The Cloververse (the Cloverfield cinematic universe) is more than just a series of monster movies. Each film poses many mysteries and explores a number of intricate conspiracies. On the surface, Cloverfield movies are a collection of loosely connected sci-fi thrillers, but the truth is, they are more connected than you might think. Grasping the bigger concepts present throughout these films can be confusing at first. This article aims to help bring new and casual fans up to speed on what the Cloverfield movies are about, the mysteries they present and the timeline with which they all connect. With a new Cloverfield movie coming sometime in the near future, now is a great time to get caught up on the Cloververse as a whole.
Cloverfield (2008) – The Incident
The first Cloverfield movie was a found-footage film documenting a sudden monster attack on New York City. The plot involves a massive creature which emerges from the Ocean, destroys the city and humanity is caught completely off-guard. However, viral marketing for the film implied a much deeper, more sinister explanation for the monster attack.
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) – The Aftermath
The second Cloverfield entry involves a woman who is held in a bunker by a paranoid man claiming the outside world is uninhabitable after a global attack. Throughout the film it's never explicitly confirmed what is happening on the surface, prompting the woman's desire to escape. It is only during the final moments of the film where it's revealed The attack is revealed to be real, and aliens or inter-dimensional creatures have in fact attacked Earth.
The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) – The Cause
The third film in the Cloververse involves scientists who are attempting to solve Earth's energy crisis using a particle accelerator (known as the Shepard Accelerator) but things go horribly wrong. Their experiment essentially tears holes in spacetime, fracturing reality. The jumbling of matter and fracturing of reality simultaneously explain the monster’s sudden appearance in Cloverfield, the alien invasion in 10 Cloverfield Lane. The disasters are not isolated, they’re side effects of a single technological breakthrough gone wrong, rippling across timelines and dimensions.
Tagruato Corporation, Bold Futura & Slusho!
Tagruato and Bold Futura are the spine of Cloverfield's hidden mythology. They’re never foregrounded in the films, but once you know what to look for, they re-frame the entire franchise as a corporate-driven apocalypse rather than a random monster saga.
Tagruato is a Japanese mega-conglomerate that operates much like Weyland-Yutani or Umbrella Corp— a benign public face masking ethically reckless research. They are an international energy, shipping, and technology corporation, involved in deep-sea drilling, advanced research, and clean energy production in an attempt to help solve future global resource shortages. It was their deep-ocean drilling that inevitably disturbs the Cloverfield monster.
Bold Futura is a Tagruato subsidiary and functions as its corporate firewall. It was a Bold Futura branded satellite that crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near the resting place of the Cloverfield monster. It's implied the satellite may have leaked radioactive or other harmful materials into the Ocean, affecting / awakening the Cloverfield monster – prompting its emergence.
Slusho! is the third piece to this convoluted corporate puzzle. On its surface, Slusho is a cheerful frozen drink company but underneath, their motives appear more sinister. Also owned by the Tagruato corporation, Slusho was used as a cover for waste transport since their shipping routes were discovered to overlap with hazardous waste dumping locations. Throughout marketing for the first Cloverfield, it was revealed that employees often mysteriously went missing without a trace and the names of their beverages also seemed to contain a coded language.
While Tagruato pursues dangerous energy and resource extraction, Bold Futura handles risky projects and takes the fall and Slusho provides logistical cover. Collectively the company's experiments and drilling destabilize ancient life forms (Cloverfield), alternate dimensions (10 Cloverfield Lane) and spacetime itself (The Cloverfield Paradox).
The Cloververse is a Multiverse, not a Linear Timeline
Unlike conventional sequels, the Cloverfield movies act more like parallel stories told from different realities within the same universe. With respect to chronology, this would mean technically the events of The Cloverfield Paradox took place first and the other films showcase a different consequence of that film's events. One rip in spacetime causes the Clover monster to appear. Another rip caused an alien invasion. There are literally unlimited potentialities which could be explored as a result of mankind tampering with the fabric of spacetime.
The next Cloverfield movie is still in the works and plot details remain unknown besides the fact, it's been touted as a true sequel to the first Cloverfield film. However, now knowing how the films connect in a non-linear way, one can see how another sequel could take the franchise in any wild, new direction. A proper sequel could offer a linear exploration of one reality the rip in spacetime from The Cloverfield Paradox caused, but it would not affect or have any bearing on other entries in the franchise the way conventional sequels do.
