Marvel’s Best Multiverse Stories

In 1962, Marvel Comics released Strange Tales #103. The comic follows The Human Torch as he gets transported into the Fifth Dimension. Suddenly, the entire Multiverse began to open up.

Surely, it was only the beginning of a grand adventure. In fact, nearly every major movie release in the last year has included the Multiverse. Turns out we just love exploring the countless possibilities the universe has to offer. So, let’s take a look at some of Marvel’s very best Multiverse stories.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for most of the following stories!

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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Naturally, this list has to include Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Sure, fans got to see multiple dimensions in the original Doctor Strange film. But it was nothing like this!

In the long-awaited sequel, America Chavez punches her way from universe to universe so that she can defeat the grieving and dangerous Scarlet Witch. We see a cubed universe, a paint universe, and even a universe that features The Illuminati, a secret group of hyper-intelligent heroes fighting for Earth’s safety. That’s where we meet Professor X, Reed Richards, and Black Bolt for the very first time in the MCU.

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Spider-Man: No Way Home

It’s one thing to explore the Multiverse. But it’s another thing entirely to bring the Multiverse to you! Before the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Peter Parker asked Doctor Strange for help. Unfortunately, Peter Parker couldn’t live a normal life after his secret identity was revealed by Mysterio.

However, when a complicated spell goes wrong, Doctor Strange pulls in Spider-Men from two different dimensions. And, to make matters worse, he also brings multiple Spider-Man villains. It takes teamwork and heartbreaking sacrifice to keep the entire Multiverse from collapsing in on itself.

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Loki

Avengers: Endgame changes the entire Marvel timeline. When an alternate version of Loki steals a tesseract, he’s tracked down by the Time Variance Authority. The TVA is charged with maintaining something that they call “The Sacred Timeline.”

Soon, we learn that this specific timeline is being maintained by a being referred to as “He Who Remains.” And what more, He Who Remains is actually a variant of Kang the Conquerer himself. And while Loki defeated He Who Remains, there’s no telling what Kang the Conquerer will do next. Hopefully, we’ll find out in season 2 of the show!

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Marvel’s What If…?

Marvel’s What If…? explored the Multiverse in an absolutely unique way. Each episode of the series revealed a new animated universe. The episodes would take a story from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and modify the story by just a couple degrees — taking inspiration from a comic book series that first debuted in 1977.

For example, the second episode asked the question, “What if… T’Challa became a Star-Lord?” We get to see T’Challa abducted from Earth instead of Peter Quill. Truthfully, T’Challa was an extremely successful Star-Lord. He even recruits Thanos to his team! Later, the sixth episode explores the question, “What if… Killmonger rescued Tony Stark?” In this episode, Killmonger creates international wars, dispatches countless heroes, and ultimately becomes the new Black Panther. Both episodes beautifully consider fundamental qualities of each character by making the smallest, but most impactful, changes.

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Wolverine: Old Man Logan

Previous stories on this list show heroes interacting with the Multiverse. However, some of Marvel’s best Multiverse stories are smaller stories that simply take place in another universe. In Old Man Logan, Wolverine has grown old and the heroes have truly lost the fight against evil. Villains rule city-states and the world is in disarray.

Still, Old Man Logan does everything he can to fight for good in this bleak and brutal world. But it turns out that Wolverine’s violent attempts at heroism may have been more hurtful than helpful. After all, as the story tragically reveals, Logan killed the X-Men himself.

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X-Men: Days of Future Past

Kitty Pryde has a message from the future: defeat Mystique’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. If the X-Men don’t succeed, Senator Robert Kelly, Charles Xavier, and Moira MacTaggert will be killed. But if Mystique succeeds, then mutant-killing Sentinels will take over the world and subjugate all of humanity.

In this pivotal crossroads, the X-Men fight to prevent one potential future. That terrible future, Earth-811, is one dystopian future among many others. And yes, Wolverine and the X-Men saved themselves. Still, that universe continues to exist and those heroes continue to fight for their freedom.

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House of M

Wanda Maximoff is one of the most powerful figures of all time. She has the ability to warp reality to her whims. And that’s exactly what she does. With her power, she grants the heroes their deepest desires in exchange for just one wish: that she can have her children and be left alone in peace.

Even if things seem perfect on the surface, Wolverine refuses to accept this alternate reality. He goes to the Avengers and shows them the reality that they came from. While they are happier on Earth-58163, they do want to return to Earth-616. Thus the heroes collaborate and fight to kill Scarlet Witch. At the very last second, she whispers three powerful words: No more mutants. Though everyone returns to Earth-616, everything is changed forever.

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Ultimate Marvel

Brian Michael Bendis, Bill Jemas, and Mark Bagley created the Ultimate Marvel Universe. The writers reimagined the entire Marvel universe in a modern and gritty reboot, a place known as Earth-1610. There, the Avengers were called the Ultimates. Peter Parker was a teenager instead of a married man. And perhaps most importantly, Earth-1610 is the home universe of Miles Morales.

With Earth-1610, the creators aimed to tell more realistic stories and spend more time developing characters. Sometimes, that meant we focused on the flaws of our favorite heroes. For example, Reed Richards’ arrogance led him to become the villain known as the Maker. However, this universe wasn’t built to last. Once more, everything was about to change for the Marvel Multiverse.

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Hickman’s Secret Wars

Change arrived when the entire Multiverse collides in Jonathan Hickman’s earth-shattering Secret Wars event. Literally, the Multiverse is collapsing in on itself. These incursions are caused by powerful beings called the Beyonders. Of all people, Doctor Doom saves the day. However, his “solution” results in Battleworld, where he becomes God-Emperor Doom!

Naturally, Reed Richards isn’t about to let that happen. So Mr. Fantastic works with Molecule Man to take the Beyonder’s power for himself and completely rebuild the Multiverse. This event changed Marvel comics forever. In fact, the Secret Wars combined Earth-1610 and Earth-616 in many ways, and introduced Miles Morales to the main comic line.

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Spider-Verse Trilogy

Sony’s animated Spider-Verse trilogy is one of the greatest Marvel Multiverse stories of all time. The story follows Miles Morales, a kid from Brooklyn who receives abilities similar to Peter Parker. He has to stop Kingpin, Doc Ock, and Dr. Jonathan Ohnn (AKA The Spot) from ripping apart reality.

Luckily, Miles has five Spider-People from other universes to help him bring order to reality. Unfortunately, that luck doesn’t last. In Across the Spider-Verse, it seems like the entire Spider-Society is out to get Miles for his meddling. We’ll have to wait until 2025 for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse to see how Miles (hopefully) saves the Multiverse.

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What’s your favorite Marvel Multiverse story? Which story should also be included on this list? Keep the conversation going with other Marvel fans over at Sideshow Social Network or at side.show/geekgroup, and don’t forget to Let Your Geek Sideshow!