Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17 is here, and it’s already sparking plenty of conversation. Adapted from Edward Ashton’s 2022 novel Mickey7, Bong’s film takes the core premise—a disposable human clone sent on dangerous missions—and reimagines it through his distinct lens. While both versions follow Mickey Barnes, an “Expendable” caught between duty and survival, they take wildly different paths.

Here are the 10 biggest differences between Mickey 17 and Mickey7.

Spoiler warning! Major plot details from both the film and the book lie ahead.

1. Mickey’s Origins: Historian vs Deadbeat on the Run

In Mickey7, Mickey Barnes is a historian on the utopian colony of Midgard. Bored and restless, he gambles himself into crippling debt, ultimately volunteering to be an Expendable on the Niflheim mission as a way out. His background in history plays heavily into the novel’s themes of colonisation, identity, and the cyclical nature of human mistakes.

In Bong’s Mickey 17, Mickey’s backstory is more grounded in desperation. He’s a debt-ridden everyman who flees Earth with his best friend Timo to escape a murderous loan shark. There’s no scholarly past here—just survival instincts.

2. The Colonies: Midgard Is a Paradise, Niflheim Is a Nightmare

Edward Ashton’s Midgard is a third-generation colony described as an almost utopian world. Most people live comfortably, and technology has eliminated scarcity. Mickey’s personal failures, rather than societal collapse, are what drive him to leave.

Bong’s film takes a bleaker view. Earth is an ecological wasteland, and Niflheim is a desperate colony on the verge of collapse. Life there is brutal, resources are scarce, and society is breaking under Marshall’s authoritarian rule. The difference in setting highlights the contrast in tone—cerebral science fiction versus dystopian satire.

3. The Iterations: From Mickey7 to Mickey 17… and Beyond

The novel focuses on Mickey7 and the problems that arise when Mickey8 is printed while Mickey7 is still alive. The two Mickeys are practically identical and cooperate to survive, making their dilemma more existential than confrontational.

In Mickey 17, Bong skips straight to Mickey 17—and introduces Mickey 18 soon after. These two versions are not alike. Mickey 18 is impulsive, violent, and willing to kill. The film amplifies the physical threat between iterations, turning the introspective “two versions of me” dilemma into a life-or-death struggle.

4. Mickey 18 Is a Violent Wildcard

Ashton’s Mickey8 is as cautious and cooperative as Mickey7. The tension lies in hiding from authority, not from each other.

In Bong’s version, Mickey 18 is the loose cannon. He actively plots murder, tries to kill Timo, and ultimately sacrifices himself in an explosive suicide mission that takes out both himself and Marshall. It’s a drastic shift from the novel’s focus on shared identity to the dangers of divergence.

5. Marshall: Natalist Fanatic vs Buffoonish Dictator

In Mickey7, Marshall is a high-ranking leader and devout Natalist. He believes Expendables are soulless abominations and isolates Mickey by restricting his rations and opportunities. His motivations are religious and ideological, and he remains cold but controlled.

Bong transforms Marshall into a vain, incompetent fascist. Played with absurdity by Mark Ruffalo, Marshall in Mickey 17 is an egotistical, self-absorbed tyrant who runs the colony like a cult of personality. He’s less a zealot and more an authoritarian clown, surrounded by sycophants and obsessed with Creeper tail sauce. Bong’s satire pushes Marshall into dark comedy territory.

6. Nasha’s Role Is Vastly Expanded

Nasha is Mickey’s girlfriend in both versions, but the novel keeps her role modest. She’s a pilot who supports Mickey and struggles with the moral implications of loving an Expendable.

In Mickey 17, Naomi Ackie’s Nasha is a force of her own. She’s a security officer, a political rebel, and ultimately the colony’s new leader. Her decision to save the Creeper baby Zoco becomes a pivotal moment that shapes the film’s resolution. Bong gives Nasha far more depth and agency, elevating her from love interest to co-lead.

7. Alan Manikova: Planet-Conquering Clone vs Background Criminal

In Ashton’s Mickey7, Alan Manikova is the cautionary tale. He clones himself thousands of times, conquers a planet, and triggers an interstellar war that ends with his annihilation by antimatter weaponry. He’s why multiples are banned and feared.

In Bong’s adaptation, Manikova is a footnote—a criminal caught with a few clones and promptly arrested. While the theme of “multiples as a threat” remains, the galactic scale of Manikova’s story is stripped away in favour of a more contained narrative.

8. The Baby Creeper (Zoco) Changes Everything

The novel’s Creepers are distant and hostile, only warming to humanity after Mickey negotiates peace. There’s no baby Creeper in the book, no infiltration of the human dome, and no interspecies diplomacy through shared compassion.

Bong adds Zoco, the baby Creeper, as the emotional heart of Mickey 17. Nasha’s decision to protect Zoco changes the course of the film, sparking rebellion and forging peace with the Creepers. This subplot humanises the aliens and raises the stakes in ways the novel never explores.

9. The Tech: From High-Tech Implants to Clunky, Brutal Gear

Ashton’s world is full of sleek, advanced tech. Colonists use telepathic retinal implants to communicate, and the regeneration process for Expendables is routine and clinical.

Bong’s Mickey 17 tones it all down. Weapons are retrofitted military gear, and communication with the Creepers relies on Dorothy’s cobbled-together translation device. The cloning process looks messy, physical, and grotesque. It’s all part of Bong’s grimy, lived-in dystopian aesthetic.

10. The Endings Are Radically Different (Spoiler Heavy!)

In Mickey7, Mickey negotiates peace with the Creepers by bluffing with an antimatter bomb. Marshall survives, but Mickey finally quits his Expendable role. Nasha stays with him, and the story ends on a cautiously hopeful note. The Expendable program remains intact, and the colony limps on.

Bong’s Mickey 17 opts for revolution:

• Mickey 18 detonates his bomb vest, killing himself and Marshall.
• Ylfa is arrested for trying to kill Zoco and later dies by suicide.
• Nasha becomes the colony’s new leader, forging peace with the Creepers.
• Robert Pattinson’s Mickey 17 survives and detonates the cloning device at a public ceremony, symbolically ending the Expendable program.

Where Ashton’s novel ends with quiet survival, Bong’s film concludes with systemic change, societal upheaval, and a glimmer of a better future—classic Bong Joon-ho.

Two Mickeys, Two Different Journeys

Whether you’re drawn to the introspective, thought-provoking narrative of Edward Ashton’s Mickey7, or Bong Joon-ho’s satirical, visually striking reimagining in Mickey 17, both stories tackle timeless themes of identity, survival, and what it means to be human—just in wildly different ways.

For fans of science fiction that blends deep philosophical questions with thrilling storytelling, experiencing both versions offers a unique perspective on how a single premise can be interpreted through two distinct creative visions.