Before 2018, Disney had precisely one sequel in their animated canon: The Rescuers Down Under. While countless Disney movies have found sequel on home video, those aren’t actually a part of the canon. Rather, they’re simply individual sequels created by a B studio that no longer even exists. It’s quite interesting, then, that modern Disney seems to have embraced the prospect of canonical sequels in earnest. Not only has Frozen 2 been announced, Wreck-It Ralph just got an actual follow up through the form of Ralph Breaks the Internet. It is in no way a first for Disney, but it does set ꦓa modern precedent.

Ralph Breaks the Internet is quite a fascinating movie as well. Although it never comments on it, the script is clearly aware of its nature as a sequel. It plays with concepts and ideas introduced in the first in a way that only a sequel could. More importantly, its premise completely throws away everything the first movie had established. It easily could have been its own intellectual property, but it wasn’t. Does that makeꦏ the film bad? Not really. Just interesting. Naturally, in a film about the internet featuring an existing character who had nothing to do with the internet, Ralph Breaks the Internet ends up home to quit the few hidden details.

30 ♛ Ralphꦡ Breaks The Internet Is Technically A Musical

Of the eight mainline Disney films to be released this decade, only three have a🦹ctually been musicals. Although Disney was not always so gung-ho with the musical format in their earlier days, the Disney Renaissance more or less established a formula around music. Naturally, Ralph Bre🙈aks the Internet was expected to be another non-musical film.

For the most part, it is. Roughly 95% 𓃲of the film plays out like, well, a regular movie. There’s an accompanying score, but the c♐haracters don’t sing their thoughts. Except for one scene. Near the middle of the film, Vanellope has a traditional Disney Princess song. It’s even penned by Alan Menken! That alone technically makes the movie a musical.

29 🐻 Ralph Breaks The Internet Breaks The Modern Disney Twist

Tangled, Frozen, Wreck-It Ralph, Big 🐎Hero 6, and Zootopia all have the exact same antagonist based twist roughly two-thirds of the way through their film. While each movie very much has their own identity with their own plot, not a single one deviates from revealing an establishing heroic character was the villain all along at the end of act two.

Ralph Breaks the Internet does away with this twist entirely. Moana more or less avoided it, but Ralph’s latest adventure solidifies that Disney is effectively done with their new formula. In a way, it makes perfect sense. Audiences were always predicting the twist from as early as BH6. ꦐIt didn’t have much more leg room.

28 🌃 There Is No Villain The Second Time Around 𝔉

Interestingly, there is no central antagonist in Ralph Breaks the Internet. Even Moana, which notably subverting its own villain’s role by the end, still had clear and identif🍬iable antagonists. The same simply cannot be said for this internet t🍒rekking adventure. Arthur perhaps comes the closest, but he’s more of a force of nature.

You can't have a bad guy twist without a bad guy.

It works to the film’s benefit that there is no tangible villain, ultimately, as the plot deals quite heavily with Ralph’s own insecurities. There Is no person for him to overcome, because he needs to overcome his own faults first. An identifiable antagonist would have diminished the message of the movi♚e.

27 “Ralph B𝓰reaks The Inter🅺net” Has Multiple Meanings

Titles have meaning, naturally. The first film puts quite a bit of stock into its title, turning Ralph’s name “Wreck-It” into a moniker he was not particularly proud of. Moving into the second movie, it’s only natural that the title yet again features two meanings. W💖hile, yes, Ralph does break the internet with viral videos, he also literally breaks the internet.

Near the end of🥃 act two, Ralph gets his hands on Arthur, a virus, from Double Dan. Unleashing said virus causes a chain reaction where Ralph breaks the internet. Not just that, the virus manifests itself in his form meaning that Ralph figuratively and literally destroyed the entire internet.

26 ꦍ Double Dan Is Clearly The Globglogabgalab

The Globglogabgalab is one of those internet oddities that quite frankly makes little sense. The star of a series of videos wಌhere his grotesque form sings his name, there’s little to discuဣss or analyze. Or at least that’s what we hope so. Despite his relative obscurity compared to other memes, he does find a reference in the film.

Double Dan, the dark net resident who bestows upon Ralph his very own virus, is visually quite similar to the Globglogabgalab. Both ar🃏e flesh monsters who live in a dark lair. Honestly, that’s kind of it, but that’s also enough to make the connection. There’s no way Disney didn’t lift Double Dan’s design from the Globglogabgalab.

25 ﷺ ⛦ Stan Lee’s First Cameo Since His Passing

Stan Lee’s passing is sadly still rather reason so it is highly unlikely Disney actively intended his cameo to pay res🎶pect to the father of all things Marvel, but it nonetheless marks the first cameo Stan Lee has been in since his passing. Granted, he has no lines, but that’s not neces🎶sarily a bad thing.

Simply🦂 seeing Stan Lee in an identifiable form- on the internet at that- is a r๊eminder that his legacy will live on. He is a man so iconic that he can generate an emotional reaction just from a visual perspective. It’s a sweet, tender cameo that goes by fan, but it’s a nice reminder of how much he has contributed to the media world.

24 ⛎ The Credits Spoil The Stinger 𒁏

Before Marvel Studios more or less pꦺopularized the after credits scene, said scenes were most no🦂tably called “stingers.” A stinger would come at the end of a movie, episode, or story to basically recontextualize the ending. Naturally, in a post-Marvel world, the latest Disney flick has a stinger.

Sadly, because of how credits work, the stinger’s subject material is actually spoiled during the title crawl. Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” is credited, but the song never appears in the film proper. That’s because it was saved for the c♋redits. Hopefully, you aren’t an attentive credits watcher.

23 🥃 Wreck-It Ralph Is An Anthology Series At This Point 💯

Although both films feature the same principle leads and play off of each others’ arcs, they very much focus on vastly different settings with different themes. It is not unusual for a sequel to more or less ignore its predecessor’🌳s foundation to better establish an identity for itself, but Ralph Breaks the Internet goes quite far.

We can't wait for Ralph Hosts the Emmys.

At this point, the world of the arcade and the intern𒅌et are so vastly different that they may as well be part of an anthology series where each film focuses on a unique aspect of media consumption while commenting on the humanity of growing. Perhaps the next film will see Ralph in a more cinematic setting.

22 Fix-I♛t Felix Blatantly Had A Cut Plot 🦋

Although the first movie was very much about Ralph and Vanellope, Fix-It Felix did serve as a trita𒊎gonist of sorts. Over the course of the movie, he and Ralph gradually build a genuine bond. Despite acting opposite each other as hero and villain for years, they grow to care for their counterpart as actual friends.

Going into the sequel, it’s only natural Felix play a rather ma🌟jor role. After all, he was one of the three crucial pillars of the first movie. Although the follow up does establish a plot for him- one where he starts and raises a family- it was ultimately cut for added time on the internet. It does result in a rather hilarious gag at the end of the movie if nothing else.

21 Disney Couldn’t Get The Rights For Mario Characters 🧸

Despite its emphasis on video game characters and old-school gaming culture, the first film notably did not include the father or modern g🐽aming himself: Super Mario. At the time, it was stated that Nintendo and Disney simꦦply could not agree on a proper portrayal of the plumber, but the sequel paints a new picture.

Disney just doesn't have Nintendo money. 

Notably, the first movie had Bowser where the second now does not. In light of Nintendo’s 𝔍motion picture deal with Illumination, it’s quite clear that Nintendo barred Disney from not only including Mario this time around, but Mario char🌄acters outright, creating a dissonance of sorts between films.