The Multiverse Saga of the 2025 Marvel movies, and a slew of TV series, Marvel's slate this year is incredibly diverse. Characters from Wonder Man to Sam Wilson are all being prominently featured as the series gears up for its next Avengers installment. Following this, one of these new stories just provided something very special and unexpected.
The multiverse is an exciting concept that has quickly become integral to Marvel storytelling in a number of different ways, introducing many multiverse to the Marvel lexicon. Stories like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness have shown the exploration of other universes, while others like Spider-Man: No Way Home have shown the impacts of characters from those universes coming to Earth-616. There are a thousand different ways the multiverse can be used, but I will it I did not expect the one Marvel has told more recently.
The MCU's Multiverse Stories Have All Been Colossal In Scale
The Incredible Possibilities Of The Multiverse Have Been Given Especial Focus
Following the incredible success of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the Marvel Cinematic Universe had a lot to live up to. In order to do this, the franchise attempted to expand the scope of their storytelling. Rather than only focusing on the heroes and impacts of one universe, stories that impacted characters and variants from additional universes came to the fore. Loki began this trend, but these multiverse-shattering implications have since been explored in so many films, from Deadpool & Wolverine to Doctor Strange 2.
With Marvel movies set to grow even bigger, introducing what seems to be a new universe in The Fantastic Four: First Steps before leading into Avengers: Doomsday, it seems that this trend of making the multiverse seem big is not likely to end soon. The possibilities and implications are surely heading toward a clashing of universes in Avengers: Secret Wars. This is the only way I can imagine Marvel even trying to go bigger than Endgame, although it has made me yearn a bit for smaller stories.
The MCU Has Needed A Smaller Multiverse Story Throughout The Multiverse Saga
Not Everything Has To Be Enormous
Some of the best Marvel stories have worked because they feel small, intimate, and character-driven. Series like Daredevil have told some of the best stories in the entire franchise because of their characters, and have not needed enormous scale to tell compelling stories. This has happened in the Multiverse Saga, with stories like Ms. Marvel and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. However, none of these projects have used the idea of the multiverse itself in smaller and more thoughtful ways.
Marvel has needed to show the multiverse in a more personal and smaller light. Even though the DC movie bombed, I'd argue that The Flash is perhaps the best example of this so far. The multiverse is used in that film to bring in a new world and familiar characters like Michael Keaton's Batman, but the heart of the film is simply about Barry Allen attempting to use the powers of the multiverse to save his mother. These emotional stakes, and the resulting story, helped the movie feel more intimate, even if it also features some enormous setpieces.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man's Multiverse Time Loop Plot Twist Pulls Off A Self-Contained Multiverse Story With Style
The Multiverse Twist At The End Of Season One Is Unexpected And Incredible
In finishing its first season, Spider-Man: No Way Home emerged.
Having the end of the show use the multiverse in a smaller way, to introduce a threat, then tying those details cleverly in with the start of the show through time-travel, was an incredible way to end the first season of the new series. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequel are already available to tell bigger, more wide-reaching multiverse stories. Using this new universe, with its new iteration of Peter Parker, felt special, innovative, clever, and new, without seeming slavishly dedicated to exploring the implications and cameos of other worlds.
Every Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie Ranked Worst To Best
Over 17 years and 35 movies, the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies have redefined blockbuster cinema. But how do all the films stack up?
Big stories can be incredible, and so can little ones. The Multiverse Saga has worked hard to provide a mix of those, but until now, the Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn't really told any small stories that feature the multiverse itself. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has done a great job of showing how not every use of the multiverse has to be enormous. I would love to see more similar stories told in the future, without the necessity of directly tying into some of the biggest events the MCU has ever seen.
- Cast
- Jonathan Majors
- Created by
- Kevin Feige
- First Film
- Iron Man
- Films
- Avengers: Secret Wars
- First TV Show
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- TV Shows
- Agatha: Coven of Chaos, Vision Quest
