WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Army of the Dead, now in theaters and streaming on Netflix.
On its surface, Army of the Dead from Zack Snyder and Netflix seems to merely be a combination of zombie movie and heist movie. Granted, this is a fairly unique combination of genres, but it's the possible story within a story and the seeds it plants that's become one of the film's most interesting aspects.
When Army of the Dead's team of zombie killers finally reach their desired money vault, they find evidence that they're not the only group who was sent to abscond with the money. In fact, the corpses of the previous team are briefly suggested to be an alternate version of the team, and Snyder himself lends credence to this theory. Here's a look at the unexpected alternate universe/time travel theory surrounding Zack Snyder's new film and how there may be more to it than mere speculation.
About halfway into Army of the Dead, Dieter and Vanderohe finally get to the vault of money that the team has supposedly been sent to recover. Before they open it, however, they also see corpses of what were obviously humans and not zombies. These bodies are dressed in fatigues and other such accoutrements that make them heavily resemble Vanderohe and the rest of the team. Dieter hypothesizes that this was a previous team that was also sent by Bly Tanaka, but Vanderohe's theory is far more abstract.
Believing that these dead bodies are actually an alternate version of the current team, Vanderohe's words are as such:
"It could be us in another timeline and we’re caught in some infinite loop of fighting and dying and fighting and dying... And Tanaka, the puppetmaster, the devil, God. We’re… simply pawns in some perverse play where we’re destined to repeat our failures. And finally, in some mind-bending, ironic reveal – it all begins again."
This alternate reality/Groundhog Day theory comes almost completely out of nowhere, and the meandering bit of philosophy seems particularly out of character for the rough and tumble Vanderohe. Despite how absolutely random this all seems, there is evidence to support the idea presented by this scene and by Snyder himself.
As pointed out in this Twitter thread, the resemblance that some of the corpses bear to the still living team isn't just superficial. One corpse is wearing the exact same necklaces as Maria Cruz, who dies later in the film during the Alpha zombie onslaught. There are also two different designs for the vaults shown in the movie, which is never explained. Other ideas involve the characters supposedly interacting with past versions of themselves, or even Army of the Dead's ending being one of several alternate timelines.
This theory does make sense in considering Vanderohe's ending, given his earlier diatribe about alternate realities and some of the his other dialogue to Dieter. Vanderohe also somehow knew about the Alpha zombies before Coyote even mentioned them, despite this supposedly being his first rodeo with the creatures. This suggests that this version of Vanderohe could somehow be sent back to the past with knowledge from one previous failed attempt at escaping with the mission's money.
Zack Snyder has also added on to this theory's potential, as a recent interview with FilmJunkee Vodka Stream touched upon its possibility. His words on the matter were: "I will also say that, like... there's a chance - and I'm not saying this is 100 percent true, and in some ways it's not - but the group at the table, I mean, it's pretty subtle, but that's them also at the table as well as... they get farther every time. Like, is this the time they made it all the way to the money?"
With this in mind, everything comes together to make the sequence in Army of the Dead feel far less than coincidental. After all, the filmmaker is known for planting narrative seeds in movies that he intends to reap several sequels down the line. In fact, the concept is heavily reminiscent of some of the time travel ideas that Snyder intended to use in sequels to Justice League. Whether or not this will influence Army of the Dead's prequel and sequel remains to be seen, but it could certainly elevate the franchise even higher above the usual tropes of zombie and horror movies.
Directed and co-written by Zack Snyder, Army of the Dead stars Dave Bautista, Garret Dillahunt, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, Raul Castillo, Tig Notaro, Theo Rossi and Ana de la Reguera. The film is currently in theaters and arrives on Netflix on Friday, May 21.
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