Back to the Future Trilogy: In-Story Timeline
The events of the Back to the Future trilogy in in-story chronological order, from Hill Valley in 1885 to October 21, 2015, including the alternate 1985.
Open interactive timeline
Key events
Doc Brown stranded in 1885
–Movie: Back to the Future Part II (1989), revealed; Part III (1990), shown. After lightning strikes the DeLorean in 1955, Doc lands in 1885 Hill Valley. He settles down as a blacksmith and hides the damaged DeLorean in the Delgado Mine, meaning it to be found in 1955.
Doc writes his letter to Marty
Movie: Back to the Future Part II (1989), delivered; Part III (1990), read. Doc writes Marty a letter explaining that he is happy in 1885 and telling him how to find the DeLorean. He leaves it with Western Union to be delivered on November 12, 1955.
Marty arrives in 1885
Movie: Back to the Future Part III (1990). Marty travels from 1955 to save Doc from being shot. He lands amid a cavalry charge, rips the DeLorean's fuel line and is taken in by his ancestors Seamus and Maggie McFly. He takes the name Clint Eastwood.
Marty clashes with Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen
Movie: Back to the Future Part III (1990). In the saloon, Buford Tannen tries to hang Marty, and Doc rescues him with a rifle. Doc and Marty plan to push the DeLorean to 88 mph with a steam locomotive.
Doc saves Clara Clayton at Shonash Ravine
Movie: Back to the Future Part III (1990). Doc rescues the new schoolteacher Clara Clayton when her runaway wagon heads for the ravine. In the original history she fell in, and the ravine was named for her.
Hill Valley festival
Movie: Back to the Future Part III (1990). At the clock tower dedication festival, Doc and Clara dance. Buford threatens Doc, and Marty is goaded into agreeing to a gunfight on Monday.
Showdown and the train push
Movie: Back to the Future Part III (1990). Marty beats Buford with an iron stove door under his poncho, and Buford is arrested. A hijacked locomotive pushes the DeLorean to 88 mph. Clara arrives in time and Doc stays behind with her, and the train goes into the ravine, later called Eastwood Ravine.
DeLorean recovered from the Delgado Mine
Movie: Back to the Future Part III (1990). Marty and 1955 Doc dig the DeLorean out of the mine and repair it. They also find Doc's tombstone, showing Buford Tannen shot him on September 7, 1885, so Marty heads to 1885 from the drive-in theater.
Doc gets the idea for the flux capacitor
Movie: Back to the Future (1985). Doc slips while hanging a clock in his bathroom, hits his head, and pictures the flux capacitor, the device that makes time travel possible.
Marty arrives in 1955
Movie: Back to the Future (1985). Marty crashes into the Peabodys' barn on Twin Pines Ranch. He pushes his father George out of the path of Lorraine's father's car, so Lorraine falls for Marty instead of George.
Marty finds 1955 Doc
Movie: Back to the Future (1985). Marty convinces young Doc that he is from the future. Since there is no plutonium in 1955, they plan to power the DeLorean with lightning from the clock tower, using a flyer Marty brought with him that gives the time of the strike.
Enchantment Under the Sea dance
Movie: Back to the Future (1985); revisited in Part II (1989). George knocks out Biff to defend Lorraine and later kisses her on the dance floor. Their future is restored, and Marty plays "Johnny B. Goode" with the band.
Lightning sends Doc to 1885
Movie: Back to the Future Part II (1989). While hovering in the storm, the DeLorean is hit by lightning and Doc disappears. Minutes later, Western Union gives Marty Doc's 1885 letter, and Marty runs to the 1955 Doc for help.
Lightning strikes the clock tower
Movie: Back to the Future (1985); revisited in Part II (1989). At 10:04 p.m., lightning hits the courthouse clock tower. Doc reconnects the cable, sending Marty back to 1985. The clock is stopped for the next 30 years.
Marty and Doc recover the almanac
Movie: Back to the Future Part II (1989). Back in 1955, a second Marty and Doc chase Biff during the dance. Marty grabs the almanac from Biff's car on the hoverboard and burns it, restoring the timeline.
Old Biff gives young Biff the almanac
Movie: Back to the Future Part II (1989). Old Biff from 2015 hands his younger self Grays Sports Almanac, with sports results from 1950 to 2000, which creates the alternate 1985.
Biff's first big win (alternate timeline)
Movie: Back to the Future Part II (1989). In the alternate history, Biff begins betting using the almanac and grows his gambling empire, Biffco, into one of the richest fortunes in the country.
George McFly killed (alternate timeline)
Movie: Back to the Future Part II (1989). In the alternate history, George McFly is murdered and Biff marries Lorraine. Biff later confesses he killed George.
Alternate 1985: Biff's Hill Valley
Movie: Back to the Future Part II (1989). Marty and Doc come back to a violent Hill Valley ruled by the casino owner Biff Tannen, with George dead and Lorraine married to Biff. They learn about the almanac and head to 1955 to undo it.
Doc takes Marty and Jennifer to the future
Movie: end of Back to the Future (1985); opening of Part II (1989). Doc comes back from 2015 with a flying DeLorean and Mr. Fusion, saying something must be done about Marty's kids, and the three of them leave for 2015.
Doc's time machine test at Twin Pines Mall
Movie: Back to the Future (1985). At 1:20 a.m., Doc sends Einstein one minute into the future. Libyan terrorists whose plutonium Doc took shoot him, and Marty escapes in the DeLorean, reaching 88 mph and landing in 1955.
Marty returns to a changed 1985
Movie: Back to the Future (1985). Doc survived the shooting thanks to a bulletproof vest after reading Marty's warning letter. Marty's family is now confident and successful, and Biff works for George.
Doc arrives in the time train
Movie: Back to the Future Part III (1990). Doc appears in a flying, time-traveling locomotive with Clara and their sons, Jules and Verne. He tells Marty and Jennifer that their future is whatever they make it, then flies off.
Marty returns to 1985, and the DeLorean is destroyed
Movie: Back to the Future Part III (1990). Marty arrives on the tracks just in time to see a freight train destroy the DeLorean. Later he avoids a race with Needles that would have hurt his hand and his future.
Jennifer at the future McFly home
Movie: Back to the Future Part II (1989). Police find Jennifer asleep and take her home to Hilldale, where she sees a middle-aged Marty fired after Needles talks him into a shady deal.
Marty Jr. and Griff Tannen
Movie: Back to the Future Part II (1989). In 2015 Hill Valley, Marty, posing as his son, turns down Griff Tannen's robbery and escapes Griff's gang on a hoverboard. Griff's gang crashes into the courthouse and is arrested, saving the McFly children.
Old Biff steals the DeLorean
Movie: Back to the Future Part II (1989). Old Biff overhears Marty's plan to buy a sports almanac, takes the discarded almanac and the DeLorean to 1955, and brings it back before anyone notices.
2 more in the interactive timeline.
Open interactive timeline