Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen is a fictional character, the main villain in the Back to the Future motion picture trilogy, played in the three films and the ride, and voiced in the the Animated Series by Thomas F. Wilson.

Biff was born on March 26, 1937 in Hill Valley, California. He is the great grandson of Buford 'Mad Dog' Tannen. He is not very bright and only got through high school by bullying George McFly to do his homework for him. Biff is feared by most of his schoolmates. He is less brave when he is without his gang (Match, Skinhead, and 3-D). He also has a crush on Lorraine Baines and constantly refers to her as "my girl." Lorraine does not return the sentiments.

By 1985, Biff's marital status is unknown – no mention of a wife or children was ever made in the trilogy, although Biff has a grandson Griff by 2015, suggesting that Biff had at least one child by 1985. The animated series reveals that Biff has a son, Biff Jr, although this is not taken as canon by many fans. A draft script reveals that his middle initial is "H" for "Howard", although his middle name was never mentioned in the trilogy. Also, a BTTF comic showed a "Mugsy Tannen" living in 1920's Prohibition-era Chicago as a gang boss, probably Mad Dog's son.

Biff is noted for malapropisms: for example, he thinks the saying is "make like a tree and get out of here" instead of "make like a tree and leave." He is also known for calling people "butthead". When someone says something foolish, he knocks on their head with his fist (or a fist-shaped cane in his old age) saying "Hello? Hello? Anybody home?" His attitude is to do something rather than think things over and he has no problems with using his fists to get what he wants. Biff will try and get out of paying for things if he has to and is looking for a nice easy life where everyone else will do things for him. He also likes cars and ends up with a career waxing and cleaning them with his auto detailing business. Biff is still a bully, but can be nice and/or charming when he needs to be, usually to get out of trouble.

Pre-Back to the Future

Although we have some vague details of Biff's life before 1955 (when we first meet him chronologically), exact details are not known. What is known is that he has been living with his grandma, Gertrude Tannen, at 1809 Mason Street for some time by November 1955. The whereabouts of his parents is not known, although some theories suggest that one of both of them might be dead or in prison. He also had to repeat a year of school (explaining why, despite being a year older than George and Lorraine, he is in the same year as them), although it is not known exactly when he was "kept behind" – this was probably some years prior to 1955, as Biff appears to have been bullying George for some time before this date.

In several draft scripts of the films, he was born on Elm Street and he was a fantastic asset to the high school football team, which is the reason why he was kept to do his senior year twice.

Back to the Future

In the original timeline, Biff started bullying George McFly when they were kids and never stopped. Over the next 30 years, Biff would continue to bully and intimidate George, as they both ended up working for the same company where Biff became George's supervisor (due to George doing all Biff's work for him to get promoted). Biff's crush on Lorraine never died either, although Lorraine had married George and presumably Biff had married as well.

However, things changed when the events of the first movie begin to unfold. The McFlys' youngest son, Marty McFly accidentally traveled back through time to 1955 using his friend Doc Brown's DeLorean time machine, interfering with his parents' first meeting. Marty, using the anachronistic name "Calvin Klein," also managed to get on the wrong side of Biff by standing up to him, something which Biff was not used to. Marty was also indirectly responsible for causing Biff to crash his car into a manure truck, and this led to Biff finding Marty and Lorraine on the night of the school dance (November 12, 1955). Biff's gang trapped Marty in the trunk of another car and Biff tried to get his way with Lorraine. George came along, as part of the plan he and Marty had made where George would find Marty "parking" with Lorraine, but soon realized that the pretend rescue was now a real one. For the first time, George stood up to Biff to save Lorraine, and knocked Biff out with one punch.

This punch led to a much more confident George, and Biff no longer had a victim to pick on. He may have found someone else to bully, but some theories suggest that as the weakest kid in school had stood up to and punched Biff, no-one else would let him bully them anymore. Since Biff no longer had George to do his work for him, he now had to do things for himself. He started up his auto-detailing business, which he owns and runs himself, and by 1985 it seems to be quite popular. The McFlys are among his customers and Biff's subservient attitude is demonstrated by addressing George as "Mr. McFly". George seems amused at Biff's efforts to get away with as little work as possible though he and Lorraine privately credit him with unwittingly helping them get together. Biff is nice to his customers to their faces, but can still be mean if he has to be.

Back to the Future Part II

At the start of the second film, Marty, Doc and Marty's girlfriend Jennifer Parker travelled forward in time from 1985 to 2015 – unaware that their departure had been witnessed by Biff. Over the next 30 years, Biff remembers seeing the flying DeLorean taking off.

Now, Biff is still waxing cars by 2015, at the age of 78, and is bullied by his grandson Griff. Despite being over the age of retirement, Biff does not appear to have retired – he may just be doing his grandson a favor by waxing his car, or he may have hit on hard times and been forced to continue working. Biff still likes bullying people, picking on Marty (who he thinks is Marty's future son Marty Jr) – although he is still afraid of George McFly. Also Biff's crush on Lorraine still lingers.

On October 21, 2015, Biff saw the time machine from 1985 in the street and realised that Doc Brown had invented a time machine. He picked up a sports almanac that Doc had thrown in the trash and stole the DeLorean whilst Doc and Marty were rescuing Jennifer from her future home. Biff headed back to November 12, 1955 with the almanac to give to his younger self. Somehow, when he tried to get his cane, he accidentally hit himself on the ribs, causing him to collapse and fall into unconsciousness. The top part of Biff's cane remained in the DeLorean and Doc showed it to Marty as an indication that old Biff was there.

Young Biff used the sports almanac to bet on the results of sporting events, since he now knew the results. In 1958, age 21, Biff soon became very rich and powerful, spending his money on women and cars. He also started up his toxic waste company Biffco, soon becoming one of the richest and most powerful men in America. Biff built a casino hotel in Hill Valley, on the top of the former Courthouse, legalized gambling in 1979 and helped Richard Nixon remain President of the United States until at least 1983. Biff's effects on history affected the whole world – in this version of history, the Vietnam War was also still ongoing by May 1983.

Despite all this, Biff did not have the girl he wanted. In this version of history, he was married at least three times, presumably the first wife was the woman he would have married in the normal timeline and the mother of his child(ren). On March 15, 1973, Biff shot and murdered George McFly. He married Lorraine not long afterwards, possibly by offering financial support to the young widow and her 3 children, but the money and power had gone to his head and he treated her horribly. This went on until 1996 when Lorraine finally shot Biff (this was never implied in the finished film, but a deleted scene showed Biff being erased from existence when he returned to 2015, suggesting that he had changed history. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale have suggested the "Lorraine shot Biff" theory as an explanation for Biff's fading away). There is another possibility; having created an alternate timeline by giving his younger self the almanac, the old Biff from 2015 no longer exists, now that 2015 will become part the 1985A timeline.

This version of reality was erased when Marty and Doc went back to 1955 and got the almanac from Biff before he could use it, causing Biff to crash into the very same manure truck a second time. The timeline went back to how it was at the end of the first film, where Biff was running his auto detailing business.

Back to the Future Part III

Although Thomas F. Wilson still remained as one of the main actors in the final installment, his character Biff only appeared at the end of the film, once Marty had once again returned to 1985, and was back to working as an auto-detailer, waxing Marty's Toyota truck for him once more. This film dealt with his great grandfather "Mad Dog" Tannen (also played by Wilson).

Back to the Future: The Ride

Biff has a major role in the Back to the Future ride series. The ride reveals that in 1991 Doc established the Institute of Future Technology. On May 2, 1991 (also the day the ride opened), time travel volunteers from the IFT went back to 1955 to make sure that the timeline was back to normal following the events of the films. In 1955, 18-year old Biff stowed away in the time machine and once in 1991, stole it and blasted through time. Doc, with the help of the audience, followed Biff through time in the new 8-seater DeLorean. Biff visited October 25, 2015 (almost the 30th anniversary of the first time travel experiment) and the Ice Age before heading back to 1991. Biff was then taken back to 1955, where he belonged, by Doc.

The ride is not taken as canon by many fans, so Biff's adventures above are often ignored.

Back to the Future: The Animated Series

Biff was the present day villain of the series, although most episodes featured one of his numerous ancestors or descendants instead. The series established that Biff has a son, Biff Jr, who is about 8 years old by 1991. No mention of a wife is made, and it appears that Biff is a single father. In the episode The Money Tree, he is shown as driving a tow truck, which means in the 6 years between the movies and the series, he still has his automotive detailing business (he drove a "Biff's"-branded tow truck in 1985 in the movies).

Although the events of the series are not taken as canon by many fans (in addition to the fact that by 1991, Biff should be 53 - but does not look anywhere as old as that), the series does have a few episodes centred around Biff. It revealed that in 1967 he saw the Comet Kablooey and thought it was an alien ship, and that in 1992 he tried claiming Jennifer Parker's grandparents' ranch after finding a deed saying the Tannen family owned it. However, Marty, Jules and Verne went back to 1875 to make sure that the Tannens never got the deed.

One episode in the second season which took place in 1944 introduced a military character named Frank Tannen who lived in Hill Valley and was in the United States Army. Conjecture could place Frank as Biff's father, and if Frank were to be MIA, it could explain why Biff lives with his grandmother by 1955.

In the 1st season of the cartoon, there would be a segment after the end credits where Biff would tell a joke which related to the theme of the episode.

Trivia

Jeffrey Jay Cohen who later played one of Biff's gang was considered to play Biff but did not appear physically imposing next to Eric Stoltz, who was orginally cast as Marty. He did appear more imposing next to the shorter Michael J. Fox who had been the first choice to play Marty and who would later replace Stoltz in the role. On the DVD commentary for the first film, producer Bob Gale noted that Cohen may very well have won the role had Fox been cast from the beginning.