MCU Multiverse Was Part Of Marvel Studios Discussions From Early On
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige says the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Multiverse was part of discussions early on. Over 14 years and roughly 24 films, Marvel Studios has successfully created a cohesive cinematic universe comparable to that within the pages of Marvel comics. 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, and then Spider-Man: Far From Home, served as the culmination of the MCU’s first three phases, while simultaneously laying the breadcrumbs for Phase 4’s ever-evolving Multiverse—where all possible outcomes/variations are realized.
The first project to premiere as part of the MCU’s fourth phase was the Disney+ series, WandaVision, which flirted with the idea of alternate realities and the implementation of Fox’s X-Men via “Ralph Boner.” While many thought WandaVision would change the game, its third series, Loki, played a larger role in establishing the MCU’s multiverse. At the end of season 1, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) killed He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), a variant of Kang of the Conqueror, unleashing infinite devils on a liberated timeline. Now, audiences eagerly anticipate Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) multiversal snafu in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is set to feature Sony characters like Spider-Man 2’s Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) and lead into director Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
In a recent interview with Empire, Feige, who served as a producer on Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, talked about how surreal it is to be working with Raimi on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. After speaking about how “mind-blowing” it is to have Raimi’s Doc Ock in director Jon Watts’ No Way Home, Feige explained that a pending multiverse was almost always part of the MCU conversation. Read what he had to say below:
“It's absolutely surreal to be working on a Doctor Strange movie with Sam Raimi in one part of the office, and then working on a Spider-Man movie with Jon Watts and Alfred Molina as Doc Ock in another room,” said Feige. “That has been a mind-blowing part of the last 10 years of my life...Everything we do at Marvel is based on a small group of people sitting around a table going, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if…? The Multiverse was always a part of that because it’s such a big part of the story in the comics.”
In the world of Marvel Comics, Earth-616 is considered the readers’ main timeline. Outside of that, there’s an infinite number of worlds/universes/timelines, being spawned from what the MCU now calls “Nexus” events. For example, Earth-2149 is Marvel’s zombie apocalypse—which inspired a season 1 episode of What If…?. That being said, the term “Earth-616” was used by Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) in Far From Home and was written on a chalkboard by Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) in Thor: The Dark World. Even if Earth-616 doesn’t refer to the MCU’s timeline, its usage confirms Feige and company have been thinking about the Multiverse as far back as Phase 2.
Feige has previously teased how Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is going to “crack” open the Multiverse concept. If the MCU does become the equivalent of its comic book counterpart, it’s truly a testament to the meticulous planning and due diligence. On top of that, seeing alternate versions of favorite characters, Deadpool dropping an F-bomb in the MCU, or the return of past Spider-Men in No Way Home could be extremely satisfying. However, as things open up, it’s going to become even more difficult to maintain a certain level of quality and continue mapping everything out.
Source: Empire