Borderlands 4 fans theorize the return of Handsome Jack, and that could mean a decade-old plotline is coming with him

Borderlands 4 fan theories suggest the return of Handsome Jack and the fulfillment of a decade-old storyline teased in The Pre-Sequel.

Borderlands 4 fan theories are already flying, and right at the top are two ideas that prophesize the return of a fan-favorite villain, and might see the payoff of a storyline everyone thought Gearbox abandoned a decade ago.

Shortly after Borderlands 4 was announced during Gamescom Opening Night Live yesterday, players started to take note of the shots at the end of the announcement trailer. It didn't take long before those symbols were translated from the game's ancient in-universe language, Eridian, with the best guess suggesting they read "He is watching. Break free."

This article contains spoilers for Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.

Exactly what that means is far from clear, but it does seem to line up with another image that appears during those few frames. The picture - which you can see at the top of this article - shows a man's face with the Vault logo superimposed over the top of it. And, as noted by several players, that logo lines up with the face beneath it in exactly the same position as it does on the face of Handsome Jack.

Looks like Handsome Jack is returning for Borderlands 4. The vault symbol perfectly aligns. (Credit to @UndeadMD for the find) pic.twitter.com/j2plLNACukAugust 20, 2024

Jack, who Borderlands 2 players will know as the main villain of the game, is also a major character in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. At the climax of that game, he fights his way into a Vault, finds the symbol floating in the air before him, and then has it abruptly burned onto his face by Lilith, another major character. Jack's left horribly disfigured by that event, and wears a mask of his own face to hide his injuries in Borderlands 2, but the Pre-Sequel leaves little to the imagination.

Jack is killed at the end of Borderlands 2, but this is a wild sci-fi world, so there's little preventing his potential return. However, eagle-eyed fans noticed that the villain's return could mean another theory comes to life. The Pre-Sequel takes place on Elpis, the moon of the series' main planet, Pandora (which we already know Borderlands 4 will take us away from). Fans spotted that Elpis is the planet that appears in the trailer, while even more attentive players claim that the hand that picks up the psycho mask at the end of the trailer could be that of The Watcher, a powerful character from The Pre-Sequel.

At the end of The Pre-Sequel, The Watcher appears to warn the player that a Great War is coming, and that they'll need to prepare for it. And then in Borderlands 3... that war is never mentioned, leading some players to believe the increased scope of that game and the sheer amount of time that had passed since The Pre-Sequel meant that teaser would never be fulfilled. Now, however, it seems that that might not be the case, and a ten-year mystery might be solved when Borderlands 4 launches next year.

*Another theory: *Putting the Borderlands 4 reveal just 2 weeks after the Borderlands movie's $90m flop is Randy Pitchford's ultimate "big brain move."