What Happens To Jobu Tupaki After Everything Everywhere All At Once (2024)

The ending of Everything Everywhere All At Once doesn't plainly clarify what happens to Jobu Tupaki, or whether Evelyn's daughter is really back to being just Joy. Taking on the respective roles of every version of Evelyn and Joy Wang across the multiverse, Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu have both been nominated for Academy Awards, with the movie garnering a total of 11 nominations. The well-deserved recognition is reflective of how the cast and crew of Everything Everywhere All At Once pulled off it's unique, sci-fi, absurdist tale about family, love, and the meaning of life - while still leaving behind questions and mysteries for audiences to ponder.

This includes the fate of Everything Everywhere All At Once villain Jobu Tupaki, the Alpha-Verse version of Evelyn's daughter Joy. After Evelyn and Joy hash out their issues through a confrontation between every version of themselves in the multiverse, Jobu Tupaki was last seen being prevented by Evelyn from executing her plan to put an end to the meaninglessness of all existence. However, after Evelyn and Joy's family fully reconcile, it's ultimately unclear what happens to Jobu Tupaki. Here's everything viewers need to know about Jobu Tupaki's fate in the Everything Everywhere All At Once ending.

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Prime Joy & Jobu Tupaki Might Have Fused

During one of Evelyn and Jobu Tupaki's initial confrontations, the villain flexes her power and says that she is every version of Joy, implying that there is no substantial differentiation between Joy and Jobu Tupaki. Indeed, it's actually suggested throughout the movie that the same is true for every person - even residents of Everything Everywhere All At Once's Alpha-Verse. This is also consistent with how verse-jumping works. As explained by the Alpha-Verse version of Evelyn's husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), no matter how powerful the person, they can only ever access their own consciousness in any alternate universe.

In fact, it is the sheer meaninglessness of being Everything Everywhere All At Once that pushes Jobu Tupaki to try to destroy the multiverse with the everything bagel in the first place. The movie doesn't show what happened to Jobu Tupaki after Evelyn and Joy's final confrontation because it didn't have to. While those who hail from the Alpha-Verse are considered the cream of the crop, Joy is as much an extension of Jobu Tupaki as the villain is of Joy. In ending, it's reasonable to assume that they've fully fused - especially after Evelyn helped Joy to find some catharsis and peace of mind for every version of herself.

Everything Everywhere All At Once Hints Prime Joy Returned

No longer armed with Everything Everywhere All At Once's everything bagel nor dressed to the nines like Jobu Tupaki, Prime Universe Joy seems back to being fully herself in the ending, with no visible traces of the villain's influence at all. Apart from dressing more like a regular teen, other telltale clues that Prime Joy has returned includes not just the presence of her girlfriend, but their relationship being openly accepted by her grandfather Gong Gong Wang (James Hong) - albeit through Evelyn's initially unwelcome intervention. In the end, Joy even helps the entire family sort out their tax problems and meets Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis) in the middle.

Jobu Tupaki would never debase herself with finding contentment in the mundanity of normal life - thus, all signs point to Prime Joy being entirely in control of herself. Everything Everywhere All At Once ending with Joy reconciling not just with Evelyn, but her entire family, is more than enough evidence to conclude that it is Prime Joy and not Jobu Tupaki in the final scenes of the movie. Seeing wisdom in Evelyn's vision of finding meaning in the sheer meaninglessness of the multiverse, Joy is content to just be herself - at least for now.

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Indeed, though Prime Joy may have returned, the reality is that Jobu Tupaki can take over again at any time in the future. This is because of the nature and narrative purpose of Joy and Jobu Tupaki's relationship in the movie. Moreover, this also underscores the deeper meaning behind the motivations of characters that come from the Alpha-Verse.

If Prime Joy Returns, Where Is Jobu Tupaki?

As the title implies, Jobu Tupaki, like Joy, remains Everything Everywhere All At Once. It's important to understand that Everything Everywhere All At Once's absurd jokes, sci-fi elements, and intense multiversal drama are allegories meant to unravel the complex relationships between Evelyn, Joy, Waymond, and Gong Gong - and how their family processes intergenerational trauma. While Alpha-Verse Waymond represents the potential expertise and wisdom to be gained from living a full and regret-less life, Alpha-Verse Joy or Jobu Tupaki is the other side of the coin - the dangers of succumbing to nihilism upon achieving every possible personal goal.

Without Jobu Tupaki, the Alpha-Verse, or Everything Everywhere All At Once's multiversal elements, the story of the Wang family is a standalone tale of love, healing, and acceptance. Combined with these symbolic elements which further reveal the internal conflicts of each character, their life-long regrets, their very hopes and dreams, viewers get to see so much more and better understand why the Wang family are the way that they are. By playing multiple, alternate-universe versions of themselves, the Everything Everywhere All At Once cast is able to more easily reveal the relevant aspects and motivations of their respective characters in the main plot or Prime Universe.

Everything Everywhere All At Once ending with Joy in control doesn't mean that Jobu Tupaki is gone - she remains an aspect of Joy that can come out at any time, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Jobu Tupaki is a warning about indulging nihilist and ultimately selfish self-destructive impulses, but she is also the most expert, creative, and best-dressed side of Joy. Indeed, Jobu Tupaki and Joy are one and the same person, and it's up to them to decide whether to continue using their gifts for creation, or the outright destruction of their family and the multiverse - underscoring the real meaning of Everything Everywhere All At Once.

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