When Back to the Future Part II shows Marty McFly’s possible fate in 2015, it reveals that his life was ruined by an injury he sustained in a car accident. Following on from the cliffhanger ending of the original film, Doc Brown initially takes Marty and his girlfriend Jennifer into the future to prevent their son Marty, Jr. from committing a crime. But when their plan goes awry as usual, Jennifer ends up in her own future home, where she learns that married life with Marty is far from idyllic.
Much like his father in the original Back to the Future timeline, Marty grew up to lead a mundane, unfulfilling life under the thumb of his childhood bully. Jennifer overhears that Marty’s troubles started when he suffered an injury from an automobile accident years earlier, but the movie stays pretty vague about how it happened. The ending of Back to the Future Part III comes back to this plot point and reveals how Marty’s accident would’ve happened in an alternate timeline.
The Moment Of Marty McFly’s Injury Is Shown In Back To The Future Part III’s Ending
If He’d Accepted Needles’ Challenge For A Race, Marty Would’ve Hit A Car Pulling Out
At the end of Back to the Future Part III, when Marty returns to 1985 and reunites with Jennifer, Needles challenges him to a street race while they’re waiting at a stoplight. The old reckless Marty probably would’ve accepted the race, but at the end of his trilogy-long character arc, he refuses the race. As Needles drives off down the street, a car pulls out into the lane Marty would’ve been in, and he realizes he would’ve hit the car if he’d accepted the challenge. This would’ve been the car crash that Doc warned him about.
Why Marty Doesn’t Accept Needles’ Challenge In Back To The Future Part III’s New Timeline
Marty Has Matured Beyond His Childish Obsession With The Word “Chicken”
All throughout the Back to the Future trilogy, whenever Marty tries to back away from a challenge and someone calls him “chicken,” it triggers him to turn around and accept the challenge. “Nobody calls me chicken,” he’d always say. But at the end of the third movie, even when Needles calls Marty “chicken” to goad him into the street race, Marty still declines. This goes to show how much Marty has matured over the course of the trilogy.
After nearly getting stranded in the Old West (and nearly destroying the spacetime continuum), Marty realizes what’s really important.
Marty lets go of his “chicken” trigger because he doesn’t need to get worked up over petty grievances anymore. After nearly getting stranded in the Old West (and nearly destroying the spacetime continuum), Marty realizes what’s really important. It doesn’t matter if the bullies think he’s cool; what matters is following his dreams with Jennifer, so he doesn’t end up living the kind of life he leads in Back to the Future Part II.
