“The Iron Giant” is a favorite animation classic, but the addition made in the Signature Edition could actually draw attention to a dark hole in the plot of the film. This film is a good piece of useful family fun, it uses the time-tested formula “A boy and his…” with a much less innocent origin. Despite the fact that they learned about the true abilities of the titled Iron Giant in the climax of the film, the audience expects a pleasant and optimistic ending. Except that there is still the question of the origin of the giant and why he came to Earth, which remains unexplained in the original version.
When the subscription version of the film was released, several deleted scenes were added to it. One of them spoke in detail about the origin of the giant through a sequence of dreams. In this particular scene, the giant has a flashback that manifests as a nightmare, showing legions of others like him destroying alien worlds. The scene answered a number of questions about the Iron Giant, where he came from and what his original purpose was.
However, the updated information about the origin of the Iron Giant paints a gloomy picture of the future of the Earth. If the Iron Giant really is part of a larger force, what’s stopping this army of identical models from wreaking havoc? If that had happened, the charmingly optimistic ending of the first film could actually have turned in a much more sinister direction and probably would have meant the demise of the little blue planet.
Humanity could not survive the invasion of the iron giants
“The Iron Giant” clearly shows that the title character is benevolent only because of a certain set of circumstances that probably need to be perfectly reproduced to make the Iron Giant’s army assume the same nature. Although Hogarth from the very beginning put forward the idea that a bump on the head was enough to change the nature of the Giant, this was later refuted. It just gave him the amnesia of his case. It was Hogarth’s friendship that ultimately contributed to the Giant not eventually becoming the death machine it was always supposed to be. This becomes quite clear when the Giant believes Hogarth is dead and returns to his destroyer mode only to return back when he learns that Hogarth is alive and well.
With new scenes from the Signature Edition making it clear that the Giant is not one of a kind, it presents the idea that more of these metal titans could land on Earth at any time. It was never clear how the planets were chosen or why he was alone. Therefore, it is quite possible that any alien entity capable of creating this advanced army of combat vehicles capable of flying into space will have the means to track their creations. Whether the Giant was lost or was just a scout, it’s possible that his mere presence could mean there could be more of them. With a whole army of iron giants to contend with, it is likely that humanity could simply be crushed.
However, perhaps most of all humanity is doomed to the inability to harm them at all. The film takes place in the 1950s. At the climax of the film, the Giant seems to sacrifice himself to save innocent people from an atomic bomb. However, in the conclusion of the film, it is shown that the Giant not only survived the collision, but also reassembles himself. Worse, not a single mark is visible on its metal frame, which means that the most powerful weapon available to humanity at that time would not be able to reliably damage the army of iron giants. In the end, humanity will not be able to resist the invasion of the Iron Giants, so perhaps it is good for them that there will be no continuation.
