A Minecraft Movie’s Best Battle Already Happened, And You Never Got To See It
Warner Bros.
In Jared Hess’ new video-game-based blockbuster “A Minecraft Movie,” Henry (Sebastian Hansen), Garrett (Jason Momoa), and Steve (Jack Black), are being chased by an army of evil Piglin warriors through the Overworld. In a panic, they flee up a staircase, only to find a dead end. They stand on a precipice, looking down at a rocky ocean, many hundreds of feet below then. Steve, thinking quickly, extracts two palm-sized widgets from his pockets. He explains that these are Elytra, a pair of special, back-mounted gliding wings they can use to soar away. He slaps one on Henry’s back and pushes him off the cliff. Henry screams in terror as he plummets, only for the wings to spring open and unfold at the last minute, allowing him to fly.
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The following sequence sees Henry and Garrett figuring out how to execute high-speed midair gliding maneuvers in order to outpace the Piglins pursuing them via floating Ghasts. It’s a comedic chase, as Steve forgot his own Elytra (he could have sworn he had three), and has to ride on Garrett’s back.
“Minecraft” players watching “A Minecraft Movie” will know that it’s very impressive that Steve even had Elytra. In the mythology of the game, Elytra can only be retrieved when one defeats the Ender Dragon, the toughest enemy in “Minecraft,” which dives at players and spits acid. Although “Minecraft” is an open-ended sandbox game that lets players tinker around however they like, the Ender Dragon is kind of the game’s “final boss” — and there’s only one Ender Dragon in each world. Defeating it in combat unlocks access to the only areas of the game where Elytra can be found.
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That means that if Steve has Elytra in “A Minecraft Movie,” he has already defeated the Ender Dragon. That implies that the toughest enemy in the “Minecraft” universe is already dead, and we won’t be seeing it in any potential sequels.
Steve seems to have already slain the Ender Dragon
Mojang Studios
In “A Minecraft Movie,” the film’s protagonists — Henry, Garrett, Henry’s sister Natalie (Emma Meyers), and their real estate agent Dawn (Danielle Brooks) — find their way into the Overworld. “Minecraft” players will be able to tell you that the Overworld is the first of three dimensions that one can visit in the game. It’s a pastoral and garden-like realm where one can relax and mine to their hearts content, only needing to hide in a house at night (as that’s when the monsters come out). Portions of “A Minecraft Movie” also take place in the Nether, a darker, volcano-like realm overrun by Piglins and Ghasts.
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The third “Minecraft” realm, and one that is not seen in the movie, is the End, a miniature dimension only accessible through End Portals found in strongholds. If “Minecraft” does have a “last level,” the End would be it. Players enter the End specifically so they can fight the Ender Dragon, hoping to prove their mettle. Once it’s defeated, you can find those little gliding wings that will, thereafter, make the “Minecraft” realms that much easier — and more fun — to navigate.
Of course, if Steve already has two Elytra, then he — by the game’s logic — found an End Portal, went through with weapons and armor, killed the Ender Dragon, and won his prize. “Minecraft” fans may be dismayed to realize that the epic Ender Dragon battle already happened before the movie begins, and they didn’t even get to see it.
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But then, we just might. By the rules of the game, there is a way to re-summon a dead Ender Dragon. If a player can collect four End Crystals and arrange them just so around the End’s exit portal, it can spawn a new dragon. “Another Minecraft Movie” (or whatever it may be called) could potentially introduce strongholds, End Portals, and a plot that requires characters to resurrect a dead Ender Dragon. The promise of seeing the ultimate “Minecraft” mob on the big screen would make the sequel an even bigger hit than the first.