/r/AskScienceFiction

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It's like Ask Science, but all questions and answers are written with answers gleaned from the universe itself. Use in-universe knowledge, rules, and common sense to answer the questions. Or as fanlore.org calls it Watsonian, not a Doylist point of view

It's like Ask Science, but all questions and answers are written with answers gleaned from the universe itself. Use in-universe knowledge, rules, and common sense to answer the questions. Or as fanlore.org calls it Watsonian, not a Doylist point of view (Further reading on Watsonian vs. Doylist perspective can be found here, here, and in the dictionary definitions of the two terms.)

Take the fictional rules of the universe to their logical conclusion, ad absurdum.

We also now have an offical sub-reddit Discord server: Check it out!


Rules

  • Official rules post
  • FAQ
  • New FAQ
  • Submit a FAQ entry
  • [Tag] your posts with the setting you wish to discuss.
  • Answer the questions from a Watsonian perspective only-- no Doylist answers.
  • We discourage but do not forbid roleplaying. However, if you choose to roleplay, please remember that you must answer as if you had all the information available to a member of the audience. You already know Bruce Wayne is Batman, you already know Darth Vader is Anakin Skywalker, you already know Sauron is evil.
  • Any fiction is allowed not just science fiction. Avoid questions about real-world pseudoscience (i.e. chemtrails, homeopathy, etc.), however.
  • General questions are discouraged; without a firm set of in-universe rules, most of them boil down to "whatever the writer chooses" in terms of answers. r/whatiffiction, a sister subreddit, has rules more accommodating to these sort of questions.
  • No real life questions. AskScience and AskHistorians exist for that.
  • Any sort of competition questions belong in whowouldwin.
  • Sources are welcomed and encouraged.
  • Search for your question, it may have been asked and answered before. (This doesn't, of course, mean there isn't room for further discussion.)
  • Wheaton's Law (Don't be a jerk).
  • Upvote good content; downvote incorrect information. Report anything that discusses metadata or involves personal attacks.
  • Elaborate upon your answers. Low-effort posts (e.g. "Speed Force" with no further explanation when asked a question about the Flash) do not constitute satisfactory answers.

Spoiler Policies

  • The title of your post should not contain spoilers for six months from the date of release. If only the body of your post contains spoilers, you may instead make the title "[Canon] Spoilers: Canon" and not use the link flair. Replace "Canon" with the work or body of fiction in question.
  • Comment spoilers should be formatted on a separate line as >![Thing to be spoiled.]
  • Our Spoiler policy must be observed for six months following the date of release.
  • Spoilers from works older than six months may optionally be concealed using our flair system, however this is CSS-based and will work only in browsers.

This subreddit is for discussion of fiction using information about the universe and not meta information about the work.

For non-serious answers for real world science problems try:

And just for fun, don't forget to check out our friends at

/r/AskScienceFiction

865,745 Subscribers

1

[DC] Why don't Batman's contingency plans take advantage of each member's traumas? (e.g. Hal Jordan's dad, Jonathan Kent's death, etc.)

Batman is a pragmatist. The only thing he will never do, is kill, which his plans were never designed to do. So why don't his plans include full-on psychological warfare?

For example, using the trauma surrounding Hal's dad to discombobulate Hal. Or for Batman's own contingency plan, using his parents' corpses for nefarious reasons (like in the movie adaptation).

3 Comments
2025/01/31
17:12 UTC

7

[Ghosts US] The basement vault is impervious to ghosts; could that resistant material be added to keyboard and remote control surfaces so any ghost can use them?

3 Comments
2025/01/31
16:07 UTC

4

[Blade1-2] Changes to sunlight in 2nd movie?

Assuming if you're reading this, you've seen the movies lol
In the first movie, Frost and friends are outside wearing biker gear to stay.. "alive".. lol

but in blade 2, Reinhardt is also wearing leather.. sticks his arm in a sun ray, and begins to sizzle...

This bothers me. lol

I can't find anyone else talking about this, but I need thoughts lol.

5 Comments
2025/01/31
16:02 UTC

3

[The Devil Rides Out] Is Duc de Richleau More Powerful in the Film Than in the Book?

In Dennis Wheatley’s The Devil Rides Out, Duc de Richleau is knowledgeable about the occult, but he doesn’t feel like an all-powerful master—more of an amateur practitioner who knows the right rituals and countermeasures. He’s competent but still has limits.

The 1968 Hammer film, though, turns him into a full-on master of the occult. Christopher Lee’s Duc is authoritative, commands supernatural forces with ease, and seems way more in control, he became a Gandalf-like figure within the film.

5 Comments
2025/01/31
14:41 UTC

4

[Poppy playtime] If the bigger bodies program was leaked to the public while the company was still active would playtime face any serious consequences or would they just get a slap on the wrist?

I mean corporations get away with a lot of shit but they usually need to have some excuse for their actions no matter how flimsy. I'm not sure even the whole "if corporations aren't given totally impunity then we will have a communist takeover" bs will be enough to sway people into turning a blind eye towards the murder and experimention on children and the creation of literal monsters.

1 Comment
2025/01/31
14:12 UTC

1

[mcu/marvel] can different looking variant dreamwalk in one another

As dr strange and wanda dreamwalked into mostly in variant body who resembles them i.e benedict cumberbatch and Elizabeth can a person who wants to dreamwalk in variant body who doesn't resembles them for example can tom Holland spider man dream walk in andrew or tobey version or vice versa or just he can dreamwalk in the variants who resembles him

1 Comment
2025/01/31
13:44 UTC

8

[Alien][Dr. Who] How smart could a Xenomorph spawned from a Timelord/Gallifreyian host be?

And how lethal would this hybrid be? It would be a monster if Regeneration was baked in. I’d assume its intelligence would be far greater than a Human spawned Xenomorph due the Timelord’s tri-lobed brain.

2 Comments
2025/01/31
13:37 UTC

9

[LOTR] Could Saruman have claimed the Ring?

I've heard that, aside from Sauron, the only being in Middle Earth that had any chance of claiming the Ring was Gandalf.

Since Saruman and Gandalf are the same kind of being, and Saruman was powerful enough to imprison Gandalf, would that mean that Saruman is also powerful enough to potentially claim the Ring?

Or if not, did he at least believe that he could claim the Ring?

12 Comments
2025/01/31
09:22 UTC

1

[Gundam] Do the Gundams have souls/a consciousness? Or are they effectively just vehicles?

6 Comments
2025/01/31
08:04 UTC

6

[Mortal Kombat] What historical figures have fought in the tournament?

Fiore dei Liberi's The Flower of Battle is a 15th century longsword manual, and I noticed at least one of the techniques uses the words "mortal combat". That made me realize that with the tournament going on hundreds of years, it would make sense for plenty of historical soldiers and warriors to compete. Did Goro kill Napoleon in the MK universe? Did the Great Kung Lao have to fight Julius Caesar? Did a tournament occur during World War 2?

5 Comments
2025/01/31
06:16 UTC

5

[MARVEL] Is beta Ray bill any different than normal Thor?

Is there any differences between them? Their tools have different names, but they both have the powers of Thor. So are they the same or do they have any different abilities?

8 Comments
2025/01/31
05:26 UTC

21

[MARVEL] Does anyone who is worthy of mjolnr basically become exactly what Thor is? Strength and power wise?

Batman is a martial artist and has money and whatever.
Give me the suit and it won’t mean anything, cuz his power is in his mind.
Take captain americas shield, but you won’t be anything much cuz his power isn’t from the shield.
Same with Spider-Man and webshooters.

But in the comics, it seems. Donald Blake + Hammer = Thor
If you take away the hammer, you just get random old sod.
Foster + Hammer = Thor
Bill + Hammer = Thor

Apologies if I’m not wording my question great, but is there anything that would give Thor the edge power wise, if me and him both wielded mjolnr?
Does mjolnr make Thor, Thor, or is there something else inside?

29 Comments
2025/01/31
05:25 UTC

20

[The Mask] Why did The Mask fly back into Stanley's apartment when he threw it out his window but not when he threw in the river?

My guess was that The Mask felt that Stanley didn't need it anymore because he'd grown confident in himself at the fim's end. But it's such a strange occurrence because it's the only time in the movie The Mask alone acts sentient.

4 Comments
2025/01/31
04:09 UTC

5

[Death Note] What was happening with Misa at the end of the anime?

How much did she know? Her memories were erased and restored several times, and she lived with Light for years during the time skip, so did she know he was Kira? Did she even know about the Death Note?

And was she ever charged for the people she killed and/or for being an accomplice to Light?

In the end credits, there's someone who looks like Misa standing at the top of a building, and the implication is that she died.

But since she had extra lifespan from the shinigami that saved her, and she'd done the eye deal multiple times, what was her lifespan by the end? And did the time run out on the same day that Light died - that would be crazy convenient. Or could she choose to die and override the lifespan thing?

I've also read that the person in the credits is not actually Misa.

If that's the case, then it just loops back to the start of the question - what did she know and was she ever charged?

13 Comments
2025/01/31
01:35 UTC

278

[Conan The Barbarian] the riddle of steel is "what's stronger than a steel?", right?

In the movie, Conan was lectured by his father about the riddle of steel. When Conan confronted Thulsa Doom, the Warlord said he abandoned the pursuit of steel cause he found the true power: The Flesh. When Conan was enchanted by Doom's mind control, the barbarian, Conan look his father's broken sword. Suddenly, he's free from Doom's magic and slay the enemy, it's assumed in that moment, Conan solved The Riddle.

i have a theory that the riddle of steel is simple, "what's stronger than a steel?" The answer? There's no absolute true answer of that riddle. Everyone has their answer and their answer defines their personality.

Why Thulsa Doom stop his pursuit of steel? because he had solved its riddle. His answer is Flesh, for the hand (made from bone and flesh) was the one who handle and swing the sword (made from steel). His answer represent his personality as a manipulative cult warlord

What is conan's answer? The Will of Man. The moment he looked his father's broken sword, he realized that there's something powerfull than steel and even stronger than flesh. Without the willl of man, the hand can't swing or even can't hold the sword.

I can imagine what kind of man who answer it as Fire, for fire melts the steel: an agent of chaos who raid and burn every village he sees.

a Zen-like hermit with incredible calmness willl answer it as Time for time that make steel rusted.

So what kind of answer you give?

55 Comments
2025/01/31
00:41 UTC

80

[Aliens] has anybody been able to successfully surgically remove a facehugger without any ill effects to the host?

I know many have tried but with technology and knowledge about the facehuggers increasing with each crazy breeding lab have they every learnt enough about them to remove them from a person or host without killing them or seriously injuring them?

43 Comments
2025/01/31
00:09 UTC

15

[Conan] What kind of ethnic jokes did they have in the Hyborian Age, a la "So a Stygian, a Cimmerian, and a Pict walk into a bar..."?

9 Comments
2025/01/30
22:24 UTC

16

[Godzilla/Monsterverse] Why doesn't Monarch use the oxygen destroyer more often for kaiju attacks?

In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, an 'oxygen destroyer' weapon is deployed against Godzilla and Ghidorah. This backfires because Ghidorah turns out to be an alien and doesn't need oxygen in the same way Earth creatures do, meanwhile this weapon nearly kills Godzilla since the Big G IS from Earth. In the context of the movie, this sucks because rather than hurting Ghidorah, it only hurts Godzilla and nearly kills the only hope of stopping Ghidorah. Buttttt.......

Despite the failure in the ONE USE of the oxygen destroyer, its results were incredibly promising. To my knowledge, every other kaiju and giant dangerous city-destroying creature is of earthly origin. Heck it nearly takes out Godzilla himself, and even if it hadn't, it would have been hundreds or thousands of years before the overgrown lizard came up to the surface world again if humanity ALSO hadn't come to his rescue. In short, this proved to be a GREAT means of self-defense against any other kaiju in the franchise.

In the newer Godzilla x Kong movie, we see Scylla and the big Orangutan guy demolishing cities. So even with godzilla or Kong helping out, it's clear these huge creatures pose an enormous threat to innocent people. After the oxygen destroyer was proven to put even the most powerful kaiju out of commission, why isn't this weapon being used more? Does Monarch have any on standby in case Godzilla is caught in traffic or something and arrives too late to stop a rampage?

It just seems silly to me that humanity acts like it's at the mercy of the monsterverse's monsters when they already nearly killed the toughest one by pure accident.

12 Comments
2025/01/30
20:18 UTC

89

[Judge Dredd] why is there no other police force

In the comics they say that there’s supposed to be one judge per block plus street judges so I’m assuming a generous ratio of 1 for every 10k but why not hire some low level beat cops for stuff like muggings and traffic violations plus put a bunch of analysts on the surveillance systems I know that gangs are very dangerous and that’s where judges come in even if they get bribed it could still help lower crime rates

61 Comments
2025/01/30
20:05 UTC

8

[The Simpsons: Team Homer] How bad did the Holy Rollers have to play to give the Pin Pals a chance to win,given Mr. Burns bad play?

Mr. Burns is a bad bowler. Shown to throw gutter balls. The rest of the team are excellent bowlers

The Holy Rollers all seem to be excellent bowlers, getting 4 strikes in the time it takes for Mr. Burns to throw a gutter ball.

Yet by the end of the game the Pin Pals can win the game with just two pins.

What kind of game would the Holy Rollers have had to play to keep things that close given that Mr. Burns would be throwing 0s each time. And of not 0s there was no chance of him getting any spares or strikes.

3 Comments
2025/01/30
19:37 UTC

1

[Star Trek] How likely is it that the Bonaventure Class Starships that were first seen in The Animated Series served in the Federation-Klingon War of 2256?

In Star Trek the Animated Series we see an old derelict ship called the Bonaventure which appears to have been a precursor to the Constitution Class line of Starships. I was wondering how likely is it that Bonaventure Class ships such as the ones that we see in The Animated Series served in the Federation-Klingon War of 2256?

3 Comments
2025/01/30
18:59 UTC

29

[Land of the Dead 2005] In a world where zombies have taken over, what is the point of money?

John Leguizamo wants money. Dennis Hopper wants to keep the money. Dennis Hopper said it costs money to train soldiers. The people in town are seen using paper money to pay for hotdogs. And giving money to the strippers. You need money to live in the Tower. The Tower, by the way, ends up becoming pointless once the zombies attack. What is the point of money in a zombified world?

19 Comments
2025/01/30
18:37 UTC

16

[Yugioh] has Kaiba ever considered what he would do after he won?

16 Comments
2025/01/30
17:30 UTC

6

[Vampires] Would a vampire even need fangs to drink your blood?

How bad would it hurt?

27 Comments
2025/01/30
17:02 UTC

163

[Starship Troopers film] What did the Federatin expect when they conducted a ground invasion on Klendathu?

Another SST film question.

In the aftermath of the Klendathu disaster, we have several characters the and government state that "I thought we were smarter than the bugs" or put up hypothesis that the bugs were led by an intelligent general bug or something.

I get that they didn't expect the bugs to have actual anti-air/anti-orbital capabilities that were disrupting the landingsd, and might have prevented more ground troops from being deployed or get deployed too thinly to avoid anti-air plasma.

And I get that they didn't expect the bugs to create trap doors that collapses when infantry run over them.

But you are still dealing with massive armored swarming arachnids resistant to bullets and outnumber you. The bugs just used swarming tactics and used their superior numbers to run into MI lines. There wasn't really an brilliant tactics displayed here, you can see the same thing happen outdoors with ant battles or on youtube with ant battles or army ant swarms.

Obviously there was some important nuances that was never covered in the film. Did the Arachnids never exhibit that kind of massive swarming behavior before in the EU? Did the bugs 'pretend' to act like social but still wild animals like wolf packs or deer herds instead of organized ant/termite colonies?

74 Comments
2025/01/30
16:37 UTC

48

[GroundHog Day Movies] Would another person unaware of the loop always drop something in the same way each day or would it change in each loop? Other Loop Questions.

In GroundHog Day someone drops a plate. Would that plate shatter equally each day or randomly every loop?

In Palm Springs, Niles can throw a dart and hit a bullseye every time. Even with practice, can't the outcome change?

In The Map of Tiny Perfect Things the girl always gets knocked into the pool from a ball, but won't the presence of the MC's actions cause slight wind variations changing the outcome even slightly?

Does everyone else continue in their own parallel reality or are they reset each loop?

I love Time Loop Groundhog Day-esque films and enjoy them for what they are. Some of the physics seem to get lost to scrutiny which brought me here.

38 Comments
2025/01/30
16:26 UTC

0

[X-Men] Military Service (Conscription) for Mutant, is it a solution to stop discrimination againts Mutants

I see many Mutants, both from X-Men and Brotherhood, had served in Military. Logan served in US Army during Civil War, Two World Wars and Nam. Victor Creed was recruited in CIA Black Ops team in 1960s. Charles Xavier and Cain Marko fought in Korean War. Forge has a massive contribution in classified US Goverment Projects, most of them are related to Military.

Do you think this Military service will benefit Mutants? The Goverment wont see them as threat instead as a valuable assets. They will consider a shapeshifter like Mystique or Morph as a reliable secret agent to engage infiltration mission, teleporter like Nightcrawler or Blink as a best agents for mobilization.

12 Comments
2025/01/30
15:10 UTC

9

[Marvel/fun] What videogames are the 616 characters fond of?

Just for fun and based on a circlejerk post, i'm curious of what real life videogames have been referenced in the mainstream comic book series of Marvel.

What games do the superheroes play in their spare time?

The only reference I can think of is Deadpool pulling a Shoryuken in a very old issue of his. I'm planning on catching on these references when I read more modern titles, i'm still reading 80 titles.

11 Comments
2025/01/30
14:27 UTC

107

[Vampire and Faerie stories] If a vampire bites a fey does the fey become their thrall or is the vampire pacted to the fey for eating faerie food?

27 Comments
2025/01/30
13:15 UTC

20

[The Office, Threat Level Midnight] If the President was planning to have the stadium destroyed for the Insurance Money, why hire Scarn?

In this fictional movie within the show, the President of the United States asks special agent Michael Scarn to defeat Goldenface and defuse the bomb before it's too late, especially since that stadium is a part of his retirement. Later on, it's revealed that the President was always going to have the place bombed, for the insurance money. So that leaves one question: Why have Scarn on the case? Surely, it would've been more simple to just stay silent, let Goldenface do his awful crimes, and the place would've blown up without any interference.

Note: Obviously in-universe of the show, the plotholes and craziness are all part of the joke, but this is about the logic in-universe of the movie's narrative.

6 Comments
2025/01/30
08:11 UTC

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