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Pre-Release Theories
Dr. Ellie Staple is a supervillain herself.
Based on some of the criteria established in Unbreakable.- Confirmed. We find out at the end that she is part of an evil secret society willing to murder any people who have super-powers out of jealousy.
Dr. Ellie Staple is a superhero herself
- She is a superhero looking for people like her. The villain looking for superheroes has already been done in Unbreakable, and it looks like the villain looking to team up with another villain is already happening in this one.
- Jossed; she is part of an evil secret society willing to murder any people who have super-powers out of jealousy.
This film has a hidden connection to The New Mutants
It just makes sense. I hope. More M. Night Shyamalan films will be alluded.
There will be off-hand mentions of Dr. Crowe and Haley Joel Osment will make a cameo as "Dr. Sear" David, Mr. Glass, and the Horde don't have gifts
The ultimate Shyamalan twist: the 3 main characters are mentally ill patients. The Horde's multiple personalities are real, but not as exaggerated in the previous movie. David doesn't really have super strength. Mr. Glass didn't kill anyone. The events in the previous movies happened only in their heads.- Glass' entire motive throughout the film is to ensure that the whole world knows that this is Jossed
Kevin goes good again at some point.
Entirely based on the green stripe on his clothes on the poster. It may be that Kevin wrests control back briefly or more permanently, or Barry/one of the good personalities does so.- Confirmed.
- Jossed, the Overseer is stronger and tougher than the Beast.
Mrs. Price is a villain as well.
In the second trailer, there's a clip of her saying, with a smile, "They always underestimate the masterminds." That seems to imply that she, in some way, knew and approved of Elijah's actions. She may even be the Greater-Scope Villain.- Confirmed (but sort of jossed)
- Confirmed because she, Casey, and Joseph, together, enact the final part of Mr. Glass's plan.
- But sort of Jossed, because that plan is definitely not villainous.
There are (or will be) other super villains and super heroes.
This is JUST the beginning. The world may see the 3 main characters as "delusional nut jobs", but they will be in for a big surprise. There will be hundreds of gifted people running around in the future. Mr. Glass and the Horde are the world's first super villains, and David is the first super hero. Their world is slowly turning into a comic book-like universe. They will inspired others to become super villains and super heroes. It won't be long until people start wearing bright colorful costumes and adopt gimmicks just like characters from DC and Marvel.- This theory is Confirmed. That's literally the point, as it turns out. Mr. Glass proves the existence of super-heroes and super-villains, to inspire future generations of both, thus defeating the plans of a secret organisation of jealous non-supers.
It's a Reconstruction of super heroes
In the trailer it's shown that the Beast is nigh unstoppable and the riot police who try to do so are slaughtered without leaving a scratch on him. The reconstruction is that with people like that on the loose, superheroes are necessary, as otherwise people will continue to die.- This theory is Confirmed.
The Beast will be defeated by turning Kevin's other 23 personalities against him
At some point, David or Dr. Staple will realize the Beast is gaining power from draining the life essence of the other selves, until eventually consuming them completely and maybe achieving near-godlike power. That realization will awaken superpowers in some other, benign, personality(ies?), which will be needed to save the day. Echoes of Doom Patrol's Crazy Jane.- Jossed
Dr. Ellie Staple committed a crime in her youth, something that vastly affected her decision to become a psychiatrist.
There is a scene in the trailers where David appears to be drowning in water, Ellie extends her hand to rescue him, and he takes it. What could happen in the film is that due to his superpower of viewing previous crimes from people he shakes hands with, he ends up seeing her backstory.- Confirmed. David does indeed detect some nefarious stuff in her past. Although it is significantly more recent than her youth, being essentially a confession that she is a part of a secret society who kill superheroes.
Post-Release Wild Mass Guesses
Joseph will become the Overseer after this
Joseph Dunn has super-powers, just like his dad. His super-powers kicked in after he broke his arm, trying to stop bullies, just like David's kicked in after he nearly drowned. Like David developed a weakness to water from drowning, Joseph developed a weakness, but in his case (being beaten up) it was a weakness to simple unarmed assault. Since Joseph remained vulnerable to simply being punched or kicked, he never suspected that he had powers. If he ever actually tried lifting the incredibly heavy amounts that his dad could lift he would find that he could. If he ever tried to protect a child from bullets in a firefight, he would find that the bullets do indeed just bounce off, like he thought that they would have done for his dad as a child. When he realises all of this, he will train hard in martial arts (and use the bruises that his training gets him as help covering up his secret identity, if he has one) while taking on the role of the Overseer, but as a more confident Superman-style superhero, bouncing bullets off his chest as he strolls into gun fights. He even has his dad's psychic visions but, just like his dad, always assumed it was just a gut feeling. Alternatively, Joseph will discover that he has super-speed, contrasting his father's superhuman strength. Also, Joseph will also gain the power to travel in time via super-speed.
He will also have his own alter-ego, The Blitz, so that he could be his own man.Casey will become the Horde after this.
I don't mean that Casey will literally develop disassociative identities, let alone one with the powers of The Beast. I just mean that for the sake of honouring Kevin, she will take the name of The Horde as a super-hero and become a Bad Ass Normal vigilante. In her case, "The Horde" will refer to the fact that she becomes anyone she needs to, just any face in the crowd, as a Master of Disguise. Alternatively, it will turn out that Kevin had mystical-based powers based on imagination which is what allowed him to have animal-like powers as the beast, and Casey exploits this and gain powers based on mythical creatures from various mythologies, contrasting Kevin's aforementioned animal-like powers when he's The Beast.
This will cause her to come up with her own alter-ego, The Legend, referring to her powers being based on beasts from mythology. Also to not associate with The Beast since that is a supervillain name. Ms. Price will become Ms. Glass after this.
After her son is killed, Ms. Price will see to it that his life's work continues. Not by committing atrocities to find super-heroes, as he has already set the stage. She will simply take in prospective future super-heroes and teach them what it really means to be a super-hero. She will use the name Ms. Glass as a tribute to her son. (And she might not have osteogenesis imperfecta, but she is still an older woman, so the name still fits). Alternatively, Ms. Price will choose her own code-name, partially because her son was a supervillain and she still hates her son's villainous actions while still loving her son, and also so that she can conceal her identity so that she does not become victim of Misplaced Retribution and Sins of the Son
- And she would be The Advisor.
The ending will be the opening of a much larger door to a bigger world.
Now that the cat's out of the bag that Superheroes and Super Villians do exist, there will be those who have similar abilities to that of David and Kevin, or different abilities, showing up to Philadelphia in search for answers. Joseph will essentially become the Professor X of a group of heroes, while Casey ends up starting up a super villain group opposed. However, with the Clover Group that Staple is a part of will form their own Evil Villains group that both groups have to deal with (think of it similar to the Charles Xavier School For The Gifted, Magneto and his anti-human group, and the humans who try to stop/outlaw mutants). The ending has opened the door to a much larger world.- This theory is Confirmed. That's literally the point, as it turns out. Mr. Glass proves the existence of super-heroes and super-villains, to inspire future generations of both, thus defeating the plans of a secret organisation of jealous non-supers.
Kevin's mother was the one with DID in the flashback scene explaining what happened to Kevin's father.
Clarence Crumb travelled on Eastrail 177 to see what he can do to prevent or stop the abuse inflicted on his son by Kevin's mother. He has a leaflet on DID on him. Kevin's DID developed after his dad's death, so it would make sense for Clarence to research the disorder for his wife rather than his son.- I'm pretty sure this is canon. I think Hedwig said so.
- Conversely, Dennis mentioned having existed when Kevin was only 3, whereas Clarence died when Kevin was closer to 10.
David's wife, Audrey, was a part of the Ancient Conspiracy.
Audrey intentionally kept David from pursuing a career in football to prevent a public/televised incident where his superhuman strength and durability would be discovered. Even as their marriage was falling apart, she stayed with David to make sure he never found out about his superpowers. When Elijah tells her his theory, she tries to make sure that David stays away from him. Someone will find the tapes of Kevin's personalities, become obsessed with them, and develop DID with the exact same personality set.
Because no one in a comic book ever stays dead.- It will be Casey.
- It's possible, as there have been some characters that are legacy characters in comics. Norman Osborn was the Green Goblin, and his son Harry eventually became the Green Goblin some time afterwards. Ghost Rider may be well known as being the alter for Johnny Blaze, but the Spirit of Vengeance has possessed others such as Noble Kale and Danny Ketch.
There will be a tv series.
I can't see Jason Blum sitting on a property this successful, but Shyamalan seems strongly against a sequel. The three supers will come back.
Why not? How is "survived drowning/a bullet wound" any more surprising or unlikely than any of their other powers? And Mr. Glass could have had any number of plans in place to help him fake dying. His sympathetic, loving mother had plenty of time to apply something to make Dr. Staple think he was dead when he was "just" severely injured.- To say nothing of the fact that Back from the Dead is one of the most infamous of all comic book cliches these days...
Superheroes have always existed in-universe, and throughout history they became characters of legends and mythology
With knowledge that an Ancient Conspiracy has been offing superhuman individuals for what may have well been millenia, it's very possible other superhuman did exist in the past and later became the likes of people like Hercules, Thor, and Jesus.- This is canon, Elijah said it nearly word for word in Unbreakable.
Joseph will eventually have a child, and that child will be a messiah to all of Super-kind
Just to really nail down the Biblical themeing, really. After all, that kid would the son of Joseph, descended from David, just as Christ was. In some cases, the Clover Group spares some superhumans.
The Clover Group killed Dr. Staples
The group doesn't tolerate failure and incompetence. The Clover Group will try to grow their own supers.
Now that the cat's out of the bag, they reason this will be the only course of action that will retain them a degree of control. The result? Miracleman. It will backfire badly. The Clover Group isn't as old as it claims, it's actually a revival of the Huntsclan.
And just like their parent organization, they also have a zero tolerance view of superhumans, and other fantastic beings, likely with a larger focus on superhumans. Cole Sear is the one who sent the e-mails for Elijah after his death.
Though it seems unlikely that The Sixth Sense is a part of the Eastrail 177 trilogy, however, Cole and his story can be seen being a superhero story as well. And though his story seems like it's least likely because of the supernatural element featured in it, people forget that superhero comic universes often have characters that are supernatural, such as Stephen Strange (aka Doctor Strange) for Marvel and John Constantine and Lucifer for DC. In a way, Cole had a "superhero" moment in a similar way to David, by listening to Kyra and going to her funeral, delivering the evidence on the truth behind Kyra's death. So, essentially, Cole's superpower is seeing ghosts and helping those who died get justice or closure. And since Elijah was looking for someone who was the exact opposite of him (basically a super strong superhero), he may have come across others who had super powers but disregarded them because he was looking for someone the super strong ability. This means Elijah could have found out about Cole and put the thought of him aside until the events of Glass. Remembering Cole, Elijah allows himself to die at the hands of Kevin so that his plan can succeed. And in his ghost form, Elijah goes to Cole to get him to send the e-mail and server info to his mother, Joseph and Casey, so that they could let the world know that supers existed. The Clover Group allies with some literal gods.
Because some of the literal gods are helping The Clover Group.