Doc Brown’s Dark Backstory, Hidden By Back To The Future, Explained


For a film that explicitly deals with the past, Back to the Future seems to withhold a hidden backstory that’s vitally important to the main plotline. As explained in the Making The Trilogy featurette, pivotal character Dr. Emmett Brown is said to have worked as a scientist on the Manhattan Project. His involvement in the invention of the atomic bomb acts as a logical explanation for his flux capacitor invention and his familiarity with nuclear science. And yet, the filmmakers seem to have chosen to omit this key piece of character information.




Time travel has always been a part of storytelling tradition, with explanations ranging from magic to dreams. However, the Industrial Revolution coinciding with the development of the science fiction genre allowed for a more sophisticated understanding of time travel. Arguably, this emphasis on technology has allowed the device to take on dark overtones and is often used as a metaphor for other modern anxieties. The tidbit concerning Doc Brown’s association with the Manhattan Project is a perfect example, firmly rooting Back to the Future in this tradition.


Doc Brown Was A Scientist On The Manhattan Project Before Back To The Future

Drawing Connections Between Back To The Future and Oppenheimer


When Bob Gale revealed Doc Brown’s scientific origins, the screenwriter opened possibilities to a potentially darker backstory hidden within Back to the Future. The Manhattan Project obviously comes with its own sinister implications, as explored in Christopher Nolan’s award-winning Oppenheimer. Knowing there’s a Back to the Future timeline where J. Robert Oppenheimer and Dr. E. Brown were colleagues adds another layer of supposed regret and fate to this 1985 adventure flick. By choosing to eschew this character detail altogether, the filmmakers miss a huge opportunity to further the themes and messages of the film.

As a genre-defining film, Back to the Future playfully examines the consequences of fate through its time travel story plot. Doc Brown serves as the pseudoscience wizard who ushers Marty McFly on his journey across the space-time continuum. But Doc’s purpose isn’t expanded upon much further than his wacky scientist identity. With Nolan utilizing the Manhattan Project as a backdrop for Oppenheimer’s conflicted digestion of American history, there’s certainly room for Doc Brown to embrace a revisionist attitude when it comes to his dark past.


Why Back To The Future Never Mentions Doc Brown’s Dark Past

Connecting The Manhattan Project To Back To The Future III

Back to the Future likely excludes Brown’s involvement in the Manhattan Project because it would throw off the family-friendly tone. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize how an Oppenheimer-esque tale about the invention of the atomic bomb would not fit in a Robert Zemeckis fever dream. Despite its playful intentions, the film still discusses American history by capturing time capsules of the 1950s and 1980s, and subtly provides prophetic social commentary on media, politics, and conservative sexuality. To say the Manhattan Project wouldn’t fit within the Back to the Future multiverse would ignore the film’s historical context.


The Manhattan Project likely draws more weight when considering the ending of Back to the Future III. As Doc Brown closes out his time-traveling adventures, he chooses to stay behind in 1885 rather than return to present-day 1985. The far past comes to represent a simpler time for Brown as he resorts to residing in a time period relatively untouched by nuclear warfare and cross-dimensional travel. Suppose the Manhattan Project is a canonical aspect of Dr. Emmett Brown’s backstory. In that case, running away to the past is the perfect conclusion for this conflicted character arc, hinted at in the background to Back to the Future.

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