Stephen King's It is a complex story in which
a lot of things happen, and at times things get a bit confusing. But don't worry about getting lost in the
story — we're here to explain everything you need to understand the full story of the
movies made from the classic novel. Possible spoilers ahead. 2017's It didn't get into the backstory of
its ancient antagonist outside of implying that it's been around for a long time, but
thankfully, King's original novel goes into much more detail. It, the shapeshifting being that often manifests
itself as a creepy clown named Pennywise, has actually been around longer than mankind
itself — It's an ancient cosmic being that's billions of years old that originated in another
dimension outside of our universe known as the Macroverse. In prehistoric times, It came to Earth on
an asteroid, landing in the place that would millions of years later become Derry, Maine. It hibernated until humans appeared, and then
began a cycle of awakening roughly every 27 years to feed on them. It can take on any form, but its favorite
eventually became that of Pennywise the clown. Its true form, known as the Deadlights, is
apparently so trippy it'll drive you crazy. Beverly Marsh managed to glimpse them in the
first film and make it out with her sanity, though doing so did render her comatose for
a time. As strange as Pennywise is, its mortal enemy
is even more bizarre: A giant turtle named Maturin who hails from the same place as Pennywise. "ye-YEAH" The turtle is a being of creation rather than
consumption, and actually vomited our universe into reality when it had a stomach ache. So, you know...compared to that, a shapeshifting
death clown isn't all that weird after all. In the 2017 film, the story of It picks up
in 1988 when 7-year-old Georgie Denbrough ventures out into a rainstorm to play with
a paper sailboat that his older brother Bill made for him. The boat gets away from Georgie, and journeys
down the street until it ends up in a storm drain. After chasing it, Georgie attempts to fish
the boat out, only to discover that -- uh-oh! -- there's a clown in the storm drain as well. Though Georgie doesn't know it, this clown
is the evil entity Pennywise, who has just awoken from its most recent 27-year slumber. Pennywise entices Georgie to come into the
sewer, promising not only to give him his boat back, but also by telling him that an
entire circus is waiting for him in the sewer. Georgie gets a little suspicious, but he still
wants his boat back, so when Pennywise offers it to him, the kid goes for it. And for his trouble, Georgie gets his arm
bitten off. Don't you just hate Mondays? In the film, Georgie gets dragged into the
sewer, and the town eventually moves on, assuming that he simply drowned. Bill, however, seems determined to find out
what really happened to his brother. The Losers' Club is the name of Bill's group
of friends who eventually go head to head against Pennywise. Along with Bill, the club's original members
are Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak, and Stan Uris, with three more members added as the
story progresses: Ben Hanscom, Beverly Marsh, and Mike Hanlon. Everyone in the group is an outcast in their
own way. The gang bonds over the fact that they're
all "losers" — hence the group's name — and they spend the entire summer together following
Georgie's disappearance the previous fall. Though they aren't all aware of it initially,
a number of the Losers' Club are also suffering from some sort of private trauma. Beverly's father is abusive and domineering,
not to mention creepy as hell. "Where are you sneaking off to?" Eddie has an extremely overprotective mother
who makes him believe he's constantly sick. Mike is an orphan whose parents burned alive
— an event he witnessed firsthand. And Bill, of course, is still mourning the
disappearance of his little brother, for which he feels guilty. A few of the Losers are more than just friends. Or, at least, they hope to be. Over the course of the first film, Ben and
Bill develop feelings for Beverly. Ben is the first to develop a major crush,
going so far as to write Beverly a love poem from a secret admirer. Beverly cherishes the poem and comes to believe
Bill wrote it, and as a result, develops feelings for him — much to Ben's chagrin. Even after discovering that Ben was her mystery
poet after he revives her from her Deadlights-induced coma with a kiss, Beverly is unable to dismiss
her feelings for Bill, and at the conclusion of the first film, Beverly and Bill kiss. In It: Chapter Two, fans can definitely expect
this love triangle to increase in importance. In the book, following the Losers' Club's
initial defeat of Pennywise, the group all go their separate ways. In the ensuing 27 years until Pennywise returns,
a number of them go through major changes, but none greater than Ben. He physically transforms from an overweight
kid to a wealthy and attractive man, and Beverly certainly notices when the gang reunites as
adults. After exploring some residual feelings for
Bill that include sleeping with him even though they're both married, Beverly determines that
it's Ben for whom she really cares, and the two of them finally end up together at the
novel's conclusion. In addition to Georgie, other children go
missing in Derry, such as Eddie Corcoran and Betty Ripsom. This leads the Losers to believe that something
is amiss in their town. Before becoming a Loser himself, Ben begins
researching the town's history, and finds that violent deaths and disappearances seem
to spike in the town every 27 years at a rate six times the national average. "And that's just grown-ups. Kids are worse. Way, way worse." But it's not always Pennywise who directly
causes the killings. His evil influence infects the town whenever
he awakes, causing violence and hate crimes to spike. In the novel, the role of town historian belongs
to Mike rather than Ben. Mike first learns of the town's sordid history
from his father, who kept a photo album filled with pictures of Derry's history that consequently
features a number of photos of Pennywise; some from many decades earlier. As an adult, Mike is the only Loser to stay
behind in Derry after the rest of his friends part ways, becoming the town librarian and
furthering his knowledge about the most messed up little town in New England. "No one who dies here ever really dies." One by one, the Losers draw the attention
of Pennywise. It appears to each of them separately, first
appearing as one of their worst fears before showing them its clown form. Bill sees Georgie in his basement, Mike sees
burning bodies trying to escape a building, Eddie sees a grotesquely deformed leper, Stan
sees a painting of a ghoulish flautist come to life, Beverly is sprayed by a geyser of
blood from her bathroom sink, Ben is chased by a headless man in the library, and Richie
sees a maggot-infested doll of his own corpse. Some of these encounters happen differently
in the book, but the upshot is the same: They soon discover that each of their hallucinations
have one thing in common: a terrifying clown. The Losers quickly deduce that this clown
must be behind the child slayings in Derry. Pennywise also appears to Henry Bowers, the
vicious town bully who torments the Losers. But instead of eating him, Pennywise uses
Henry as an agent of destruction. So why go through all the trouble of turning
into a bunch of creepy monsters? Well, Pennywise needs to eat humans to survive,
and It greatly prefers to devour children. Its reason for this is pretty simple: According
to Pennywise, flesh tastes better when it's seasoned with fear, and children are easier
to scare than adults. That's it. That's why Pennywise shapeshifts into whatever
its victims are most afraid of, and why it usually stalks them for a time before killing
them. It wants them to be as scared as possible
before making them its next meal. In the book, It compares this process to salting
meat. "And always let it rest afterwards so it relaxes,
becoming tender and juicy." After a frightening encounter with It in the
abandoned house on Neibolt Street, most of the Losers lose interest in trying to fight
Pennywise and just pretend like nothing ever happened. That changes after Beverly is abducted by
the clown, which rallies the other Losers to come to her rescue. They follow her trail to the town's sewers,
then enter It's domain to search for Beverly. Then, they take care of that mean old clown
once and for all...or so they think. After the traumatic experience of defeating
It, the children of the Losers' Club come to the realization that they're growing up
fast. In the original film, after realizing the
importance of what they've just gone through, Bill suggests the Losers make a blood oath
to swear that if Pennywise ever returns to Derry, they'll return to defeat It again. He finds a piece of broken glass, cuts each
of their palms, and then they all stand in a circle and hold hands. This scene essentially concludes the film. In the book, it's Stan rather than Bill who
initiates the blood oath, but the sentiment remains the same. In It: Chapter Two and in the novel, all of
the Losers eventually move away from Derry except for Mike. Twenty-seven years pass, and all of those
who left gradually forget the events of their childhood. But Mike, having remained in Derry, remembers
everything. And when children start disappearing in the
town once again, he calls upon each of his old friends to return to Derry and fulfill
the oath they made 27 years earlier. The Losers all find success in their adult
lives. But despite their professional successes,
some are still feeling the effects of their childhood trauma. But none are holding onto more trauma than
Stan. After receiving Mike's call, Stan immediately
remembers the harrowing events of his childhood. Not willing to face It again, he draws a bath
and slits his wrists, writing "IT" on the wall in blood as his final act. The other six Losers reunite at a Chinese
restaurant in Derry, the first time they've all been at the same place in 27 years. After learning of Stan's death — and after
Pennywise makes its presence known by taking on various disgusting forms in the group's
fortune cookies — they declare their intent to kill It once and for all. In the 2017 It film, Henry Bowers appeared
to die after Mike shoved him down a well. This posed a potential problem for the sequel
because in the book Henry goes on to play a key role as an adult. Well, fans of the book can rest easy, because
Henry survived his fall. The adult version of the character has been
cast for the sequel, and he can even briefly be seen in the movie's trailer. After his final confrontation with the Losers
as a child, Henry is committed to a mental institution for killing his father. In the book, Pennywise again uses adult Henry
as a weapon against the Losers. It frees Henry from his incarceration and
tells him to kill the Losers' Club. After siccing Henry on the Losers fails to
eliminate them, Pennywise hatches a new plan to kill the group. In the book, Beverly's abusive husband Tom
arrives in Derry looking for his wife so he can kill her. Pennywise takes control of Tom and has him
kidnap Bill's wife Audra, who had come to Derry out of concern for her husband. Tom brings her to Its home in the sewers as
a lure to Bill. Once there, It reveals its true form to Tom
and Audra, killing Tom and rendering Audra comatose. The lure works, and Bill heads to the sewer
for a final confrontation with It. But he doesn't go alone. Ben, Beverly, Eddie, and Richie all accompany
him. These five members of the Losers' Club prove
to once again be too much for It, and after it battles them in the form of a giant spider,
the Losers kill It for good by besting it in a sort of mystical battle of wills. "I believe in Santa Claus. I believe in the Easter Bunny." Eddie dies during the fight, and the rest
of the Losers all again go their separate ways — save for Ben and Beverly, who leave
Derry together. Eventually, they all forget the saga they've
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