Griff Tannen

BttFCharacter


name=Griff Tannen
role=Antagonist
profession=Unknown
time=2015
timetraveler=No
movies="Part II", ""
film=Thomas F. Wilson
tv=Thomas F. Wilson

Griff Tannen is a fictional character, an antagonist in "Back to the Future Part II", played by actor Thomas F. Wilson, who played all of the Tannen family members in different time periods of the "Back to the Future" motion picture trilogy.

Griff Tannen was born in 1996 in Hill Valley, California and is the grandson of Biff Tannen. The identity or fate of his parents by 2015 is unknown.

Griff is very similar to his grandfather at a younger age. Like most of the Tannen family, Griff is a bully and does so to get what he wants. Unlike Biff, Griff is a lot more violent and unpredictable. Griff is usually accompanied by his gang of 3, "Data", "Spike", and "Whitey", and is the first Tannen to allow a female into his gang. Not many people stand up to Griff, and he is surprised when Marty McFly, pretending to be his son Marty Jr, does so.

Griff has a car (a heavily modified 1976 BMW 633CSI) which he gets his grandfather to wax for him, and appears to be an expert hoverboarder, having in his possession a jet-powered "Pit Bull" hoverboard ("Pitboard").

Pre-"Back to the Future"

Little is known about Griff's life pre-2015. According to an offhand comment by Emmett Brown, and further evidenced by the mechanical sounds every time Griff moves, Griff has bionic implants. These implants give him enhanced strength, make him taller on command, and automatically block a punch thrown at him despite Griff not seeing it coming. An on-screen newspaper from 2015 implies these implants are illegal, although proposals are around to legalize them. The circumstances of his acquiring the implants remain unknown, although it is heavily implied that said circumstances were drugs or an accident.

At some point, he met Marty, Jr., and started bullying him.

"Back to the Future Part II"

On the afternoon of October 21, 2015, Griff and his gang met Marty Jr., at the Cafe 80's (formerly Lou's Cafe in 1955 and Lou's Aerobic Fitness Center in 1985). They "persuaded" Marty, Jr., to join them in the early hours of the following morning to rob the Hill Valley Payroll Substation. Marty, Jr., reluctantly agreed, but accidentally set off the alarm. Marty, Jr., was caught and sentenced to 15 years, while Griff and his gang managed to distance themselves by saying they would not hang out with a "low-res like McFly".

Doc Brown arrives from 1985 in his De Lorean time machine and with the help of Marty from 1985, Marty, Jr., manages to avoid this. Marty from 1985 (aged 17) manages to pose as his future son (since they look surprisingly similar) and says "no" to Griff. Griff, surprised and angered at this, gets his gang to chase Marty around the Courthouse Square after Marty exits the Cafe 80's and "borrows" a hoverboard. Griff smashes his BMW's taillight after trying to hit Marty with a baseball bat as he hovers past.

Marty ended up above the pond in front of the Hill Valley Courthouse Mall, and although his board could float above the water, he was unable to move forward at any significant rate. Griff got out his Pitbull, which allowed his gang to be pulled, and they tried to get Marty. Marty jumped into the water at the last minute, causing Griff to bump on a rock and hurl him and his gang into the courthouse. He was captured and arrested in the end after crashing into the Hill Valley Courthouse. When Martin approached the little girl he 'borrowed' the hoverboard from she told him he could keep it because now she had Griff's. Griff went to jail, and Marty, Jr., never went with him on that robbery.

"Back to the Future: The Animated Series"

Griff makes a brief cameo as a 95-year-old man in the episode, "Solar Sailors", (set on December 15, 2091). His grandson, Ziff, gets sent to jail after trying to sabotage Marta McFly's (Marty's great-granddaughter) space cruiser, and it is revealed that Griff is also in jail.