With MCU multiverse setup has arguably been built up ever since the events of Avengers: Endgame allowed Loki to escape with the Tesseract, setting up for his self-titled series. The concept has been explored more and more in depth, and is set to be a staple throughout MCU Phase 5 and Phase 6, if only to prop up all the franchise's impending new characters and storylines. But when the multiverse finally collides in Avengers: Secret Wars, it'll likely be time to lay it to rest.
While it's already been a fun ride through the multiverse with a number of different MCU titles - and should only be more interesting as the series explores the concept more - it might be time to rein it in. If the stakes aren't appropriate to what Thanos brought in Marvel's Infinity Saga, then Avengers: Secret Wars might feel bizarrely small for the scope it's aiming to exhibit, and one of the few ways to ensure Avengers 6 matches its predecessor would be to have it close off the multiverse with its ending. Closing off the multiverse would also just be good for the MCU's storytelling in the long run. The MCU already has a few different paths it could take to accomplish this, though a shift as massive as ending the Marvel Multiverse wouldn't be without its consequences, and Doctor Strange might well be the one facing the brunt of them.
Avengers: Secret Wars Needs To Have Massive Stakes
The Infinity Saga was a universe-spanning epic for the MCU that it would seem odd for Avengers: Secret Wars not to at least try and match. While the biggest events may have all taken place in Avengers movies, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame felt bigger as they also featured numerous characters from outside the Avengers' official ranks, including Doctor Strange and the Guardians of the Galaxy. It may have seemed as though the stakes couldn't be higher, but they certainly could have, as Thanos' goal was ultimately the eradication of half of the universe, not potentially the entire multiverse.
While it's definitely not always necessary that these films need to go bigger than their predecessors, the conceit of Avengers: Secret Wars is larger from the onset. The multiverse is a huge premise that eclipses Avengers: Endgame by a wide margin, pulling in characters from across every corner of Marvel's cinematic history, and likely beyond. What audiences have already seen of Multiverse of Madness, as well as Spider-Man: No Way Home almost certainly won't be as far as the multiversal adventure will go. As a result, Avengers: Secret Wars needs to have stakes that are appropriate for the scope of the story.
The MCU Multiverse Is Great (But Causes Problems)
The Multiverse has been a great tool for the MCU, as a whole. For one thing, it's an exciting mechanism that the MCU has at its disposal to help broaden the universe itself. This was especially successful in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which helped to actually present the possibility of bringing Marvel movies from before the MCU into the fold. However, the power of that benefit also means it comes with an equally significant Multiverse-related problem for the MCU.
This expansion of the MCU runs the risk of a problem many of these types of stories face, where the stories escalate out of control and risk losing the audience due to a lacking ability to connect. As a result, every threat would therefore have to be something that impacts the entire multiverse because nothing could conceivably be bigger. It would become the crisis of every MCU story in a scenario where each MCU movie is just concerned with outdoing the previous one.
Potentially worse than that, however, is the risk of the Multiverse becoming an MCU crutch from a creative standpoint. There's no denying that the MCU Multiverse has been extremely convenient for setting up a number of properties that simply didn't exist in the MCU's earlier phases. Most notably, the Multiverse Saga to answer old Marvel conundrums would become strangely self-defeating.
Avengers 6 Ending The Multiverse Continues An MCU Trend
There's also a poetry to the MCU storylines that retiring the Multiverse would continue. Throughout Phases 1 through 4, the MCU maintained a clear arc with the Infinity Stones and Thanos. Come the conclusion of that arc, appropriately titled Endgame, the Infinity Stones were essentially rendered defunct. The Multiverse isn't exactly a McGuffin of the same order, as it technically isn't a tangible thing that can be collected, outside of the potential universe-collecting machinations of a villain like Kang. However, the logic still follows the same principle of introducing a high concept that the storyline will revolve around.
After their removal from the equation in Avengers: Endgame, Loki trivializing the Infinity Stones helped to mark the end of that era for the Avengers, but it also had another impact. By removing the Infinity Stones, the franchise prevents the MCU from getting stale by falling back on them as the major linchpin of yet another arc. This was a smart decision that the MCU should look to imitate with the Multiverse in order to keep audiences from getting burned out on the concept.
How Secret Wars Can Close Off The MCU Multiverse
The exact tools necessary for this likely haven't been introduced within the MCU yet, but there are a number of ways Marvel can end its Multiverse. One would simply mimic the comic that Avengers: Secret Wars will be based on. In it the multiverse is effectively destroyed, barring Marvel's main Earth-616 Universe, which was fused with parts of other universes, including the Ultimate universe. This left The Fantastic Four and the Molecule Man to set out and try to restore the multiverse, one universe at a time. That method, however, would lead to several questions, especially now that Sony's Spider-Man Universes are now technically part of the MCU's greater multiverse. Would that eliminate all the work Sony's done and is currently doing?
Another, far less messy option would simply be the removal of transport between multiverses. It's possible that either by some sort of magic or the powers of the Beyonder, the metaphorical door between universes will be slammed shut and locked by the end of Avengers: Secret Wars. This would essentially force future MCU projects to look elsewhere for their stories while not raising too many questions about other Marvel multiverse properties outside the main MCU timeline.
When the dust settles, it's almost certain that the events of Avengers: Secret Wars will result in the main 616 Universe being somehow melded with pieces of other universes. This is the only completely logical way to introduce established X-Men characters to the MCU without needing to go through the origin slog and explain why mutants are suddenly popping up after a total absence throughout the rest of the MCU. However, to keep the multiverse from needing to be brought back up, the MCU could simply close off the link between the multiverses in order to stop stories from being told with it again.
What The MCU Multiverse Ending Could Mean For Doctor Strange
The fate of the MCU's first Sorcerer Supreme isn't exactly assured with the multiverse coming to an end. With Doctor Strange being propped up as essentially the "Iron Man" of this era of the MCU, that could mean he shares Tony Stark's ultimate Avengers: Endgame fate. When Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ended, it was revealed that his actions were the catalyst of a convergence event, much like his Universe 838 counterpart. With that being the case, Doctor Strange may wind up sacrificing himself for the good of the multiverse in a very familiar story beat.
This would also track with his fate in the comics. While Doctor Strange didn't die as a result of the events of any Secret Wars event, he did die in a comic storyline to then be eventually replaced by Clea as the new Sorcerer Supreme. With Charlize Theron's Clea introduced in Doctor Strange 2 as a sorcerer of comparable skill to Strange himself, and Avengers: Secret Wars almost certain to revolve around Doctor Doom as another serious contender for that role, it's possible the MCU could look to follow that path.
Of course, there's also a reality in which Doctor Strange sticks around, albeit in a more limited role. With the door to the multiverse closing, Doctor Strange would be free to go back to minding problems that are almost exclusively in his ballpark. Interdimensional fiends like Dormammu and Mephisto, for example, are definitely in his area of expertise and wouldn't require universe-hopping adventures. So while Clea may have those bases covered, it's also entirely possible that the MCU wishes to avoid having Doctor Strange imitate Iron Man too closely, in favor of having him and his ing cast return to primarily battling the supernatural. Whatever happens with Doctor Strange, hopefully it will be on the back of whole new avenues for stories after Avengers: Secret Wars closes the door on the MCU Multiverse, once and for all.
