After Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness, let's see what we can figure out about the MCU's ever-expanding multi
No matter what medium of story being told, the concept of a multiverse is a complicated one. In the MCU's case, it's even more so. With multiple stories all competing for space, and more content than ever before being released at a break-neck pace, the newly confirmed idea of a massive Marvel Cinematic Multiverse (an MCM, if you will) is already a bit of a bear to wrangle, even though it's still technically (and by MCU standards) in its infancy.
Things started in earnest with the debut of Loki on Disney+. Prior to the time-traveling anti-hero redemption story, the MCU's multiverse was handled in an oddly cagey way--only ever teased, never directly addressed, frequently subverted and even poked fun at with jokes and gags (remember Not Quicksilver from WandaVision?) There was also all the time traveling in Endgame--which, at the time, wasn't a multiverse-based thing but retroactively became one (kind of) with the introduction of the TVA, and Ant-Man and The Wasp's Quantum Realm, which is a whole separate thing that may or may not dovetail in with everything else. But Loki blew the doors off the idea, allowing the TVA and their quirky cartoon mascot Ms. Minutes explain to viewers directly that there had once been a "multiversal war" that threatened all reality.
Since then, things have gotten even more complex--with different shows and movies toying with the idea--until finally Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hit theaters this year, blowing the doors off the idea of multiple iterations of reality within the MCU once and for all. But, despite the pomp and circumstance of Doctor Strange 2's arrival, the idea of the MCU's multiverse is still, well, tricky, to say the least.
In the last two years, we've been given a handful of clues, various systems of rules and internal logic, a number of new characters with new powers, and even some new villains, all of whom have some sort of stake in the multiverse concept. The thing is, not all of them have been fully explained or fleshed out--and some of them even seem to directly contradict one another. This isn't necessarily an indictment--these concepts are still in their early days in the MCU, so there is plenty of time for them to grow and change as more movies and TV shows are released. But, it's important to stay on top of things as they happen. So, with that in mind, we've compiled a list of details and events that have developed the MCU's multiverse, warts and all, for your future conspiracy theory crafting needs. Here's to the rest of Phase 4, and the inevitable arrival of Kang the Conqueror.
The TVA
The TVA, introduced in Loki, was responsible for preserving the "sacred timeline" which, despite sounding like something distinct from the multiverse, was actually created as a direct result of a vast Multiversal War lead by "variants" of one man (He Who Remains/Kang the Conqueror) who hopscotched through various timelines and universes, destroying and, well, conquering them.
This was, of course, until the TVA was destroyed after Loki and Sylvie realized that most of the TVA's mission was just propaganda from He Who Remains, who had taken it upon himself to dictate their mission based on what he--in his fortress outside of time--decided was best.
The big takeaway from all of this is that, yes, time travel is in effect a version of traveling the multiverse and that "branching timelines" are effectively alternate realities. There's a lot of confusing overlap between these two concepts, however, so it's not immediately clear how firm that overlap (or the possible distinctions between the two) may be.
The Multiverse 2.0
By the end of Loki, Sylvie and Loki decide to kill He Who Remains and effectively kickstart a multiversal war all over again. The results of which are, unsurprisingly, difficult to really break down since we only see it for a few minutes at the end of the show, when Loki arrives at an alternate version of the TVA.
The show makes it seem like this event is the formal beginning of the multiverse within the MCU, but eagle-eyed fans were quick to connect the moment He Who Remains was killed to the climax of the WandaVision finale, where Wanda's powers are close to their zenith, making her Scarlet Witch abilities another potential ingredient. However, neither of these events have been referenced again since their Disney+ debuts. Furthermore, in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Wanda is unable to travel the multiverse unassisted, so any relationship between the two events is likely coincidental.
Strange's Spell
Meanwhile, sometime after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, Peter Parker went to Doctor Strange for help with his secret identity problem. Notably, nothing about New York City seems to have suffered any negative effects from Loki's finale and the multiversal implosion at the TVA, so it is likely that this is happening before that.
Strange first messes up the spell--after Peter demanded too many changes--causing a multiversal collision with his universe, bringing in a handful of villains and alternate Spider-Men, all of whom must be dealt with and either killed or sent home. Naturally, Peter opts for the second one, despite a very near miss with several of the villains becoming all-powerful threats.
Strange's Spell (Again)
Keeping the extra Spider-Men and villains around in a universe they didn't belong in was actually much bigger problem than initially believed, and by the end of No Way Home, the universe came very dangerously close to collapsing in on itself as the multiverse attempted to send every person who ever knew Peter Parker's identity in all at once--we even got to see some silhouettes of potential newcomers in the sky as things got really, really dire.
Interestingly, this multiversal disaster apparently had nothing to do with the one that happened in Loki--or at least if the two events were connected in some way, it's not immediately obvious how or why. As far as we know, the existence of the TVA is still a mystery to everyone currently on Earth, including Strange.
To prevent this particular disaster from taking place, Strange casts a spell that makes the entire world (possibly the entire multiverse) forget about the existence of Peter Parker--not Spider-Man, just Peter--meaning that Spider-Man's secret identity has never been compromised, but Peter himself no longer has any friends or family aware of him at all. He's functionally a ghost.
It's similarly unclear as to how Strange's magic actually interacts with the multiverse at large, considering his lack of contact with the TVA--though it's also possible that Strange just never used any multiversal magic until this point, and that the Time Stone is its own thing (the TVA definitely seemed to not care about the Infinity Stones--they kept them around like desk baubles) so maybe that's how that works.
Venom and Vulture
In the post-credits scene for No Way Home, it was revealed that Eddie Brock had been very briefly pulled out of his own universe and into Peter Parker's, though he was dropped off on a resort island far away from New York. Brock never got a chance to actually meet anyone of note--and it was never explained why he was brought to Peter's universe in the first place, considering the spell was supposedly only supposed to work on people who knew Peter's identity in the first place.
He was sent home when the spell was reversed, but left a tiny bit of the Venom symbiote behind.
Similarly, at the end of Morbius, it was revealed that Vulture got a similar-but-opposite treatment. For some reason, the reversal spell took him out of his home universe and sent him to Moribus's. Let's be honest--we probably won't be picking up the Morbius Cinematic Universe threads anytime soon, so this is most likely a dead end.
America Chavez
Meanwhile, in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we meet America Chavez, a teenager from another reality that has the ability to hop through the multiverse unassisted. She's been doing this since she was a kid--almost entirely by accident--and believes herself something of a multiversal anomaly. She doesn't dream, which she reveals, means she's not getting glimpses of her multiversal selves.
It's not clear how America managed to sneak by the notice of the TVA prior to their destruction, or how contact with the multiverse was able to happen via dream while the TVA was still active--hopefully, we'll learn more about America and her abilities the next time she shows up. Or maybe this is another case of the distinction between time travel and multiversal travel being fluid and hard to pin down--but if that's the case, how was America traveling between universes while the sacred timeline was very much being enforced?
Universe 616
When Strange and America hop to a new reality, they meet an alternate version of Christine who works as a scientist studying the multiverse. She explains that their world, Universe 838, has cataloged other universes and numbered them--Strange and America came from 616, which in comic book parlance means the "main" universe in which most of the standard stories are set.
Like America herself, however, it's never actually broached or explained how Universe 838 has been operating like this under the presumed existence of the TVA--and, stranger still, how something else she reveals is able to happen at all. That would be the…
Incursions
One of the major issues with multiversal travel and interference is the potential of an "incursion," which is the act of one universe physically colliding with another. We see the results in Multiverse of Madness when Strange, America, and Christine travel to a universe that has all but collapsed thanks to an alternate Strange succumbing to the Darkhold.
This seems to contradict much of what Loki and the TVA had to say about their purpose and the mission of the TVA itself, which was preventing branching timelines and the existence of a multiverse altogether--though it is certainly possible that there is just some information we haven't been given yet. It also seems that incursions are different from the cataclysmic events that would end worlds and timelines which prevented the TVA from noticing Sylvie working.
At the end of Multiverse of Madness, Strange is visited by Clea, who has come to fetch him because of an impending incursion--an event she seems to know a great deal about, just like the alternate reality Christine. So the question becomes how were either of these characters able to study or gain first hand experience in something that, in theory, wasn't able to start happening until recently?
So, what does any of this mean?
It won't surprise you that it's hard to really suss out what any of this means for the big picture in the MCU--and, really, the MCU isn't alone in this confusing sci-fi logic. Marvel Comics have, for decades, been writing and rewriting the rules for their own multiverse again and again, for better or for worse. The fact of the matter is there are no hard or fast rules for any of this, and the only logic that can be applied is the logic literally made up exclusively for the stories that need it. The problem then becomes trying to square the logic presented in each individual project with the logic presented in every other project--especially in the way these projects overlap, as, you know, the MCU is wont to do.
Right now we can expect to learn more about the TVA in the upcoming Loki Season 2, but none of the Loki main cast members have been teased or confirmed to show up in any other current MCU project--not even Thor: Love and Thunder, which would be a logical choice for at least Loki himself. Meanwhile, America, Clea, Strange, and Wong are not currently on the official schedule for any other MCU projects. Wanda is most likely out of the picture for good. Similarly, the Spider-Man and Spider-Man adjacent characters from both the mainline MCU and the Sony arm of the universe have yet to be booked for any upcoming projects.
Kang the Conqueror, however, is on the docket for the upcoming Ant-Man and The Wasp Quantumania--so maybe that will also bring back some of the TVA for answers as well.
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