Things to Come (1936) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

The film is set primarily in Everytown, a fictional city in Southern England, with key scenes in Basra, Iraq. After the global war devastates surface civilization, humanity moves to modern underground cities. The story traces a journey from a wartime community in England to a global, technologically reorganized world.

• everytown
• southern england
• basra
• underground cities
• setting

The story spans from the 1940s, beginning with World War II fears, through the 1960s' dark age after global devastation, and into the 1970s and beyond. By 2036, humanity has developed stable underground cities and a renewed, if contested, peace. The timeline covers over 90 years of human history.

• 1940s
• 1960s
• 2036
• timeline
• future
• world war

Wings Over the World is a global movement that emerges after the second World War ends. It establishes a pragmatic, rational state that rebuilds civilization from the ruins and pursues an ambitious space travel program. The organization operates from bases like Basra and governs through technological ambition and controlled peace.

• wings over the world
• global government
• space travel
• reconstruction

The Boss is a warlord who rules Everytown after the collapse of civilization. He uses coercive power and a weapon called the Gas of Peace to subdue the population. He seeks coal and shale for a new war effort and is ultimately killed by an allergic reaction to the very gas he deployed. He embodies the dangers of centralized control in a post-apocalyptic world.

• the boss
• warlord
• gas of peace
• everytown
• tyranny

The Gas of Peace is a coercive tool used by The Boss to silence dissent and impose his vision of order on the weary population. It functions as both a weapon and a psychological control mechanism. The Boss's death by allergic reaction to his own gas serves as ironic commentary on the self-destructive nature of tyrannical power.

• gas of peace
• weapon
• coercion
• control
• the boss

The film explores who controls society through multiple lenses: a postwar warlord, the global Wings Over the World movement, and the governance built around technological promise. Authority is depicted as both necessary for survival and potentially corrupting. The tension between leadership and resistance drives the narrative from tyranny to strategic manipulation of public opinion.

• power
• authority
• control
• governance
• tyranny
• resistance

Progress is shown as double-edged, delivering civilization's renewal while accelerating social control. The pursuit of technological feats from biplanes to spaceflight propels humanity forward but creates new dependencies and ethical choices. The story questions whether advancement justifies the costs it imposes on freedom, depicting progress as both salvation and potential cage.

• progress
• technology
• spaceflight
• advancement
• 代价

Freedom vs. order is a central tension: Wings Over the World promises peace but imposes governance on a weary population. The dialogue around whether humanity should rest or relentlessly chase discovery frames a moral struggle about autonomy. The climactic question, 'All the universe or nothingness,' encapsulates the choice between expansive ambition and preserving individual liberty.

• freedom
• order
• autonomy
• rest
• universe
• nothingness

John Cabal is an engineer and former RAF pilot who becomes the driving force behind Wings Over the World. Initially imprisoned by The Boss and forced to repair old planes, he later becomes Oswald Cabal, guiding government decisions during the rebuilt era. He questions the costs of progress while helping humanity reach for space.

• john cabal
• oswald cabal
• engineer
• raf pilot
• wings over the world

Pippa Passworthy is a relentlessly optimistic character who believes technological progress will rapidly resolve humanity's problems. Her faith in progress contrasts with other characters' more wary attitudes toward power and control. She represents the hopeful impulse that sustains effort through uncertainty and loss.

• pippa passworthy
• optimism
• hope
• progress

Maurice Passworthy is a scientist who debates with Cabal about whether society should rest from progress or push forward. His perspective grounds the intellectual conflict over how quickly civilization should advance and at what human cost. He serves as a counterpoint to the more aggressive pursuit of exploration and space travel.

• maurice passworthy
• scientist
• debate
• progress
• rest

Theotocopulos is a sculptor who stirs public sentiment in favor of a 'rest' from fast-paced progress. He becomes a provocative figure in the cultural debate about what civilization should value, embodying the aesthetic and philosophical pushback against relentless technological advancement.

• theotocopulos
• sculptor
• rest
• progress debate
• philosophy

The climactic question 'All the universe or nothingness' encapsulates the film's central moral struggle: whether humanity should pursue expansive ambition and explore space, or preserve individual liberty and rest from relentless progress. The ambiguous ending leaves this question unresolved, landing in a bittersweet-to-ambivalent range.

• universe
• nothingness
• ending
• ambiguous
• space exploration
• choice