The MCU Multiverse Explained

To comic book fans, the notion that their heroes exist not just in a fictional universe but in a vast multiverse — a place in which multiple and perhaps infinite universes exist — is old news. There's a prime universe where most of the action in most of the comics takes place, but then there are timelines where things turn out differently. In Marvel Comics there's a universe where Bruce Banner becomes Spider-Man instead of Peter Parker, one where everyone in the world has superpowers, and one where all of Marvel's heroes are talking animals. 

Now, with the time travel of Avengers: Endgame creating separate timelines, the notion of a multiverse existing within the Marvel Cinematic Universe is much more tangible. In fact, we already know of upcoming films and television series based on that multiverse. The upcoming Disney+ Loki series will feature a version of the character who created a separate timeline by managing to escape the Avengers' clutches before Thor could drag him to Asgard. And of course there's 2021's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. 

So what is a multiverse, how does it work, and why does it matter? More importantly, what does it mean for the future of the MCU? We haven't seen much of it yet, but based on what we've seen and what's coming, here's our best shot at the MCU multiverse explained.

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 Elementals. In fact, the Elementals weren't even the Elementals — they were illusory constructs created by 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. Someone could claim to be from France — if they ultimately prove to be lying, that doesn't mean France doesn't exist. It just means, you know, they're weirdly lying about being from France. 

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, 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.

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, allowing them to jump forward nine years. 

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 the time-hopping the heroes and villains of Endgame made 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 — Elizabeth Olsen has said at least part of the series will have a 1950s setting, which hints pretty strongly at a multiverse connection.

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 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 PS4 exclusive Spider-Man video game was one of the comic's heroes. 

While the notion of a multiverse is just now becoming important in the MCU, alternate reality stories have been a staple of comics for decades. A devoted fan of DC and/or Marvel Comics has likely read dozens of stories showing their favorite heroes in a completely different set of circumstances. Such stories used to be fairly novel, but these days you can hardly find a week's crop of new comics that doesn't include at least one or two stories featuring popular superheroes in divergent realities. 

Now that the multiverse is a more prominent part of the MCU, it opens the doors for many of these stories to be seen on the big screen. One more gruesome example is the world of Marvel Zombies – in which most of the world's surviving heroes and villains are rotting zombie cannibals. We could visit the timeline of Earth X, where every last person on Earth has super powers. When the X-Men finally show up in the MCU, we could see the Age of Apocalypse, in which — in the wake of Professor X's untimely death — the villain Apocalypse rules over Earth. 

In fact, speaking of "Age of" stories, we could see a more comic book-accurate version of Age of Ultron. In the comic the second Avengers movie is named after, the super-intelligent robot finally conquers the Earth and the only surviving heroes live in hunted bands among Earth's ruins. 

The 2019-'20 television CW crossover Crisis on Infinite Earths is a triumphant tribute to the 1985-'86 comic book crossover of the same name. Ironically, what the late Stan Lee used to called Marvel's "Distinguished Competition" may have inadvertently done the MCU a big favor. 

The idea of a multiverse — of infinite alternate realities existing side by side — isn't a simple one. It's one thing to ask your audience to imagine, say, that there are different planets with different intelligent species as we see not only in superhero stories but in popular science fiction franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek. It's another to ask them to imagine there is a place where all or most of the same people exist, just slightly different. There is one Earth where the Axis powers won World War II, one Earth where the Titanic never sank, one Earth where JFK served two full terms as President and died of old age, etc. 

The Arrowverse's Crisis on Infinite Earths has given audiences a picture of exactly how the MCU's multiverse could work without Marvel Studios ever having to lift a finger. It's fitting, too, considering that — while both DC and Marvel have produced some wonderful alternate reality stories over the years — it was the DC comics CW's Crisis is based on that represented the first major comic book crossover to deal with the concept of a multiverse on a grand scale.