WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for Mickey 17.
Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi comedy movieMickey 17has three different title cards shown at three distinct times in the film. As the Academy Award-winning director’s long-awaited follow-up to his Best Picture winnerParasite,Mickey 17quickly became one of themost highly anticipated movies of 2025after several delays pushed it back from its original 2024 release. AlthoughMickey 17did not achieve the critical acclaim ofParasite, it earned a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 77%.
Mickey 17still performed fairly well at the box office, earning $127 million (against a production budget of $118 million) to become leading manRobert Pattinson’s fourth consecutive movie to earn more than $100 million. Pattinson, who portrays various versions of his self-titled character, primarily starts as Mickey 17 – who is believed to be dead – and Mickey 18 – who was generated to replace the previous Mickey. Even though Mickey is designed to be expendable, he has endured severe pain, torture, and ridicule because of his “inhuman” status in the eyes of his space colony leader, Kenneth Marshall.
Why Mickey 17 Has Three Title Cards
Each Represents Mickey’s Character Progression
Mickey 17has three separate title cards shown throughout the beginning, middle, and end of the movie. Collectively, they represent marks of story progression and character development as Mickey’s illegal predicament of living with his duplicate unfolds. The first title cars appeared for Mickey 17, the name of the film, beforeanother appears for Mickey 18 once his character is introduced. Lastly, the film ends with a revision of the title in the third title card for Mickey Barnes because he’s now the last and only Mickey once again.
The inclusion of the Mickey Barnes title card at the end signifies that Mickey 17 will be the last, and therefore real, Mickey Barnes, even though the original Mickey 1 (or 0) has already died. In what was a deviation from theMickey 7novel, the carbon printing machine that birthed new versions of Mickey was destroyed at theend ofMickey 17, which is not what takes place in the book. Since Mickey 18 dies toward the end of the movie,Mickey 17 can rightfully take over as the one and only Mickey Barnes.
What Bong Joon-ho Has Said About Mickey 17’s Final Title Card
He Views Mickey’s Joruney As A Coming-Of-Age Story
Bong Joon-ho explained his thought processin having three title cards inMickey 17. “Most of the film is led by Mickey 17. And then we have the main title, you hear a bell chime, the 17 turns to 18, and then we go to Mickey in the cave, and he goes through all these different stages to finally reclaim his selfhood and find self respect as just Mickey Barnes.”
Robert Pattinson’s 2025 Will Get Even Better After His New 77% Sci-Fi Movie
Robert Pattinson is already off to a great start in 2025 after starring in Bong Joon-ho’s latest movie with more upcoming releases on the horizon.
In this way, Bong Joon-ho viewsMickey 17as a coming-of-age story about Mickey finally rising to his fullest self. “That’s why I chose the number 18, because that’s when most societies recognize someone as an adult.”
