Whatever happened to Walter Gibbs?
He was the founder of ENCOM, sidelined when Dillinger rose to power, so I really wonder what happened to him once Dillinger was kicked out and Kevin Flynn took over. As far as I can tell, he isn’t mentioned in Tron Legacy or in any related media, which I do think is a shame, especially considering that he’s the first character who actually states the central premise of the film: That the “spirits” of those who create computer programs live on inside the computer. He was probably speaking metaphorically, but I wonder how he would react if Flynn had told him of his experiences in the digital world.
Gibbs’ actor, Barnard Hughes, had unfortunately died a few years before Legacy, and considering that the character was old and gray-haired even in the 80s film, it’s sadly not unlikely that Gibbs would be dead as well by the time that the sequel film is set in. I would like to think that Flynn offered him a high-ranking position in the company, and perhaps that Gibbs declined, being happy to be tinkering with hardware as a part of the laser research division. And even though Flynn apparently kept his own laser “experiments” secret from the rest of the company, even from people like Alan and presumably Lora, I would like to think that he eventually told Gibbs about it, since he might think that Gibbs would understand and appreciate the revelation that computer programs literally contain the spirits of their creators. It’s the least Kevin could do for the father of both ENCOM and the digtizing laser, I think. I would also like to believe that his digital counterpart, Dumont, would live on long after Gibbs’ passing, and that Flynn told him about the greatness of his User as well.
