Every Plot Twist In Argylle, Ranked By Shock Factor

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead fro Argylle.

Matthew Vaughn’s spy comedy Argylle is loaded with major plot twists. Despite featuring a star-studded ensemble cast led by Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, Catherine O’Hara, John Cena, Dua Lipa, and Henry Cavill, Argylle was a box office flop upon its release in early February 2024. Argylle only made $96 million worldwide against its staggering $200 million budget, quickly becoming one of the biggest box office failures of the year. Argylle’s poor reviews likely contributed to its poor box office performance.

Argylle has several headscratcher moments and plot holes that make it difficult to fully comprehend its serpentine narrative. Although Vaughn has indicated that he plans to expand on the original film’s concept with several Argylle prequels, sequels, and crossovers, the poor box office performance and critical reception of the film may prevent him from doing so. Argylle is one of a few recent Apple original films that have had lackluster box-office performances such as Napoleon and Killers of the Flower Moon. Argylle is now available to stream on Apple TV+.

15 Aidan Wilde Is A Real CIA Spy

One of the earliest twists in Argylle is that Aidan Wilde, an apparent stranger and fan of Elly Conway, is actually a real-life spy. Through Aidan, the audience and Elly are pulled into the world of Elly’s supposedly fictional stories as they play out in reality. Elly discovers that she is in the middle of a conflict between the CIA and a rogue organization simply known as The Division. Aidan, who is later revealed to have a history at the CIA with Elly’s true identity, demonstrates his espionage skills by saving Elly from Division henchmen on a speeding train.

14 Elly Wasn’t Writing The Future, But Using Her Memory

Another mind-bending twist in Argylle is when the human Alfie, a former CIA director played by Samuel L. Jackson, tells Elly that her books aren’t predicting the future as it happens in real-time but rather are drawn from her memories of her past life as Agent Rachel Kylle. When Elly meets with Alfie in southern France and learns of her past as a CIA operative, she slowly starts to remember who she had been, especially after a hand-to-hand fight with Adian that snaps her muscle memory back into the mind of Agent R. Kylle.

13 Cat Aflie Helps Take Down Ritter

Another funny twist in Argylle is when Elly’s cat Alfie has his time to shine toward the end of the film. Alfie attacks Ritter just as he is about to shoot and kill Aidan and Elly with his prized shotgun named Clementine. Alfie scratches Ritter’s face which allows Aidan an opportunity to kill him and use his retinal scan to send the master list over to human Alfie in France. Cat Alfie finally got his payback on Ritter for pushing him aside and dropping him in Elly’s catpack earlier in the film.

12 Elly Betrays Ritter & Vogler By Sending The Master File To Alfie

In a third act that is jam-packed with plot twists, Elly ends up betraying Ritter and Dr. Volger, who has pretended to be her mother for years, by trying to send the master list to human Alfie. This happens just moments after Elly, who had come back to life as Rachel Kylle, a Division/CIA double agent, had shot Adian directly in the chest with a single bullet. Argylle certainly keeps its audience on its toes during its last 30 minutes or so, as Elly flips back and forth between her writer persona and her two Rachel Kylle identities.

11 Dr. Vogler Survived Aidan’s Bullet

After Ruth exposes her true identity as Dr. Volger by putting a gun to Elly’s head, Adian successfully shoots her, leading Elly to think that her mother had been killed. At this point in the movie, the major twists are just starting to unfold as Adian tries to explain that Ruth, or Dr. Volger, was not and never was Elly’s real mother. This raises the question of who Elly’s, or Rachel’s, real family is and where they are during the events of Argylle. Even though Adian gets a clear shot on Ruth, she appears later in the film because she was conveniently wearing a bulletproof vest.

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10 Director Ritter Pretended To Be Elly’s Father

Ritter is introduced in Argylle as the main antagonist and Director of the Division before he is revealed to be Elly’s pretend father. Ritter and Ruth are secretly both top agents at the division who brainwashed Agent R. Kylle into thinking she was just an average person named Elly, assuming the fictitious roles of her mother and father. They carried out this lie for years as Elly wrote several novels about her real-life espionage experiences that were presented as fiction. Once Adian arrives and puts a gun to his head, Ritter finally drops the act and Elly learns the truth about both of her “parents” in the same scene.

9 Elly Figure Skates On Oil & Single-Handedly Takes Out Division Henchmen

One of the most shocking and entertaining scenes in Argylle is when Elly, or Rachel, remembers that she can figure skate and takes the concept to a whole new level. Attaching sharp blades to her shoes, Elly figure skates atop spilled oil and single-handedly takes out a group of at least 15 or so Division henchmen, having a ball while she’s doing it. It’s one of the more imaginative and highly enjoyable scenes in the entire movie that seemingly came out of nowhere.

8 Aidan Is Elly’s Old CIA Partner/Romantic Interest

A surprising turn of events in Argylle occurs when Aidan reveals himself to be Rachel’s old CIA partner as well as her romantic interest. Elly is able to piece the puzzle together with her stories, realizing that Wyatt, who is Agent Argylle’s fictional sidekick played by John Cena, is based on Adian Wilde. This revelation creates some confusion as to why Rachel/Elly has visions of Argylle when Aidan fights on the train since he is supposed to be the inspiration for Wyatt. Regardless, Aidan has quietly been looking out for Rachel throughout her life as Elly.

7 Elly’s True Identity Is Agent Rachel Kylle

One of the biggest twists in Argylle is the true identity of Elly Conway, who was once a CIA/Division double agent named Rachel Kylle. The moment when Elly starts to remember who she truly is in Argylle is a complete game-changer that completely sends the entire movie in another direction. It’s such a big twist that before the big reveal, the early part of the film nearly feels like a completely different movie. If another Argylle film is to happen, more backstory on Rachel Kylle will likely rise to the surface.

6 Rachel Kylle Was A Double Agent Working For The Division

The first twist of Elly Conway’s true identity revealed that she was a CIA operative named Rachel Kylle. The second major twist about her identity was the fact that Rachel Kylle was a double agent working for both the CIA and the Division, which Aidan had no idea about. As the plot twists start to pile up in the third act of Argylle, Elly and Rachel’s personalities start to overlap. In the end, although Rachel Kylle was part of the Division, her Elly Conway persona was able to overcome her programming from Dr. Volger.

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5 Rachel Kylle Killed Bakunin

As part of her past history as Agent Rachel Kylle, Elly discovers that she was the one who killed Bakunin. Rachel Kylle, under Division programming, had been sent to retrieve the master list from Bakunin and ended up shooting him instead, which triggered his apartment to self-destruct. Agent Kylle was able to get away, although Elly had no recollection of killing Baukinin once Dr. Volger and Director Ritter began their brainwashing operation.

4 Elly’s Mom Ruth Is A Division PsyOps Agent Named Dr. Vogler

One of the most shocking and bizarre twists in Argylle is the truth of Ruth’s identity as Dr. Volger, an advanced PsyOps agent at the Division. She and Ritter had pretended to be Rachel Kylle’s parents for years in order to keep an eye on her after brainwashing her into believing she was Elly Conway. The scene in which Elly’s mother Ruth, or Dr. Volger, puts a gun to Elly’s head, just an instant after Ritter came clean about his true identity, is certainly one of the most stunning plot twists in Argylle.

3 Keira’s Still Alive From Elly’s Vascular Corridor Loophole & Saves Aidan

Another out-of-nowhere plot twist in Argylle comes in the final minutes as the programmed Rachel Kylle is about to kill Aidan. Keira, Rachel Kylle’s real-life friend who she believed died in combat, ends up saving Aidan at the last second by knocking Dr. Volger over the head with a wrench. The wound-up ballerina music box that Dr. Volger has used to program Rachel falls to the ground and shatters, snapping Rachel out of it before she twists and crushes her foot into Aidan’s head. Keira had survived from the vascular corridor loophole that Rachel had used to spare Aidan earlier in the film.

2 Rachel Kylle Shoots Aidan Wilde In The Chest But He Lives

Rachel shockingly shoots Aidan in the chest, presumably killing him as she reveals her true double agent identity in front of Ritter and Dr. Volger. Rachel reveals later that she had expertly shot Aidan in the 2-inch vascular corridor above his heart, making it seem like she has fatally wounded him without actually doing so. This allowed Aidan to free himself and eventually escape with Rachel/Elly and Keira, who had also been spared thanks to the vascular corridor loophole.

1 Henry Cavill’s Argylle Appears At The End Of The Film

The most shocking plot twist in Argylle arrives in its final scene when Henry Cavill’s Agent Argylle character appears as a fan of Elly Conway’s latest book. Disguised as an American from the southern region of the United States, Cavill’s Argylle assumes that Elly/Rachel would have a lot of questions to ask him after revealing that he had not been just a figment of her imagination all along. With Cavill’s late appearance in Argylle, there’s hope that the famed actor could reprise his role as the true Agent Argylle in future films.

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Argylle

Argylle is an action thriller by director Matthew Vaughn. The movie centers on an introverted novelist who is thrown into the real world of espionage after the plot of her most recent spy thriller parrels the crimes of an underground syndicate. Argylle has a star-studded cast, including Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Dua Lipa, and Samuel L. Jackson, among others.

Director

Matthew Vaughn

Release Date

February 2, 2024

Studio(s)

Apple , Cloudy Productions , Marv Studios

Distributor(s)

Universal Pictures , Apple

Writers

Jason Fuchs

Cast

Henry Cavill , Ariana DeBose , Sofia Boutella , Catherine O’Hara , Bryce Dallas Howard , John Cena , Dua Lipa , Samuel L. Jackson , Sam Rockwell , Bryan Cranston , Rob Delaney

Runtime

135 Minutes