Back to the Future plot hole: Why Marty McFly should be called Dave after return to 1985 | Films | Entertainment

Back to the Future, which is on ITV2 this evening, saw Michael J Fox star as Marty McFly. The son of George and Lorraine, the 1985 teenager is in fact their third child after Dave and Linda. Now a popular fan theory points out a plot hole in Marty not being named Dave in the new and better 1985 timeline he returns to at the end of Back to the Future, thanks to his meddling in 1955.

Reddit user 34erf argued: “In Back to the Future we see Marty’s actions affect future events, such as telling Goldie Wilson he will be mayor and playing Jonny B Goode. When he says goodbye to his parents he says if you ever have kids and one sets the rug on fire go easy on him. His parents laugh and his mom says she likes the name Marty. In the future, Marty came from he has an older brother named Dave.”

They added: “In the original timeline Marty’s name isn’t specifically said where it came from, so it can be presumed that they just picked it. In the new future, there is now inspiration from a person for the name. Thus, it’s most likely that they would name their first son [Marty], who would be born closest to when their memories of Marty are still fresh and pick the name Dave for their second son. Ergo Marty McFly should be now Dave McFly.”

Another fan added: “It’s a good theory, but it is easily explained as the parents liked the name David better. To be honest, it’s been thirty years, and they only saw Marty for a minimum of a week or so. It’s going to be hard to remember a lot of things about him. And the parents don’t even say Marty got them together, but that credit goes to Biff.”