Divergent proved that dystopian fiction could be both thrilling and thought-provoking, creating a world where being different isn't just dangerous, it's revolutionary! Shailene Woodley's Tris Prior became an icon for anyone who's ever felt like they don't fit into society's neat little boxes. These 12 carefully selected films share Divergent's DNA: brave teens fighting oppressive systems, futuristic societies built on control, and protagonists who discover their true power lies in breaking the rules.
The Darkest Minds (2018)
When a mysterious plague wipes out 90% of children, the survivors emerge with dangerous superpowers that terrify the adult world. Ruby Daly, a teenager with telepathic abilities, hides her true Orange-level powers to avoid execution, instead pretending to be a harmless Green. After escaping a government detention camp, she joins a group of other powered teens searching for a safe haven called East River, while being hunted by both the government and a militant children's group called the Children's League.
Like Divergent's faction system, The Darkest Minds uses color-coding to divide people into categories, but here it's based on superpowers instead of personality traits. Ruby must hide her true abilities to survive, and both films show how governments use fear to control young people who are "different" This movie even has training sequences similar to Divergent's Dauntless initiation, where teens learn to use their powers while forming close bonds with their group.
Watch on Apple TV or Amazon Prime
The 5th Wave (2016)
Earth faces an alien invasion through calculated "waves" of destruction: first an electromagnetic pulse that kills power worldwide, then massive tsunamis, followed by a deadly plague carried by birds. The fourth wave is the most terrifying - aliens who look exactly like humans hunt down survivors. Cassie Sullivan, a high school student, becomes separated from her younger brother Sam when he's taken by what appears to be the military. Armed with only a rifle and her determination, she must navigate this dangerous new world to find him before the mysterious "5th Wave" arrives.
Just like Tris in Divergent, Cassie starts as an ordinary teenager who gets thrown into an extraordinary situation and must become a fighter to protect her family. Both movies feature a strong female protagonist who questions everything she's been told and discovers that the "good guys" might not be who they seem. The military training camps in The 5th Wave are similar to Divergent's faction system, both use structure and discipline to control young people.
Watch on Apple TV or Amazon Prime
The Hunger Games (2012-2023)
In the dystopian nation of Panem, built on the ruins of North America, the wealthy Capitol controls twelve impoverished districts through fear and spectacle. Every year, as punishment for a past rebellion, each district must send two teenagers—called "tributes"—to fight to the death in a televised arena known as the Hunger Games. When 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen's younger sister Prim is chosen, Katniss volunteers to take her place, entering the deadly competition alongside fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark.
The Hunger Games came out two years before Divergent and basically created the template for YA dystopian movies. Both feature a society divided into groups (districts vs. factions), a teenage girl who doesn't fit the system, and a love triangle that develops during deadly training. Katniss and Tris are both the "chosen ones" who become symbols of rebellion, and both movies show how entertainment and spectacle can be used to control people, the Games are televised just like Divergent's choosing ceremony.
If you're diving into The Hunger Games series, the sequels are absolutely worth it, Catching Fire (Amazon Prime) is a must-watch, taking everything great about the first movie and making it bolder, deeper, and more intense. Mockingjay Part 1 (Amazon Prime) slows things down with more politics and emotional weight, but it sets up Part 2 (Amazon Prime), which delivers a powerful, bittersweet finale that ties everything together with real impact. Then there's The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023) (Amazon Prime), a prequel set 64 years before Katniss, following a young Coriolanus Snow. It's a darker, slower burn focused on his transformation into the future tyrant, and while it doesn't have the adrenaline of the original trilogy, I found it compelling in its own right, great performances, haunting tone, and a twisted look at how power corrupts. If you're a fan of the Hunger Games world, the whole saga is worth watching, each installment adding a new layer to the story's depth and themes.
Watch on Apple TV or Amazon Prime
The Giver (2014)
In a seemingly perfect society, all pain, conflict, and strong emotions have been eliminated through strict control and daily injections. Citizens are assigned jobs, spouses, and even children by the Council of Elders, while memories of the past, both good and bad are held by one person called the Receiver of Memory. When 16 year old Jonas is chosen to be the next Receiver, he begins training with the current Receiver (who becomes "The Giver") and starts experiencing suppressed memories of color, music, love, and war that reveal the dark truth behind his community's apparent perfection.
The Giver actually came out the same year as Divergent and has almost identical themes, both show societies that try to control people by eliminating choice and emotion. Jonas's "assignment" as the Receiver is like Tris being chosen for Dauntless, and both characters discover their society's dark secrets through their training. Both movies use the concept of "release" as a substitute word for death, and both feature an older mentor figure who helps the protagonist understand the truth about their world.
Watch on Apple TV or Amazon Prime
The Maze Runner (2014)
Thomas wakes up in a rusty elevator with no memory of his past, only to find himself trapped in the Glade which is a large clearing surrounded by towering stone walls. He joins a group of other teenage boys who've been stuck there for years, all with their memories wiped clean. The only potential escape is through an enormous, ever-changing maze that opens each morning and closes each night, patrolled by deadly creatures called Grievers. As Thomas pushes to break the established rules and explore the maze, he discovers he might be the key to finally finding a way out.
The Maze Runner follows a similar formula: teens trapped in a controlled environment, mysterious rules they must follow, and a protagonist who questions everything. Thomas's role as a "Runner" is like being in Dauntless - only the bravest attempt it, and there's intense physical training involved. Both movies reveal that the teens are part of a larger experiment, and both feature a group of young people who must work together to escape an adult-controlled system.
The sequel to this movie "The Scorch Trials" (Amazon Prime) felt like it wandered a bit too far from what made the first movie so compelling. It's still entertaining, tons of action, a bigger world, lots of running and chaos but I missed the tight mystery of the Maze. It starts to feel more like a generic zombie apocalypse movie in places. That said, if you just want fast-paced thrills and don't mind the story getting a little messy, it's still fun. I wouldn't call it a must-watch, but if you're already invested in the characters, it's worth continuing just to see where things go.
Watch on Apple TV or Amazon Prime
Battle Royale (2000)
In a dystopian Japan, the government implements the "Battle Royale" program where an entire class of junior high students is randomly selected, drugged, and taken to a remote island. Each student is given a weapon and an explosive collar, then forced to kill their classmates within three days until only one survivor remains. The program is designed to terrorize the population and prevent youth rebellion. We follow Class 3-B as childhood friends are turned into enemies and ordinary students must choose between survival and humanity.
Battle Royale is basically the godfather of movies like Divergent and The Hunger Games, it came out in 2000 and was the first to show teenagers forced to fight each other by an oppressive government. The movie is much more violent than Divergent, but both share the theme of adults using young people as weapons of control. Interestingly, Suzanne Collins (who wrote The Hunger Games) claimed she never saw Battle Royale, but the similarities are obvious, both features teens with explosive devices, televised death matches, and governments that use fear to control their people.
The sequel "Battle Royale II: Requiem" (Amazon Prime) is not worth it if you're expecting the raw intensity and clever shock of the original. The sequel goes all in on politics and big idea symbolism, but loses the tightly wound suspense and character depth that made the first film a cult classic.
Watch on Apple TV or Amazon Prime
Fast Color (2018)
In a near-future America devastated by an 8 year drought, Ruth is a woman whose uncontrollable superpowers trigger earthquakes whenever she's stressed or emotional. On the run from government agents and scientists who want to study her abilities, she's forced to return to her childhood home where she reunites with her estranged mother 'Bo' and the daughter Lila she abandoned years ago. Ruth discovers that her powers are hereditary, her mother can make objects levitate and reassemble, while young Lila is just beginning to manifest her own abilities.
Fast Color is like Divergent if Tris had to deal with her powers affecting her entire family across generations. Both movies show women discovering they have abilities that make them dangerous to the government, and both feature a protagonist who must learn to control their powers to protect the people they love. The difference is that Fast Color focuses on family healing rather than faction warfare, but both films ask the same question: what happens when being special makes you a target?
Watch on Apple TV or Amazon Prime
Cloud Atlas (2012)
This movie weaves together six interconnected stories spanning from the 1840s to a post-apocalyptic future. The tales include a 19th century lawyer encountering slavery in the Pacific, a young composer in 1930s Belgium, a journalist investigating corporate corruption in 1970s California, a publisher trapped in a nursing home in modern-day England, a clone server in futuristic Korea, and a tribesman in post-apocalyptic Hawaii. The same actors appear in multiple roles across different time periods, suggesting that souls are reincarnated and that individual actions create ripple effects across time.
Cloud Atlas is much more complex than Divergent, but both movies share the idea that people are connected in ways they don't understand. The futuristic Korea section is most similar to Divergent, it features a society where people are divided into strict categories (clones vs. consumers) and a young woman who breaks free from her predetermined role.
Watch on Apple TV or Amazon Prime
The Adam Project (2022)
When time traveling pilot Adam Reed crash lands his ship in 2022, he's forced to team up with his 12 year old self to complete a mission that could save the future. Adult Adam is hunting down his missing wife Laura and trying to prevent a dystopian timeline where time travel has been weaponized. The two Adams must work together to find Adam's father (who invented time travel) in 2018, steal his research, and destroy the technology before it can be misused. Along the way, they're pursued by Maya Sorian, a woman from the future who's trying to rewrite history for her own gain.
The Adam Project is like Divergent meets Back to the Future, both feature a young protagonist who discovers their parent was involved in creating the system that's now oppressing them. Ryan Reynolds plays the adult Adam, and the movie has a much lighter tone than Divergent, with lots of humor and family bonding. Both films show how technology designed to help people can be turned into a weapon of control, and both feature a "chosen one" who must destroy the system to save everyone.
Watch on Netflix
2012 (2009)
When Earth's core begins heating up due to massive solar flares, a series of catastrophic natural disasters threatens to destroy civilization. Struggling writer, Jackson Curtis stumbles upon a government conspiracy to save only the world's elite people and leave out the general population, while the general population remains unaware of the impending apocalypse. As earthquakes tear apart California, volcanoes erupt worldwide, and massive tsunamis engulf continents, Jackson races against time to save his ex-wife and children. Meanwhile, geologist Adrian Helmsley fights within the government to expand the rescue efforts beyond just the wealthy and powerful.
2012 is different from Divergent because it focuses on natural disasters rather than social control, but both movies show how governments lie to their people and only care about saving the elite. The movie cost $200 million to make and features some of the most spectacular disaster scenes ever filmed, including the destruction of major landmarks like the White House and St. Peter's Basilica. Like Divergent, it shows ordinary people fighting against a system that sees them as replaceable.
Watch on Apple TV or Amazon Prime
Oblivion (2013)
In 2077, Earth lies in ruins after a devastating war with alien invaders called "Scavengers". Humanity has supposedly won but at a terrible cost, the planet is now uninhabitable and most humans have evacuated to Saturn's moon 'Titan'. Jack Harper works as a maintenance technician, repairing drones that protect massive machines extracting Earth's remaining resources. Living in a sky-high tower with his partner Victoria, Jack follows a strict routine until he rescues a mysterious woman named Julia from a crashed spacecraft. Her presence triggers fragmented memories that make Jack question everything he believes about the war, his mission, and his own identity.
Jack's daily routine and strict rules are similar to faction life in Divergent, and both characters have their memories manipulated by those in power. The movie's twist ending is the best part that will make you question everything.
Watch on Apple TV or Amazon Prime