What is a multiverse, how does it work, and why does it matter? More importantly, what
does it mean for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Based on what we've seen
so far and what's coming, here's our best shot at explaining the MCU multiverse.
Listen carefully to the conversation between the Ancient One and Bruce Banner in Avengers:
Endgame, and it tells you just about everything you need to know about how the MCU multiverse
works. The Ancient One doesn't want to give Banner the Time Stone because she fears doing
so will create an alternate timeline. There would then be a timeline in which the Time
Stone left her care during the Battle of New York, and so would never be in Kamar-taj for
Stephen Strange to use in Doctor Strange. There would also still be yet another timeline
where the Time Stone never left her care and events unfolded as we already know them.
Simply put: you can't change the past.
"If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future, and your former present becomes
the past, which can't now be changed by your new future."
If you try to change the past, you create a paradox. For example, if you go back in
time and stop your parents from ever meeting, then how do you exist? And if you don't exist,
how do you go back in time to stop your parents from meeting? You can go on like that forever.
The universe solves this paradox by creating an alternate timeline, something the Avengers
have to deal with as part of their journey to collect the Infinity Stones.
During the lead-up to 2019's Spider-Man: Far from Home, there was a lot of conversation
about whether the film confirmed the existence of an MCU multiverse. In the trailer, we learned
that Quentin Beck claims to be from an alternate universe where his world was destroyed. He
was supposedly in the prime MCU timeline doing what he could to stop the same thing from
happening.
Of course, it turns out Quentin Beck was lying about almost everything. He wasn't from another
universe and neither were the Elemental creatures he was fighting. In fact, the Elementals weren't
even the Elementals. They were Mysterio's illusions created by a swarm of drones and
holograms.
But it's important to remember that the fact that Mysterio wound up not being from another
universe doesn't disprove the existence of the MCU's multiverse. From his earliest comic
book appearances, Mysterio set himself up as a supervillainous con man and liar, but
that doesn't mean he's wrong. In fact, Mysterio himself has already had some real multiverse
adventures in the pages of Marvel Comics.
The weirdest part of the back and forth about whether Mysterio's cover story confirmed the
existence of an MCU multiverse was the fact that the conversation was going on at all.
Three years before Far from Home's release, the MCU multiverse was confirmed without Quentin
Beck's help.
In 2016's Doctor Strange, the Ancient One confirms the existence of a multiverse within
the MCU when she sends Stephen Strange on his memorable trip through that multiverse.
As the bedraggled Strange floats through the cosmos, the Ancient One provides a narration
for his trippy journey. Among other things, she tells Strange,
"This universe is only one of an infinite number. Worlds without end."
So there you have it. Regardless of the home address of Quentin Beck, the MCU has a multiverse
and its existence was confirmed long before Far from Home, though it's understandable
why this was forgotten or ignored. Far from Home was preceded by Endgame, the first MCU
film to really have anything significant to do with time travel and alternate timelines.
That's probably why it was closer to the forefront of everyone's minds than it might have been
while watching Doctor Strange in 2016.
Steve Rogers' decision to remain in the past at the end of Avengers: Endgame is a perfect
example of how the MCU multiverse works. When asked about Cap's final fate, Endgame co-director
Joe Russo confirmed that when he stays in the past and marries Peggy Carter, the life
Steve lives occurs in an alternate timeline. Then, at some point, Steve somehow returns
to the prime MCU timeline to give his shield to Sam Wilson.
One of the big questions on fans' minds is if Cap really did accomplish his mission.
Steve's job was to return all the Stones at the exact moments they were taken from the
various times, thereby stopping alternate timelines from being created. But first of
all, we never see Steve's quest, so we don't know if things worked as planned. Second,
there's a question of whether Banner's theory around bringing the Stones back is sound in
the first place.
Banner tells the Ancient One that bringing the Stones back to the precise moments when
they're taken, and returning them, will stop the timelines from splitting. But would it,
or is it possible it would make things worse? For example, Banner takes the Time Stone.
As soon as he takes the Stone, an alternate timeline has been created. Would bringing
the Stone back erase the second timeline, or would it create a third?
This is why we can only hope time machines remain in the realm of fiction.
"Time travel!"
Somewhere out there in the multiverse, Loki is alive. And the reason he's alive is not
only what allows for his upcoming Disney+ miniseries, but it also possibly complicates
things with MCU's multiverse even more.
In Endgame, Loki gets his hands on the Tesseract while Thor is trying to resuscitate Tony Stark.
Once he does, he disappears in a blue cloud. A new timeline has been created one in which
Loki was never brought to Asgard to face Odin's justice after the Battle of New York. Presumably,
we'll be finding out what happens to that Loki in his upcoming miniseries.
Whether Banner's theory on how to un-splinter the timeline is correct, when it comes to
this specific alternate timeline, it doesn't matter. Remember: Loki's escape prevents Steve
and Tony from getting the Tesseract, forcing them to go back to the '70s and get it from
S.H.I.E.L.D. When Cap goes back in time to return the Stones at the end of Endgame, he
only has one Tesseract to return. Presumably, he's going to return it to the '70s, but that
means everything that happens in Stark Tower in 2012 all still happened. That timeline
still exists, and it's going to be Loki's playground.
There's one more alternate timeline that couldn't have been erased by Cap's journey to the past
the timeline in which the 2014 Thanos and his forces jump forward to 2023 and assault
Avengers Compound. When Thanos captures Nebula from 2023, they reverse-engineer her Pym Particles
and replace her with 2014 Nebula.
What does that all mean? There now exists a timeline in the MCU where Thanos and all
his forces disappear in 2014, never to return. As soon as the respective interstellar empires
of that timeline realize he's gone, they'll probably have one huge multi-planet party
that lasts a few decades.
Returning the Soul Stone to Vormir can't alter Thanos' disappearance. It can only create
more divergent timelines. In a way, you could argue Tony Stark does double duty when he
snaps away the Mad Titan at the end of Endgame. He wipes out Thanos from not just one, but
two universes.
We don't know a lot yet about 2021's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but
just from the name it seems likely we're going to be learning more about the MCU's multiverse
in the Doctor Strange sequel. If any hero is equipped to explore the multiverse, it's
Doctor Strange. His first film introduces the multiverse, and it's that multiverse that
Strange uses the Time Stone to explore in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War.
It's possible the events of Endgame are the key to whatever is going wrong in the upcoming
sequel. Endgame is the only time we've seen any kind of significant time travel in the
MCU. The very phrase "Multiverse of Madness" suggests something has gone wrong with the
multiverse, and if that's the case, then all the time-hopping the heroes and villains of
Endgame did could be the reason.
Another big hint is the upcoming Disney+ miniseries WandaVision. We don't know much more about
the series than we do about the Doctor Strange sequel, but what we do know is intriguing.
Star Elizabeth Olsen has said at least part of the series will have a 1950s setting, which
hints pretty strongly at a multiverse connection.
At the same time we heard about stories like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,
we learned we were going to be meeting the Mighty Thor a.k.a. Jane Foster in the fourth
entry of the Thor franchise, Thor: Love and Thunder.
What does this have to do with the multiverse? Well, all that time-hopping in Endgame may
give us the most obvious answer to the question of how Jane gets all mighty. Steve Rogers
has Mjolnir with him when he goes back in time at the end of Endgame, but it isn't with
him when he returns as an elderly man. Presumably, Steve would've returned the hammer to Asgard
circa 2013 when he returned the Aether. If so, then that might be the answer.
For the sake of argument, assume that when Steve arrives in 2013 Asgard, he doesn't grab
the first Asgardian he sees and say "Hey, I'm a time traveler! Can you tell me where
Thor is?" Assume Cap simply leaves the hammer somewhere, knowing it will go to Thor as soon
as the thunder god summons it, and then continues on his journey. Then assume Jane Foster comes
upon the hammer wherever Steve happens to leave it. Out of curiosity, if you found yourself
alone with the hammer of Thor, wouldn't you give it a shot?
One possibility that's loomed since before Disney's acquisition of Fox is that Marvel
characters whose film rights are still held by other studios might be narratively connected
to the MCU through the multiverse. When rumors swirled that Venom might be showing up in
Spider-Man: Far from Home, the multiverse was an explanation some fans clung to.
While there's been no indication that Marvel Studios plans to use the multiverse in this
way, it's not out of the question. With the Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Deadpool all under
the Disney umbrella, it could be there are elements of their respective Fox films that
Marvel likes. If so, one way to keep them whole would be to simply say the previous
movies took place in an alternate timeline. The same possibility exists with Venom as
well as the other Marvel properties Sony is either actively adapting or planning to adapt,
like Morbius, Kraven the Hunter, and Silver Sable.
This is an idea Marvel's already used though it was Marvel Comics instead of Marvel Studios.
In the 2014 comics event Spider-Verse, versions of Spider-Man in other media were considered
to be alternate universe Spider-Men. The Spider-Man from the '80s Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends
cartoon, from the newspaper strip, and even from old Hostess ads Marvel's comics used
to carry were all considered genuine Spider-Men from other universes. In the sequel, 2018's
Spider-Geddon, the Spider-Man of that year's Playstation 4 Spider-Man video game was one
of the comic's heroes.
Thanos brutally murders Loki in the opening scene of 2018's Avengers: Infinity War, and
later in the same film he hurls his adoptive daughter Gamora to her death on Vormir. Yet
both Loki and Gamora show up in the 2019 follow-up Avengers: Endgame, and we'll be seeing both
of them again. Loki will enjoy his own solo miniseries on Disney+ while Gamora will almost
definitely be back for the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Both characters survive
as part of alternate realities. Even if Captain America returned all the Infinity Stones exactly
where they were meant to be, Loki's escape in NYC and Thanos' journey to the future each
create splintered timelines that can't be undone by Steve Rogers.
The MCU multiverse provides a resurrection easy button for Marvel Studios' storytellers.
Want to bring back Odin, the Warriors Three, and all the other Asgardians? They must exist
in an alternate timeline. Want to reunite Wanda Maximoff with her speedster brother
who dies in Age of Ultron? There must be a timeline where Ultron didn't kill him.
That doesn't just go for the good guys, either. With the multiverse more prominent in the
MCU's narrative, we could see the return of any villain from as far back as Jeff Bridges'
Obadiah Stane.
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