Who doesn’t love a multiverse story? From Spiderman: No way Home to Rick and Morty, audiences are drawn towards the just the concept of a multiverse, regardless of how good the story is.
The idea of a multiverse attracts so many of us because it appeals to the human side of us that always wonders… What if? Some of us spend a lot of time thinking about certain decisions that could have changed the course of our lives and the idea of a multiverse feeds into that idea, making us hope that perhaps there is a better version of ourselves out there.
The Allure of the "What If?"
In terms of storytelling, we see pop culture use this desire within us to show all our favourite characters explore their multiverse. Spiderman is a great example for both the positive and negative usage of the multiverse with the Spider-Verse movies being an absolute masterpiece but No way Home being below par.
It’s not just limited to superhero stories. Everything Everywhere All At Once also uses the multiverse to great effect while Rick and Morty have been using it for a while now. The German TV show Dark might have the best use of multiverse that I have ever seen.
In a sense, multiverse stories serve as an escape within an escape. While we go to watch movies or TV shows to escape our reality, multiverse stories help us escape our selves, to think about alternate lifepaths.
When the Multiverse Works and When It Doesn’t
Then again, multiverse stories aren’t always up to par. With the MCU and DC comics, it mostly appears to have emerged out of narrative exhaustion, having no other interesting stories to tell. With Rick and Morty and Spider-Verse, the idea of multiverse fits in well and is written to perfection, but with DC and other Marvel movies, it feels forced and inorganic.
The Future of Multiverse Storytelling
Multiverse stories are something that can grow further as they are only now beginning to enter mainstream pop culture. They offer many creative opportunities to find new ideas or build upon old ones but can grow old very fast. It is up to writers to decide whether they can find the right balance in creating more original art.
