Army of the Dead is billed as a Las Vegas zombie heist movie, but there's a lot more going on in the background, from aliens to robot zombies, including a number of clues spawning time loop theories. Zack Snyder's movies are always packed to the brim with Easter eggs and references to a deeper mythology, so it shouldn't be a surprise for viewers to find more as they dig beneath the surface zombie romp.
Netflix may have a full-blown shared universe on its hands after Army of the Dead, with a prequel animated series, Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas, and prequel live-action movie, Army of Thieves already on the way, and a sequel teased by Snyder. With the huge success of Army of the Dead, Netflix would be smart to continue to capitalize on the brand. As such, expect this to only be the start of the crazy Army of the Dead theories.
The time loop theory itself really only stems from a few lines of dialogue and some subtle visual references, so it's hard to know Zack Snyder has fueled speculation on that front, so it's sure to be at the forefront of the conversation leading up to the potential sequel
What Was Vanderohe's Time Loop Theory?
While there's a few things driving the various time loop theories, the idea was spawned by Vanderohe's monologue to Dieter about the dead bodies outside the safe where he suggested it was their bodies from another timeline and they were in an endless cycle of death and rebirth and Bly Tanaka was the puppet master orchestrating the whole thing. Adding to Vanderohe's words, the dead bodies bear some conspicuous similarities to the members of the team.
This caused fans to begin to look for other evidence of a time loop, finding numerous minor continuity errors or otherwise unexplainable events to add to the theory. Vanderohe is of particular interest and there's a number of moments with him, such as the fact that he seems to be the only character other than the Coyote who already knows about the Alphas, he gives the time loop speech to Dieter, he survives at the end, and he's bitten, but the bite wasn't shown on camera and it's not clear when the bite actually happened.
Zack Snyder Is Teasing a Time Loop
Fans might not have all the evidence they need yet, but they probably won't stop looking since Zack Snyder has teased the time loop concept multiple times, suggesting "the group at the table, I mean, it's pretty subtle, but that's them also at the team as well as... they get farther every time. Like, is this the time they made it all the way to the money?" While this may seem like fairly explicit confirmation, he proceeds it with "I'm not saying this is 100% true, and in some ways it's not," which is actually explicit in saying it's most certainly not the theory he just posed, however, it's clear he's interested in the idea of some kind of temporal occurrences. Whether that's as a metaphor, as can be read in the movie now, or as the literal use of time travel, it remains to be seen.
He's also suggested that something special happened to Vanderohe during the incoming animated prequel series about the zombie wars that made Vanderohe different than everyone else, possibly even influencing how his body reacts to the zombie bite. While an Edge of Tomorrow style time loop plot could be cool to explore with a character like Vanderohe, the mechanics will need to function in a way that doesn't invalidate the emotional arcs of the other characters in Army of the Dead. However, Van's experience in the zombie wars could result in any number of things, so it'd be premature to assume it specifically impacts the way he interacts with time. It could merely be something that changed his perspective on the universe or gave him special knowledge as opposed to supernatural or advanced scientific abilities.
The Time Loop Teases Are Already Resolved in the Movie
While time travel theories are always fun speculation, one of the biggest points against them is that Army of the Dead doesn't need it. All of the evidence for a time loop has explanations within the movie already, and there aren't any anomalies significant enough to demand any additional explanation.
Also, the time loop concept introduced by Vanderohe already works as a metaphor. Vanderohe is a philosopher, but he's also been giving dieter a hard time, and the time loop theory he pitched in the vault was even delivered with a punch line, as hit the trigger to explode the door at the end of his monologue, punctuating it as a tease to Dieter.
Also, the movie even followed up on the concept as a metaphor because Vanderohe survives and is about to start the cycle of "fighting and dying" again by going to Mexico City as a zombie. While it certainly doesn't mean a literal time loop is entirely ruled out, it would be next to impossible to prove at this point and as the story stands it's not necessary to insert a time loop to make sense of the movie. Some of the moments pointed to as evidence of a time loop could certainly shift with new context, however, none of them require the time loop theory to make thematic and narrative sense as is. The dead bodies near the vault are merely similar, far from perfect matches, and it's not odd for Vanderohe to compare themselves to a previously failed attempt as a "this could have been us" or "we could still end up like this" (which many of them did).
Does Army of the Dead Have a Time Loop?
Army of the Dead certainly plays with the concept of a time loop both narratively and thematically by pointing out a repeating cycle of "fighting and dying," as well as the use of thematic ideas like Joseph Campbell and Wagner's Götterdämmerung (the name of the safe), which is essentially Ragnarok, representing death and rebirth of the world, as teased by Deiter. Even the zombies themselves play into the metaphor as the living dead, but also Zeus is trying to reproduce, making a baby that seems to be something else entirely and would have marked the literal birth of something new.
However, with Snyder teasing the concept (while ever so slightly downplaying it), it seems like it may be more than just a metaphor. There's a lot of space between "more than a metaphor" and a Groundhog Day plot device, though. Vanderohe may only have visions of the future, for example.
This particular theory may be too far out there to be proven just yet, but with aliens and zombie robots and government conspiracies and more teased in this movie, with many answers coming in the Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas animated series, speculation and theories about Army of the Dead aren't likely to let up any time soon.