Why An MCM (Marvel Cinematic MULTIVERSE) Is Exciting
WARNING: Potential Spoilers from Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Avengers: Endgame.
During the events of the most recent Spider-Man film, the prospect of a multiverse is brought back to the forefront of the conversation. The topic was previously broached in Doctor Strange when he meets the Ancient One and she opens him up to the potential of infinite universes. This is largely ignored for many other MCU films up until Avengers: Endgame. Endgame reintroduces the concept of a multiverse, via time travel which is explained by the Ancient One as well. Finally, it seems to come to fruition in Spider-Man: Far From Home when Mysterio says that he’s from another Earth in the multiverse. In retrospect, we know that this is a lie due to the events in that movie, but it raises some exciting ideas. Before moving forward, it’s important to note that despite Mysterio claiming that the MCU universe is 616, we objectively know that this is not true.
The first exciting thing to consider is the possibilities that will exist in the What If? TV show. It’s animated, so production may take a little bit longer, but Marvel has committed to using the film cast in voice-over work. The What If? stories are wildly different than the stories that we are used to and often contain a darker twist at the end. Infinity War was a game changer at the end because the heroes collectively lost, and we could see threads of that continue in the What If? series.
Another huge potential filled project is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This has potential to be the Into The Spider-Verse type of story for the MCU, but focused on Doctor Strange. There are many possible threads that can be explored, but the option to have multiple versions of Doctor Strange is thrilling. The thought of Benedict Cumberbatch portraying different versions of Stephen Strange could really show us all of what he’s truly capable of as an actor. There are other actors that have tackled roles like this in sci-fi/comic book culture and have done it well: Tatiana Maslany from Orphan Black and Tom Cavanaugh from The Flash immediately come to mind.
Speaking of Into The Spider-Verse, the obvious thing would be to adapt the Spider-Verse story from the comics. We could see multiple Spider-Men on screen at the same time. It’s not like the idea is new, but to see Tom Holland stand alongside Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield and face down the Inheritors together would be thrilling. Also the introduction of Miles and the possible incorporation of Venom would only enhance the story, if Marvel handled production (TwistCast listeners know that I barely trust Sony with the production).
Finally, the multiverse could open up threats that we haven’t seen yet. While it’s widely speculated that the multiple snaps on Earth could be the reason that mutants are possible, the multiverse could reintroduce villains that were previously killed off. It would be fun to see Red Skull go up against the new FalconCap or see a reborn Malekith butt heads with Jane Foster Thor. Of course, the introduction of the X-Men would be amazing, but it seems that we’ll be waiting just a little while longer for that. It could also be a point of exploration for the Fantastic Four. Watching the FF go through the multiverse on an exploratory mission could be a visual spectacle and they could also serve as our guide, alongside Doctor Strange, through the Multiverse of Madness.
Hopefully the multiverse plays a big, important role in the next few phases of the MCU. If it accomplishes what we expect from Marvel, expect a fun, wild ride. For more analysis of comic book movie universes, keep it here on The Twisted Cape.