10 Awesome Sci-Fi Twists You Never Saw Coming

There are twists and turns in most Sci-Fi, but these are the best ones you never saw coming!

ex machina
A24 Films

Science fiction has always been good about throwing crazy twists and turns at the audience. It happens so often, it's essentially a fundamental aspect of the genre... at least when it comes to good Sci-Fi. There are Sci-Fi flicks that don't rely on a twist somewhere in the plot, but for the most part, there's always something fooling the audience in the movie.

The best twists are the ones the audience never sees coming, and there have been some great ones throughout the years.

Where would Luke Skywalker be if he hadn't learned about his parentage, or how would George Taylor have known what was really going on had those damn, dirty apes not blown everything up? It's difficult to imagine these movies differently than how they came out, but fortunately, we don't have to.

Some of the best movies ever made were Sci-Fi classics that incorporated an ingenious twist somewhere along the way. These ten examples are the best ones ever pulled off, and it's likely, you were completely shocked when you saw them.

WARNING! This list contains MASSIVE SPOILERS!

10. Dark City - The City Is Actually A Spaceship 

ex machina
New Line Cinema

There are few sci-fi films as dark as Dark City, and no, that's not a pun. The movie isn't only dark in the fact that it never shows the light of day, but it's also ominous, and the twist at the end is rather unsettling once it all comes into focus.

The movie follows John, who awakens in a room with a dead woman, and he's the only suspect, but he has few memories of his life. He does recall a few flashes, which compel him to travel to Shell Beach, which is a bright and beautiful location presented in stark contrast to the environment of Dark City.

As he's trying to make his way there, he is chased by an enigmatic group of ghoulish men, all of whom are devoid of hair (and personalities), and refer to each other as Mr. Book, Mr. Chair, or some other item attached to "Mr."

These men are seen to completely alter the nature of the city, each and every night, and John is the only person who appears to be aware of what's going on. This leads to the final conflict, which reveals with a surprising twist, that the titular Dark City is a spaceship, and all the humans "on board" are subjects of an experiment the aliens are conducting on them. They are all inhabiting the bodies of their dead, and test the nature of humanity each night by injecting memories into their subjects.

It's one of those twists you couldn't possibly have seen coming, and it makes the movie all the better for it.

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Jonathan is a graphic artist, illustrator, writer, and game designer. Jonathan retired from the U.S. Army in 2017 and enjoys researching and writing about history, science, theology, and many other subjects. He writes for ScreenRant, CBR, NerdBastards, Listverse, Ranker, WhatCulture, and many other sites online. You can check out his latest on Twitter: @TalkingBull or on his blog: jonathanhkantor.com