10 Awesome Sci-Fi Twists You Never Saw Coming
8. The Terminator - Kyle Reese Is John Connor's Father
James Cameron's The Terminator stands as one of the best action/sci-fi flicks of all time, and while the vast majority of its sequels haven't met with much success, the original film continues to stand the test of time. It's a well-written time-travel sci-fi/action/adventure filled with suspense and a huge '80s movie body count.
What made the movie so interesting was the fact that it involved a great deal of time travel, but took place in the present... well, the present as it was back in 1984, anyway. Kyle Reese was sent back in time by his friend and commander, John Connor, to protect Connor's mother, Sarah Connor.
At the same time, a T-800 series Terminator, in the form of Arnold Schwarzenegger, arrives to take out the young woman, who hasn't had any children just yet. Kyle convinces her that he's there to help, and the two fight against the Terminator until they finally destroy it, but Kyle was killed in the process... and of course, they did the nasty before that happened.
Soon after Kyle's death, Sarah learns that she is pregnant, and Kyle was sent back in time by his own son to impregnate his mother, so he could be born, though Reese didn't know it. It's a crazy circular series of events that could only happen if they already happened, but hadn't yet happened. It's confusing, as most time travel is, but the revelation that Reese was John Connor's father all along remains one of the best twists in the genre.