LogFAQs > #929617288

Different splitting timelines.

In the original Terminator, Skynet is a revolutionary artificial intelligence system built by Cyberdyne Systems for SAC-NORAD.
In Terminator 2, Cyberdyne Systems recovers Terminator technology from the one sent back in time in the first movie, which they use to build new advanced stealth fleet and missile defense systems, and later base an AI on it.
In Terminator 3, Skynet is being made by U.S. Air Force's Cyber Research Systems (CRS) after the destruction of Cyberdyne Systems, based on off site backupfiles from Cyberdyne Systems. It turned into a botnet and infected every networked machine in the world.

If we look at them, then we should realize that they are 3 different AIs that use the same codename.
The first one was built from scratch. This started a nuclear war against humanity.
The second one was based on the first one. This launched a nuclear attack against Soviet, expecting them to respong with more nukes.
The third one is based on early data from the second one and the first one. This one attacked all humanity with all nukes it had access to.

In Salvation, it seems to have knowledge about the future roles of Kyle Reese and John Connor, so it might have had access to a future version of itself or at least data from the future.
In Genisys, a sophisticated variant of Skynet from an unknown origin plants itself into an advanced T-5000 Terminator, goes back in time to 2029, infiltrates the Resistance and most likely replaces that timelines Skynet with itself.
In Dark Fate, those off site backupfiles from Cyberdyne Systems never existed or were never recovered, and the CRS never built an AI. That means that Skynet was never created. But it had already sent back multiple different Terminators back in time, which remained intact, following the orders of an AI that no longer existed.
Another AI named Legion was created later, which might or might not be based on any earlier Skynet data, and it decided to start a cyber warfare against humanity. Humanity responded by trying to nuke it, and failed. Legion developed its own version of the Terminator technology called REV. So if we dont count the Skynet in Salvation and Genisys as new ones, then Legion is basically the fourth Skynet, but it is the third one in its own timeline.

...well, we got another one from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles as well...
---

GameFAQs isn't going to be merged in with GameSpot or any other site. We're not going to strip out the soul of the site. -CJayC