the fact that she never targeted Gracr suggests that perhaps Carl can discern Terminators specifically.)

** Dark Fate's version of InSpiteOfANail is a lot more compatible with Terminator 2's "no fate but what we make" theme than Terminator 3 or Terminator: Genisys was, because the evil AI ''isn't'' Skynet, just something ''like'' Skynet. Judgement day is inevitable not because the original timeline magically reasserts itself, but because of human nature - Some humans are selfish and violent, they create a weapon in the form of an intelligence that is vastly more powerful than them, they program it to share their values which makes it selfish and violent too, it decides to exterminate its parents to ensure its own survival and dominance over the Earth.

* Sarah Conor's first fight with Rev-9 was informed by her battles in the previous films; She shot the endoskeleton with a rocket launcher, when the original T800 was heavily damaged by and ultimately blown apart by explosives. Using the shotgun against the liquid metal component was a weakness of the T100's; the impact knocked it back even if it wasn't damaged, which also held true for the Rev-9. Finally, the incendiary grenade she dropped was probably intended to melt the liquid metal body to finish it off, much like the T1000. This ultimately establishes early on both that Sarah is very experienced with fighting terminators, to the extent that she has a foolproof method, and that the Rev-9 has different origins to the cyberdyne ones, and doesn't have all the same weaknesses.
* The Rev-9 suggesting, even asking, that Dani's defenders simply turn her over during the final battle may seem wildly out of character for a Terminator, but upon closer reflection, may make a degree of sense. Factors to consider: all of Dani's defenders are present, including the T-800, the augmented human, and the professional Terminator killer Sarah Connor. The combination may have seemed like too many variables to properly guarantee his targets death. In addition, one of which is a virtual unknown to the Rev-9 (Carl) and he may be trying a new tactic against it since his previous attempt to smash it had failed. Factor two, talking kept them all distracted, which could mean to further deterioration of the dam and thus danger to the environment (and thus, to Dani), and could even further run down the clock on Grace's augmentations, since she requires periodic upkeep. Machines never need rest, but the more they fought, the humans would. Talking at that point seems like a delaying tactic as well as a valid attempt to win over a potential fellow machine and even the odds, making it seem more viable of an option.
** Its also consistent with the Rev-9's general preference for PragmaticVillainy - It knows the odds of it successfully convincing Dani's defenders to stand down are slim to none, but the potential upside (Completing its mission without having to fight.) is extremely high, and making the attempt costs it essentially nothing, so it may as well try.

* The name Legion, directly gives the idea of how it operates, by sending Terminators that can split off into multiple units, as the Legion quote goes "for we are many"
** The name of the Terminator model is also a reference to a famous kind of creature, REV-9 = Revenant, which in myth is a relentless unliving creature, that never stops and immune to conventional weapons, as shown, unlike Skynet T-series Robots is fully true, REV-9 cannot be stopped conventionally.
* Carl tells Dani that when he's picking out drapes for a room, he prefers to focus on patterns and textures rather than simply relying on the right colour for the room. Since T-800s are technically colour-blind, it stands to reason that he'd notice these things more than the average human would.

* Skynet's conception can be traced back to the first Terminator's salvaged remains. The REV-9's remains were melted down to scrap, so Legion's origins will have to come from some other source. Now remember how it took Sarah Connor 11 years to hit Cyberdyne Systems after finding out they created Skynet and the likelihood that she'll be able to prevent Legion sounds ''incredibly'' unlikely.

** Dark Fate's version of InSpiteOfANail is a lot more compatible with Terminator 2's "fate is what we make it" theme than Terminator 3 or Terminator: Genisys was, because the evil AI ''isn't'' Skynet, just something ''like'' Skynet. Judgement day is inevitable not because the original timeline magically reasserts itself, but because of human nature - Some humans are selfish and violent, they create a weapon in the form of an intelligence that is vastly more powerful than them, they program it to share their values which makes it selfish and violent too, it decides to exterminate its parents to ensure its own survival and dominance over the Earth.

** Dark Fate's version of InSpiteOfANail is a lot more compatible with Terminator 2's "fate is what we make it" theme than Terminator 3 or Terminator: Genisys was, because the evil AI ''isn't'' Skynet, just something ''like'' Skynet. Judgement day is inevitable not because the original timeline magically reasserts itself, but because of human nature - Some humans are selfish and violent, they create a weapon in the form of an intelligence that is vastly more powerful than them, they program it to share their values which makes it selfish and violent too, it decides to exterminate its parents to ensure its own survival and dominance over the Earth. Judgement day is inevitable in the same way that any living thing that survives long enough will eventually die from cancer.

* Before the gang leaves for the final battle against the Rev-9, Carl contemplates wearing [[CoolShades some sunglasses]], but decides against it. At first glance, an in-joke towards the early days of past ''Terminator'' films. But at a closer look, it’s a subtle sign of Carl letting go of [[spoiler:his tragic past over killing John]], as he wore them during that time. Also, even if he put them on, Sarah wouldn’t react in the best way.

* No protector was sent to [[spoiler: protect John from "Carl". John sent protectors to counter every Terminator assassin that he knew about, but Future John would have never known about the successful assassination that occurred in a timeline where he and his resistance never needed to exist. Ironically, Skynet only succeeded in killing John because it no longer mattered if it did.]]

** Grace does tell Dani [[spoiler: while they are on the C-5 fleeing that ultimately she did lead the remnants of humanity to victory against Legion when she finally reveals to her that she will become the future leader of the Resistance. So while it is not said how long the war will last and what the ultimate cost will be, like the war against Skynet, humanity ultimately will triumph against Legion. Legion almost certainly sent the Rev-9 for the same reasons Skynet sent the T-[=800s=] and T-1000, namely to avert its inevitable defeat]].

* [[spoiler: Legion is not/was not/cannot be stopped. There are several hints in the movie. First, Grace's tattoo that leads her to 'Carl' would only be placed if the resistance knew their rescue attempt would go bad. Secondly, during the war it is obvious that Dani realizes who Grace is (and who she will become) once she hears her name.]]

* It is likely that Legion will send other terminators back through time to attempt to kill Dani, only this time she will not have [[spoiler: Grace or Carl]] to protect her.
* Rev-9's VillainousBreakdown ensues [[spoiler:once Dani impales him in the eye with Grace's power source.]] He acts akin to how [[spoiler:a human does while being hit by a taser, and the most fatal place to tase a person is right in the eyeball. And since the eyes are connected into the human brain, the implications state that Grace's power source is sending its electrical currents ''directly into the Rev-9's CPU''.]]

* The fact that Carl [[spoiler: did what no other Terminator could and succeeded in killing John Connor]] truly proves that "[[ArcWords the future is not set]]".

** Speaking of impersonation, why does Rev-9 look Hispanic when all the previous evil terminators were caucasian? Because it’s an infiltration unit. Think about it: If it took a caucasian form in the middle of a community where practically everyone is Latino, it would stand out like a sore thumb because of it’s skin color, thus defeating the purpose of trying to infiltrate the humans in the first place. After all, an important part of infiltrating a community is that you don’t want to stand out or be noticed so that you can blend in better with the populace. So by looking like the populace, Rev-9 is less likely to be noticed.

* It is likely that Legion will send other terminators back through time to attempt to kill Dani, only this time she will not have [[spoiler: Grace or Carl]] to protect her.

* Carl says his relationship with Alicia is not physical, even after 20 years. This raises the possibility that Alicia is either asexual or was so badly traumatised by her previous relationship that she's gone off sex forever. Either scenario raises the possibility that Mateo may have been conceived out of rape.