Why Sci-Fi's Greatest Time Machine Is Still Unbeatable To This Day

Image via Orion Pictures

Published Feb 27, 2026, 9:26 AM EST

Collier Jennings is an entertainment journalist with a substantial amount of experience under his belt. Collier, or "CJ" to his friends and family, is a dedicated fan of genre films - particularly science fiction, fantasy and comic book adaptations, not to mention all forms of animation animation. This stems from a close bond with his father, who introduced him to these genres via copies of X-Men comics and reruns of the original Ultraman series. Using his near-encyclopedic knowledge and bottomless love of genre, he's been able to tackle a wide variety of articles.

Among all the subgenres of science fiction, time travel is one of the most prominent. Most time travel tales feature a distinct vehicle for the time traveler to traverse time and space, and there have been plenty that have lined the halls of pop culture. Doctor Who has the TARDIS. The film adaptations of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine give the titular device a steampunk-esque design, adding plenty of flair to a classic sci-fi story. Hot Tub Time Machine is self-explanatory. While most of these vehicles are iconic, they don't hold a candle to the DMC DeLorean from Back to the Future.

The DeLorean is instantly iconic thanks to its gull-wing doors, its sleek design that makes it look like something built in the future, and its shiny chrome paint job. That's not even getting into the modifications Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) makes, including installing the flux capacitor that enables time travel. It can even fly in the sequels! Yet the fun of the DeLorean isn't just in its time-travel capabilities; it's also in the ways that Doc Brown and Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) use the vehicle in the Back to the Future trilogy.

The DeLorean Is The Driving Force of the 'Back to the Future' Trilogy

In each Back to the Future film, the DeLorean serves as both the cause of most of Marty and Doc Brown's problems. When Doc's gunned down by Libyan terrorists in the first film, Marty winds up driving the DeLorean into 1955; he's mistaken for an alien, then has to hide the vehicle when it runs out of gas — and even worse, he has no plutonium to trigger the time circuits. Back to the Future Part II ups the stakes when Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) steals the DeLorean and alters history for the worse; it's also struck by lightning and disappears when Doc is piloting it, right as Marty manages to correct time.

Yet the DeLorean also provides some of the most iconic moments in the Back to the Future trilogy. No one could forget the sparks that flare up as it speeds up, or the twin trails of flame it leaves in its wake after traveling through time. It's also at the center of some incredible set pieces; Back to the Future has Doc harnessing the power of a stray lightning bolt to catapult Marty back to his time, while Back to the Future Part III straps the DeLorean to a moving train so it can hit 88 miles per hour. Doc even puts it best: "The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?"

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Thanks to the DeLorean, Another Time Travel Film Made A Major Change

The massive success of the Back to the Future trilogy forever enshrined the DeLorean in film history. It's often listed as one of the best vehicles in film history, and its creator, John DeLorean, even sent personal letters thanking director Robert Zemeckis and screenwriter Bob Gale after the film boosted sales of real-life DeLoreans. The DeLorean even spilled over into other science fiction stories, most notably Ready Player One, as it's the main mode of transportation for Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan). The biggest impact would be felt in another time-travel comedy, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Originally, Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) were meant to cross time and space in a 1969 Chevy van. However, following the success of Back to the Future, the van was changed to a phone booth to avoid comparisons, according to Winter.

[Director] Stephen Herek found it too Scooby-Doo, I think? That was probably his feeling...He wanted it to be something that had a bit more energy and a bit more technology."

Very few vehicles can be both an icon in the world of vehicles and in movies, but the DeLorean is a major exception. Without it, Back to the Future and the landscape of science fiction would be radically different.