“A world full of endless potential; multiple parallel universes spinning in synchronicity; and the possibility of alternate, powerful, seemingly better versions of ourselves.” – aka The Multiverse
For the past few years, a certain trend has been on the rise in the mainstream genre. The Multiverse. Its concept surged to prominence in pop culture and movies. A kaleidoscope of parallel dimensions that offer infinite possibilities and alternate versions of our known universe. From pages of comic books to the silver screens, the multiverse has emerged to be one of the most looked forward storyline in pages to screens.
Why Is The Multiverse Popular?
The concept of Multiverse has been present since the early times but never had the dominance it had until 2022 where every series and movies had something that deals with The Multiverse, from Hollywood Juggernauts like Marvel bringing back Iconic Spider-Men to Indie darlings The Daniel’s ‘Everything All at Once” it became a huge trend for the year. But going back to the question, why is it so popular? There are numerous reasons why Multiverse is so popular right now:
- Nostalgia factor, everyone loves going back and rewatching their old movies and just thinking “I wonder what would happen if Movie X got made?” “What if Character X is still alive?” That’s when the concept of Multiverse came to an end after days of reboots and remakes. In these times in Hollywood where every series or movie has been canceled or ended Hollywood will always find a way to milk these franchises but have no idea until the concept of Multiverse became a trend and only a few triumphed with that concept.
- Expanded Storytelling going back from the nostalgia factor it also connects to that idea of expanding long gone stories and bringing old characters into newer scenarios revitalizing their characters and having a proper end or beginning to the character and story alone.
- Shared Universes: The rise of shared cinematic universes such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the DC Extended Universe (DCU), has played a significant role in bringing back the idea of shared universes back into screen. This concept has been popular among fans and movie goers as this concept weaves multiple characters and storylines, creating a sense of continuity and world-building that fans crave. It is also a logical move for these franchises as it allows crossovers, cameos and exploration of parallel dimensions which keeps the audiences engaged and invested.
Where did it all started?
The concept of Multiverse has been present in pop culture and movies for several decades. However, its prominence and widespread popularity increased over the years. But in all of its popularity the concept actually dates back a thousand of years ago and the idea of Multiverse began more than two millennia ago in ancient Greece, with the philosopher Democritus, who speculated that there are an infinite number of universes.
Even though the Marvel Cinematic Universe has popularized the concept of multiverse — the idea that infinite, parallel universes exist is hardly new. Science Fiction has played around with them for decades.
One of the earliest stories of Multiverse would have to be ‘Sidewise In Time’ by Murray Leinster in 1934, it appeared in an issue of Astounding Stories, where parts of the Earth are replaced by an geographical equivalent parallel of the same Earth, continued by another story by ‘Elsewhen’ by Robert A. Heinlein in 1941. Where a Philosophy Professor and his students manage to travel alternate timelines.
After quite some time later in the 60’s comic books were the biggest media to grace the newsstands wherein 1961’s The Flash Issue #123 Barry Allen accidentally travels into another Earth (universe) meeting the Golden Age Flash Jay Garrick, it was a special event as the issue is titled ‘The Flash of Two Worlds’ it won a number of awards upon publication. The premise of the story was a way to revive the original Flash and place him into the current timeline of the DC Universe, making the concept of Multiverse travel a significant portion of The Flash’s lore and DC’s mythology.
From then on the 60s onwards Marvel also had their multiverse events which wasn’t their main focus unlike DC still writing story arcs like Crisis On Infinite Earths that soon revitalized DC’s old super-hero stories. Then the late 90’s where we get the first taste of the Blue or Red Pill from ‘The Matrix’ the game changing sci-fi movie of the late and early 90’s where the idea of another universe has been front and center in the face of pop culture once again.
Films with Multiverse Themes
Hollywood isn’t entirely new with the idea of the Multiverse. During the years of cinema and television there have been hundreds of stories that have been seen on screen.
Let’s start off with ‘Doctor Strange: The Multiverse of Madness (2022)’ directed by Sam Raimi from the title itself. You just know that you are about to enter the different universes that Marvel has to offer. It straight up continues where we left off from Doctor Strange and the events after Scarlet Witch aka Wanda Maximoff from Wandavision. This movie also introduces the key to the multiverse America Chavez who’s punch can open a portal to a different universe. The movie also made a billion of dollars in the box office making every movie goers watch and see where the future of Marvel lies.
Coherence came out a few years before all of the multiverse craze and with a limited budget this movie from 2013 follows the strange things that begin happening to a group of people at a dinner party when a comet flies overhead, suddenly reality bends and in interesting ways – the alternate selves of characters and the possibility of it crossing paths being explored within a small-scale story and budget. Coherence has got to be one of the creative and down to earth multiverse themed movies out there.
Straying away from action and drama centric movies enters Happy Death Day 2U the sequel of the acclaimed horror-comedy movie Happy Death Day. Whilst the first movie incorporated the idea of Time Loop the sequel has now evolved into something deeper, the Parallel Universe, where our protagonist Tree Gelbman, wakes up in an alternate reality, where she must die over and over again to find out another killer who’s after her friends while dealing with her different life.
Everything Everywhere All at Once was everything that we needed from all this multiverse mess, Everything Everywhere All at Once went ahead further from what Marvel and other franchises were doing with their Multiverse stories, It follows a middle-aged woman Evelyn who’s unexpectedly transported into another universe to battle an entity that will determine the fate of the multiverse and through that she can harness powers of her alternate selves to fight the most powerful force the multiverse has ever known. An action-packed, exciting yet funny and heartwarming movie that we all need.
In recent years of build up there has never been this intense hype for Spider-Man: No Way Home. It was a cinematic event as we see all different iterations of Spider-Men as the MCU’s Peter Parker faces his greatest battle. The movie follows Peter Parker after the incident of his identity being exposed and with the help of Doctor Strange they try to erase the public’s memory of who Peter Parker is then in Peter Parker fashion he accidentally made Doctor Strange botch the spell then alas all the foes and heroes from the past movies of Spider-Man come to the now universe of Marvel to bring chaos and help Peter for the good.
CONCLUSION
As of now we can still say that the Multiverse isn’t going anywhere as there are still stories from the Marvel Cinematic Universe that’s about to come up that deal with the Multiverse and those are Deadpool 3 and the most awaited Avengers: Secret Wars and Kang Dynasty. Not only that but there are some immense increase of movies wanting to delve into the Multiverse concept as it’s a good way of generating box office.
It helps expand a franchise and cross-over events that has still yet to be perfected in the side of Superhero movies, we already had a taste of what the possibilities are to see our beloved Spider-Men back on screen now the movie goers are craving for more crossovers.
Given those factors, we’re most likely to get more movies about the Multiverse over the coming years, as Filmmakers and studios will continue to tap into the imaginative potential of what a cinematic multiverse is captivating and exciting the audience on the big screen.
