The Multiverse battle is heating up. Spiderman: No Way Home gave us a taste of Marvel’s multiverse and Doctor Strange 2 will further delve into it. While Sony had a piece of MCU multiverse with No Way Home the studio was already ahead of the game with their oscar-winning animated movie- Into the Spider-verse. The 2018 animated feature showed us multiple Spider-people uniting to save the world and help Miles Morales. Then there’s WB which is seeking to soft reboot their failing DC franchise.
The battle is raging between Marvel, Sony and DC as the release dates for their iterations near Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness is set for May 6 following it on October 7 would be Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One). And last but not least The Flash will debut on November 4.
What is the multiverse?
Multiverse is a concept that means that multiple realities exist at the same time. What this allows for superhero franchises is to explore more characters, merge various timelines and give them a great option to reinvigorate their storylines. The concept emerges from comics wherein different creators will get a chance to show off their own version of any character on different earths or dimensions.
The studios are pushing the live-action concept by adding actors who have played a particular character in the past. Like, No Way Home brought in OG Tobey Maguire (Sam Raimi) and Andrew Garfield (Marc Webb) Spider-Men along with Tom Holland (Jon Watts) version. Something similar DC is pursuing with The Flash wherein we’ll see Ben Affleck (Zack Snyder) and Micheal Keaton (Tim Burton).
Marvel’s Doctor Strange: Multiverse Of Madness
The OG Spider-Man director Sam Raimi is back in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to make a sequel for the 2016 Doctor Strange movie. But this movie is important for a very different reason. Since No Way Home introduced the concept of the multiverse, Multiverse of Madness is the movie that will see the Marvel Multiverse explode.
With rumoured cameos which include the likes of Tom Cruise as Iron Man, Ben Affleck as Daredevil and confirmed ones which include The Illuminati featuring Sir Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier, the movie is stacked with incredible cameos from the Marvel Multiverse.
The aim of this movie is to merge all the timelines from Fox’s Marvel universe which featured the X-Men, The Fantastic Four and Sony’s Spider-Man franchise. The trailer promises to accomplish all this in incredible fashion with Raimi’s amazing visuals and horror touch.
Sony’s Into The Spiderverse
While Marvel and DC were figuring out how to pull off the multiverse, Lord and Miller were way ahead of the game. The 22 Jump Street director duo created a game-changing visual experience in animated movies with their Into The Spiderverse.
The movie won the Oscar for the Best Animated Movie for the year. But what went under the radar as it was the first movie to explore the multiverse at such a big stage.
Lord and Miller’s Spiderman movie was built upon Miles Morales’ origin story, but it did in such a way that explored how multiple Spider-people team up and save the world. With a sequel along the way which explores many more universes, the limit is endless for the Spiderman multiverse.
DC’s The Flash
While Marvel’s Multiverse of Madness and Sony’s Into The Spiderverse are examples of great storytelling and meticulous planning, there is another side to the multiverse.
DC’s The Flash is an example of a last-ditch attempt to salvage something from a failed universe after taking every wrong step possible to manage this DC Extended Universe.
Instead of making a solo flash origin or even a good adaptation of Flashpoint, DC decided to soft reboot their universe which was heading nowhere. The whole concept of bringing back a Batman in his 70’s, replacing Superman with Supergirl and Batman with Batgirl feels like one of the worst ideas in recent years.
If that wasn’t enough, firing Ray Fisher after he spoke about the toxic elements of Warner Media hasn’t done the public perception of this film any favours.
Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness releases on May 6th, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Part One releases on October 7th and The Flash releases on November 4th.
