The MCU-DCU Multiversal Showdown

 

The MCU(Marvel Cinematic Universe) and DCU(DC Cinematic Universe) have both recently within their projects(movies, tv series, etc) introduced the idea of a multiverse in very unique but different ways. In my opinion, Marvel has done a better job of not only introducing but highlighting it in a way that does not feel stuffy or too scientifically abstract. That raises a very important question. What is the multiverse in DC and Marvel films and how do they vary? According to the website Screen Rant, there are 8 main differences between them. The article states, "The tv series Loki revealed that decisions made by variants that veer away from the Sacred Timeline have the potential to create branching timelines. This idea was expanded on in What If...?, which explored alternate realities birthed from branching timelines, including one where Peggy Carter received Captain America's super-soldier serum and one in which T'Challa was Star-Lord instead of Peter Quill, simply because of pivotal moments unfolding quite differently. The DC Universe hasn't included the idea of branching timelines, as the multiverse seen in The Flash demonstrated very different rules."¹ For reference, branching timelines refer to the idea that if you go back in time and change something from your past, then you exist in two separate timelines, whereas your life and the events of it go on two very different paths. 

Screen Rant also goes on to bring up the fact that DC and Marvel have a way of differentiating which of their projects fit in what universe. To further illustrate this, the article says that "The fact that the DC Universe doesn't stick to the MCU's branched realities rule is important to note when taking projects such as Joker and The Batman into account. These projects have been confirmed by James Gunn, co-CEO of DC Studios, to be "DC Elseworlds" projects, taking place in DC's multiverse, but not in the main continuity. The realities that these stories take place in are unrecognizable compared to the franchise's main continuity, ergo not the product of branched realities but completely independent universes in their own right. Whereas the MCU's multiverse is the product of an innumerable variation of decisions, DC's realities are absolutely separate from each other."² In simpler terms, every Marvel movie is a part of one continuous universe split into multiple parts whereas DC films are part of different universes that have their own set guidelines. 

Think about it another way. Both DC and Marvel are major corporations whose task is to handle sensitive and very scientifically thought out topics with care. The Multiverse is a very important topic but one that is very hard to comprehend. I have my reasons for saying why Marvel does a better job at handling it. Marvel and the MCU have introduced the character of America Chavez (played by Xochitl Gomez in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) whose job it is to travel through the multiverse. DC so far has not introduced anyone in their films who has that gift. Marvel also is able to spread the multiverse through multiple films and tv shows that way they can cover it from multiple angles. That being said, the idea of the multiverse is in essence ruining what makes comic book movies work.

Why do I say that? Screen Rant and their contributor Kai Young does a really good job of answering that question as well. In their article, they illustrate that "Though many non-superhero-related TV shows and feature films have explored the multiverse, including Mr. Nobody, Sliding Doors, Another Earth, and the more recent Everything Everywhere All at Once, the concept was first introduced into comic book adaptations in Warner Bros.' DC shows. The CW's "Arrowverse" crossed over with Supergirl on CBS, revealed to have been taking place in a different reality of the multiverse. This led to some epic crossover events in the Arrowverse, including 2018's Elseworlds, 2019's Crisis on Infinite Earths, and 2021's Armageddon, and the multiverse was also becoming an obsession on the big screen."³ This is key because something as big as the multiverse needs to be introduced slowly without shoving scientific information down people's throats. TV in general can be better than movies because if you introduce something like the multiverse on a tv show, you can do it spread out throughout many seasons while in movies, you only have a certain amount of time to do it. Kai also states that "The multiverse is a difficult concept to comprehend - it's not easily defined, and since nothing has been proven in the real world, superhero adaptations of the multiverse are based entirely on speculation. This often leads to feature films providing messy and unfinished explanations of the multiverse, with each franchise developing a different set of rules that make it hard for audiences to fully understand. Marvel Studios, Sony, and DC Studios have all explored the multiverse in recent years, and though some have provided clearer explanations as to what that entails, others have perhaps taken liberties that confuse the entire history of superhero cinema."⁴

Superhero films are complex in their own right. That being said, I am glad that DC and Marvel have both introduced a topic that is maybe a possibility in real life but is still not comprehendible. The thing about superheroes and superhero films is that you are taking a risk because you really don't know which angle you want to play off of. There are multiple superhero comics based off of certain characters. Many people have argued that Ezra Miller and his recent solo Flash film fails because it doesn't do justice to the Flashpoint comic that it is based on. I believe that is fair because it is very difficult to take a comic storyline that has been spread throughout multiple comic issues and adapt it into just one movie. Flashpoint is a very big DC comic storyline so it would have made more sense to kind of spread the seed for the story and bring it up in small bits before diving right into it. Marvel suffers from that same problem. Even though they have a smart tactic of bringing in the idea of the Multiverse into their movies and tv shows, they do not fully hit the nail on the head when it comes to giving it justice, look at Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantummania for example. Science is ever adapting and it is up to us the viewer and the consumer to really comprehend these broad topics that way we can understand the changing world around us. The multiverse is fictional but like the ideas of movies like Tenet and Inception, we should be able to digest the information and understand what we are seeing and now how these vast worlds compare to the world we are currently living in. That is cinema.