Summary

• The Glass ending subverted audience expectations with shocking deaths, revealing a different superhero story.
• The Horde and The Overseer’s origins are tied to Mr. Glass’s train crash plot, connecting Unbreakable and Split.
• Mr. Glass’s masterplan was to reveal superheroes to the world, culminating in a suicide mission and a paradigm shift.

Carrying on the unique story of superheroes and supervillains from M. Night Shyamalan, the Glass ending subverted expectations, leading to a mixed response from audiences. A sequel to both Unbreakable and Split, Glass picks up the stories of David Dunn aka The Overseer (Bruce Willis), and Elijah Price aka Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson) from the former movie, and Kevin Wendell Crumb aka The Horde (James McAvoy) from the latter. As the movie begins, Dunn faces off with Crumb only for them both to be captured and taken to the same psychiatric institution that holds Elijah Price under heavy sedation.

Once there, Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) attempts to cure all three of their belief in being superheroes but ultimately fails to hide them from the truth. Mr. Glass plots a grand way to reveal the truth to the world, recruiting The Beast to his cause and taunting David into opposing them, leading to a final showdown outside the hospital. What comes next is a slew of twists and several shocking deaths that prove Shyamalan was telling a much different superhero story. However, what the ending means and where the franchise could go from there requires some more exploration.

Glass is currently available to stream on Netflix.

The Horde Was Created By Mr. Glass

Glass Reveals Split's Hidden Link To Unbreakable

The fact that Split was secretly a sequel to Unbreakable was a great twist, but Glass further explored how the movies are connected. The starting point for Unbreakable is the Eastrail 177 train crash, orchestrated by Elijah Price in a bid to find a superbeing, of which David Dunn is the only survivor. In Split, it's gradually revealed that Kevin Wendell Crumb's father was killed in a train accident, an event that left him at the mercy of his violent mother and directly led to his various personalities.

Albeit accidentally, Mr. Glass created not just The Overseer but also The Horde.

The first of Glass' big ending twists is that these were the same train: Clarence Wendell Crumb was just a few rows behind David Dunn. This means that, albeit accidentally, Mr. Glass created not just The Overseer but also The Horde. As he sees it, he's the great superpowered mastermind, crafting heroes and villains as he pleases; killing Clarence was a happy accident, not an accidental tragedy. The Horde, of course, takes it somewhat differently, revealing a self-hatred within itself that it now directs towards Elijah.

Glass drops even more clues ahead of the ending reveal

The clues for this train twist were there throughout both Split and Glass (to the point that it became a popular fan theory). It's established in the previous movie that Kevin's father died when he was a child, which can line up with Unbreakable's 2000 setting, and The Horde first transforms into The Beast after laying flowers at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, the same place David was traveling to.

Glass drops even more clues ahead of the ending reveal: it confirms Kevin is 27 years old, making him six in 2000; Elijah finds a big secret in his file, one that seems to connect to him; and Joseph Dunn is further shown finding more information.

The Meaning Of All Of Glass' Superhero Deaths

The Controversial Deaths Have Meaning To The Wider Universe

The final battle at Glass' ending between The Overseer and The Beast ends in meticulous tragedy for all involved. Each hero dies in a way that's fitting for their comic origin, with a loved one there to help them pass on. First, Mr. Glass is beaten up by The Beast after learning of his role in Clarence W. Crumb's death. Elijah then collapses to the ground, breaking even more of his brittle bones and slowly bleeding out in the company of his mother (Charlayne Woodard).

There is, nevertheless, a catharsis in the death of Mr. Glass

Mr. Glass was a person of immense intellect with a major physical disability who thus viewed himself as a background mastermind; that the osteogenesis imperfecta, a disease that has put him in immense pain since birth, is the root cause of his death is almost inevitable. However, as he's the "bad guy" of this story, it's interesting that the killing blow comes from a flaw in his plan and Kevin's past being revealed too early. There is, nevertheless, a catharsis in the death of Mr. Glass; he repeats a line from the end of Unbreakable about proving he's "not a mistake."

Kevin is then shot by a sniper and his original personality is brought into the light by Casey Cooke (Anya Taylor-Joy). Casey's overriding care for her former captor may come across as Stockholm syndrome, but it's more rooted in their shared recognition of a tortured past; Casey was sexually abused by her uncle and Kevin was repeatedly assaulted by his mother.

However, while this gives them both clarity — Dennis expresses regret and even The Beast admits it doesn't want to exist — it also directly leads to Kevin's death; had he been in his Beast form when shot, his stronger skin would have deflected the bullet. This was The Horde's weakness, but one Kevin accepts as he's finally able to achieve peace.

Each one of these deaths is a resolution on its own terms, but it's together where the real meaning comes in.

Finally, David Dunn is drowned by one of the on-site enforcers. His showdown with The Beast in an attempt to stop Elijah's proposed terrorist attack ended in the hospital's water tank. While he was able to save himself from his one weakness, he was then dragged to a deep puddle and drowned. Joseph Dunn (Spencer Treat Clark) tries to stop the soldier, but it's too late. Dunn's death is certainly the most tragic. It is entirely preventable, goes against him overcoming his weakness, and ultimately provides no resolution to his arc.

David was the hero and yet got an entirely ignominious death, while the villains had their tragic arcs touchingly resolved, which is part of a bigger point made by Glass' ending. Each one of these deaths is a resolution on its own terms, but it's when they're viewed together that the real meaning comes in. The world doesn't accept these superpowered beings and, as a result, they can't survive. They are destined to live troubled lives and only find purpose in their own deaths with only their closest loved ones to comfort them.

What Is The Clover Organization In Glass' Ending?

Dr. Staple Is Part Of A Secret Organization Suppressing Superheroes

The deaths of the three main characters are not M. Night Shyamalan's only twists in the ending of Glass as he also introduces the secret organization known as Clover. This is seen as the sniper who kills Kevin and the guard who drowns David are both shown to have clover tattoos on their hands. This then leads to Dr. Staple revealing that she is also part of the organization whose job it is to suppress the idea of superheroes in the world.

They view superpowered beings as a threat to humanity's development - in Staple's words, they're "not fair" - and so attempt to both pacify the people themselves and keep wider awareness of them in the population a secret. The group has existed for 10,000 years in some form, pretty much since the emergence of modern humanity, and today functions like any high-end secret society. They hold private meetings in restaurants to discuss plans and send Staple around the country to pacify outbreak situations.

The Clover Organization Doesn't Want To Kill Superheroes - It Wants To Trick Them

The Organization Sought To Convince These People They Were Not Superheroes

Despite killing David and Kevin in the climax of the movie, the first objective of the Clover organization is not to simply eliminate superpowered people but rather to convince them they are ordinary. One of the central ideas of Glass that's extended from Split is the conflation of superpowers with mental illness. In Split, it was taken as mental illness born of hardship was a way to elevate a person, but here it's reversed, with it being suggested the very idea of superpowers is a delusion.

Staple breaks down how everything seen in the Glass franchise so far can be explained in entirely rational ways. David's mind-reading is just an advanced magician trick. The Beast is just a man who withstood dud bullets and bent centuries-old bars. For an entire stretch in the mid-section, the movie entertains the theory that this story exists in a world where superheroes don't exist, only for it to be smashed to pieces by the final act showdown.

[T]hey play David, Kevin, and Elijah's abilities as delusions of grandeur inside and out, hoping to convince the subjects and the people around them that they're nothing more than ordinary people.

Sewing the seeds of doubt was the Clover organization's real plan. They play David, Kevin, and Elijah's abilities as delusions of grandeur inside and out, hoping to convince the subjects and the people around them that they're nothing more than ordinary people. Clover knows that in the real world, the barrier of belief in such impossible powers is high — it took David a whole movie to accept he was unbreakable, while originally only two of Kevin's 23 personalities believed in The Beast - and manipulate that.

They only turn to weapons and violence when that hypothesis is rejected. At the end of Glass', all three superpowered characters come to embrace their powers and get support from a close loved one who fully believes the fantastical things they say. In that moment, the Clover organization failed, and they have to take drastic measures. It's a small detail, but highly important to the films' themes of belief.

Mr. Glass' Masterplan Explained

Glass Wanted To Reveal Superheroes To The World

The big twist of Glass is, in its simplest form, the same as Unbreakable's: Mr. Glass was behind it all. His plan was never, as repeatedly teased, to lead a terrorist attack on Philadelphia's new tallest building. Instead, the entire showdown was a suicide mission, a literal show for the cameras, and a final step in his bid to bring superheroes to the real world.

After his death, he had these videos sent to Mrs. Price, Casey, and Joseph, who together agreed to reveal it to the world.

Awakened after years on medication, Elijah began to use the unfortunate circumstances he was in and manipulated them to his advantage. He switched his meds for aspirin, disassembled the lobotomy machine, approached The Horde, and enacted an obvious escape plan. Then, taking advantage of the hundred cameras built around his cell, set in motion a perfect showcase of superpowers that he live-streamed, unbeknownst to anybody else involved.

After his death, he had these videos sent to Mrs. Price, Casey, and Joseph, who together agreed to reveal it to the world. Glass ends with them sitting in 30th Street Station as the footage begins to go viral. This is the payoff to Mr. Glass' arc throughout the series. It's revealed at the end of Unbreakable that he committed acts of terrorism in a bid to find a superhero and bring them to the attention of the world. He succeeded in this search but was incarcerated before he could make it public.

With his masterplan in Glass, he gets to finally achieve that, albeit in death. This final twist is established throughout the movie, with a lot of steps in what he's doing shown but not given full context; one particularly nice touch is the showdown being presented heavily in security camera footage, planting its importance to the audience well ahead of time.

[A] case of the film trying to blur the lines between good and evil; it's a case of truth against oppression.

The one wrinkle in all this is that Mr. Glass surely didn't know about the Clover organization, to which his entire scheme feels like a targeted rebuke. Ellie Staple is clued into this when overhearing two teenagers discussing the all-seeing genius of a mastermind, and it comes as a personal affront to her, and reveals them to the world in a way they never have been before. An unexpected side effect of Mr. Glass' plan may be the collapse of the anti-superhero Illuminati.

With Mr. Glass attaining victory and that portrayed in a positive light, it'd be easy to conclude that Glass exonerates or even sides with its villain, but it's more a case of the film trying to blur the lines between good and evil; it's a case of truth against oppression.

Glass Really Was An Origin Story

The Movie Sets Up A New Reality For The World

One of the most confusing moments in Glass is Elijah's final words. His mother asks him why the showdown didn't go as he'd long predicted from limited edition comics, to which he responds it wasn't a limited edition, but an origin story. Considering this is very much the payoff of the Unbreakable trilogy, it is a surprising idea, but the truth in what Elijah says can be found by exploring the movie further.

While Elijah is delivering his final breaths, Kevin is shot and David is drowned, and the rest of humanity discovers superpowers and what people are truly capable of. It's the origin story of a world aware of superpowers. As Mrs. Price says, "it is the beginning of a universe".

The entire world is challenged to rethink what they believe.

Faith plays a big part in M. Night Shyamalan's films, with conflicts of belief — be it religious, philosophical, or otherwise — a common thread through his characters. In Glass, and indeed across the Unbreakable trilogy, this idea is raised in many ways. David Dunn struggles with his new-found powers that Elijah believes in unquestioningly and his son obsesses over. In Split, there is the existence of The Beast and Casey learning the confidence to stand against her uncle.

In Glass, Ellie Staple deconstructs their powers, sewing seeds of doubt, leading to the drive of the trio's survivors to reveal the truth. All of this is channeled into Glass' ending, where the entire world is challenged to rethink what they believe.

The Future Of The Unbreakable-Split-Glass Universe

The Ending Of Glass Opens A World Of Possibilities

Even with the three main characters dead, Glass has a rather open ending. Its final moments mark a paradigm shift for the world that has been explored thus far, with a myriad of opportunities on the horizon. The real world is now aware of the existence of superheroes, similar to the beginning of the MCU with Tony Stark revealing himself to the world in the first Iron Man movie.

On the other side, the Clover organization is surely over. Their efforts have failed, and now the truth has too much momentum to be suppressed. Yet they would surely not take this lying down. They've been around for millennia, so have seen equally humanity-threatening events unfold. Attempts to curb the explosion of supers through government, public opinion, or other secretive means are sure to happen.

M. Night Shyamalan's cameo in Glass is meant to be the same character he played in Unbreakable.

However, while all this is to come for the world, don't expect to see it. Glass has always been positioned as the end of the Unbreakable trilogy, and Shyamalan repeatedly stated he wants to step away to tell original stories. There is unlikely to be a Glass 2 or Split 3 or Unbreakable 4 any time soon. Considering how Glass' ending thoroughly paid off the core ideas of belief and bringing superheroes to the masses that have been part of the story since 2000, it is a fitting end.