The Omega is the source of the hive mind that makes for the Mimics, an alien species that serves as the villains for 2014’s Tom Cruise’s Willian Cage, who is forced to the battlefield.
Despite his lack of courage, Cage becomes essential to humanity after gaining time-warping abilities following his with the blood of an Alpha. Cage’s first death in Edge of Tomorrow gave him the ability to reset time and start over every time he was killing, essentially allowing him to respawn like in a video game. To understand more about his abilities, Cage had to learn about how the Mimics work. Edge of Tomorrow holds off some answers until the very end, including the location of the Omega, and how it was using time reset powers to win the war.
The Omega's Origins In Edge Of Tomorrow Explained
The Mimics Came From Space In Edge Of Tomorrow
The Omega came from outer space in Edge of Tomorrow, although its origins are unclear. It is an alien organism with an impressive level of intelligence, smart enough to control countless Drones and Alphas through a hive mind. It is also unclear if the Omega’s ability is fully biological – something that was always part of it – or if it is some sort of technology that was added to its bloodstream. The fact is that the Omega is the source of the Alphas’ ability to reset time and is smart enough to do so every time the situation becomes critical.
The Omega crashed into Paris, , and made its “nest” deep down where the Louvre used to be. No one knew the exact location of the Mimics’ central intelligence, which is part of the reason humanity’s efforts against the aliens were virtually pointless for a while. Even though Rita had the time warping powers for some time, she and her squad never managed to track down and destroy the Omega. The Mimics even used humanity’s search for the Omega’s location against them by tricking Rita and Cage into searching for it in the wrong location.
Edge Of Tomorrow's Alternate Ending Explained
Edge of Tomorrow closes on a happy if confusing note, but an alternate ending would have added another layer of complication to the story.
The Omega’s plan almost worked, as Rita and Cage walked right into the trap. However, Cage survived, although he lost his time-warping powers as a result of receiving a blood transfer and not respawning. With no room for mistakes, Cage used the Transponder device to locate the Omega. While it seems strange that the Omega was not that far away from where most battles were happening, it successfully hid its location from humans for a long time before Cage finally broke the cycle.
The Omega's Hive Mind & How It Controls The Mimics
The Omega Controls The Alpha, The Alpha Control The Drones
Despite the large amount of alien creatures featured in Edge of Tomorrow, humanity was virtually fighting just one enemy, the Omega. It can be assumed that the Drones and the Alphas – the two types of Mimics we see in battle throughout the film – do not have individual consciousness and act as nothing but an extension of the Omega. The Drones are certainly the ones with less agency, acting purely as guided killing machines. While their movements may seem erratic, they are all acting according to the Omega’s will. Additionally, the Drones do not have time travel powers.
The Alphas, on the other hand, are more complex organisms that tie directly into the Omega’s time travel abilities. Once an Alpha is killed in combat, it sends a signal to the Omega, which then resets time. This is why Cage gained time travel abilities after getting in with the blood of an Alpha mimic. The same thing had happened to Rita. This is also why the Omega was able to communicate telepathically with Cage, namely with the visions it sends to trick Cruise’s Edge of Tomorrow character into going to the Bavarian Alps.
How The Omega Controls The Time Loops In Edge Of Tomorrow
The Alphas Send A Signal To The Omega, Which Resets Time
The Alphas are the Omega’s eyes and ears on the battlefield. It’s incredibly dangerous to the Mimics for humans to have someone with time-reset powers, as the Omega’s entire strategy lies in its unique ability to start over. That said, the Omega’s strategy was more complex than simply resetting things every time they started to lose. The Omega wanted humanity to gain territory and think it had a chance of winning the war, which is why it allowed humans to have small victories instead of resetting things every time a lot of mimics died.
Edge of Tomorrow ends with Cage once again waking up in the past, this time on a different date.
As powerful as it was, the Omega had limitations. It was easier for the invaders to attack a unified army consisting of humanity’s best soldiers and resources than to spread out the war. Operation Downfall was always meant to be a disaster. The only variable the aliens could not predict was another human getting powers from an Alpha’s blood. Neither the original manga nor the movie spent too much time explaining how the Omega’s power really works, what its origins are, or whether it creates alternate timelines or simply reverses the same one every time.
What Happens To The Omega In Edge Of Tomorrow
Does Cage Become The New Omega?
Bill Cage sacrifices himself to kill the Omega at the end of Edge of Tomorrow. Tom Cruise’s character finds out the true location of the Mimics’ central intelligence and attacks it a night. While Cage suffered a lethal wound, he had just enough time to drop some grenades at the Omega, causing it to explode. The Omega’s fate in Edge of Tomorrow leads to some potential paradoxes and interesting questions, though. In theory, the Omega’s death should have put an end to the time reset cycle. All the Drones and Alphas would be destroyed, and the war would be over.
Rita and Cage's attack on the Omega happened on the night before the usual beach battle. This is why Cage returns to a further point in time at the end of the movie compared to his previous experiences.
However, Edge of Tomorrow ends with Cage once again waking up in the past, this time on a different date. It is heavily implied that Cage regained the time-warping powers after getting in with the Omega’s blood. This time, instead of gaining the powers of an Alpha, Cage gained the Omega’s powers. It can be assumed that William Cage is the new Omega at the end of Edge of Tomorrow, replacing the previous organism that no longer exists at that point in the timeline following what happened in the previous cycle.
Edge of Tomorrow
- Release Date
- June 6, 2014
- Runtime
- 1h 53m
- Director
- Doug Liman
Cast
Maj. William Cage
Sgt. Rita Vrataski
WHERE TO WATCH
Edge of Tomorrow is a science fiction action film where Major William Cage, forced into combat against an alien invasion, discovers he is reliving the same day after dying. Partnering with Special Forces warrior Rita Vrataski, he utilizes this time loop to improve his battle skills and devise a strategy to defeat the extraterrestrial threat. The movie explores themes of resilience, adaption, and transformation in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
- Writers
- John-Henry Butterworth, Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth
- Sequel(s)
- Edge of Tomorrow 2
- Studio(s)
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- Distributor(s)
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- Budget
- 178 million
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