The 50 Best Movie and TV Show Twists of All Time

The 14th anniversary of The Prestige felt like as good an excuse as any to create a package devoted to the movie and TV twists through the years that have stunned us, destroyed us, and changed the way we think. (The twist here is that we’re celebrating a 14th anniversary rather than waiting one more year for a round number.) Join us on Twist Tuesday, as we break down what goes into an effective twist, explain the drastic consequences of shocking your audience, and below, rank the greatest twists of all time.

Before we get to the list, a few notes. First of all, here is the working definition of plot twist that our staff used when voting on their favorites. Second of all, scroll with caution—by definition, this is basically a collection of the biggest spoilers in the history of pop culture. Third of all, if you disagree with anything in here, that’s just us, The Ringer, pulling off a great twist on you personally. Consider yourself owned.

50. Spider-Man: Homecoming I’m Dating the Villain’s Daughter?!

I have to admit: I was ignorant. Because Peter Parker’s high school crush, Liz (Laura Harrier), is Black and Spider-Man’s nemesis, Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton), is white, I never once considered that the latter could be the former’s father. That’s the genius of the twist in Homecoming—the way it leverages our simple minds to stunning effect. What comes after is brilliant as well—the car ride from Liz’s house to the high school dance is a master class in tension—but nothing tops the reveal, when a high school boy’s hopes for romance are dashed with the swift opening of a front door. The theater I was in collectively gasped in that moment—the sound of an all-time great twist. —Andrew Gruttadaro49. Coco The Truth About Ernesto de la Cruz

The twist in Coco is fun because it’s actually, very cleverly, a quadruple twist that gets rolled up into one mega twist. The first twist: They make it seem like Miguel, the youngest son in a family that has decided to actively hate music, is related to Ernesto De La Cruz, an all-time great musician who died at the apex of his popularity. The second twist: They make it seem like some dorky skeleton in the afterlife is going to help reunite Miguel with Ernesto De La Cruz. The third twist: It turns out that Ernesto De La Cruz is an extreme scumbag who not only stole the music that his partner wrote and passed it off as his own, but also murdered that partner. (He later tries to murder Miguel, which is a wild level of evil.) This sets up the fourth twist: The aforementioned dorky skeleton that was helping Miguel connect with Ernesto De La Cruz is the long-lost family member who Miguel thought Ernesto was. It’s all really great, and really well done, and it all leads us to one undeniable conclusion: Fuck Ernesto De La Cruz forever. —Shea Serrano48. Knives Out Ransom Did It

Even if you’ve never seen Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, you know the sweater. The dichotomy of watching Chris Evans’s chiseled body draped with the world’s softest white sweater sent the internet ablaze in 2019. The minute Evans’s character Ransom appears on screen, your mind barely registers that he’s undoubtedly the prime suspect. His charm, charisma, and laissez-faire attitude is a blinding balm in contrast to the toxic energy swirling around the Thrombey and Drysdale clan. By the time Ransom helps a terrified Marta (Ana de Armas) escape in his cozy sartorial choice, he’s been scratched off the list. So when Benoit Blanc finally reveals that it was Ransom, it becomes clear how much Johnson and Co. leaned on the innate celebrity of Evans to deceive the viewer. We don’t want it to be Ransom, because deep down in our hearts, we don’t want it to be Evans. —Charles Holmes47. Battlestar Galactica Starbuck Lives

Find all Christmas Movies In online free

Starbuck wasn’t Battlestar Galactica’s main character per se, but she came to define the series through her attitude and the fact that everyone on the show either felt familial affection or overwhelming romantic love for her. (In Lee’s case, a little bit of both!) When she died, the crew of the Galactica went into a funk. (The show even did away with the opening credits!) That malaise clarified only with what should have been the game-changing cliffhanger of Season 3: the revelation of four of the final five Cylons, “All Along the Watchtower,” things of that nature.

But no, as the newly revealed Cylons sleepwalk back to battle stations, Lee flies out to intercept an even bigger plot twist: Starbuck is not only alive, she’s been to Earth, and she knows the way there. (The definitions of “alive” and “Earth” came to change over Season 4, but we had no way of knowing that at the time.) This was the converse of your usual TV drama shocker: Yes, a revelation that altered the narrative arc of the series, but with the resurrection of a beloved character (the beloved character, in BSG’s case) rather than said character’s death. Maybe not all of this has happened before. —Michael Baumann