Every Marvel Phase 4 Movie & Show That Includes The Multiverse

It’s quite clear that Marvel’s plans for an MCU multiverse extend far beyond Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The multiverse, or the concept that a franchise is made up of countless worlds, dimensions, and timelines, will be a key component of the Marvel Cinematic Universe going forward.

The idea of a multiverse is something Marvel has building toward for years. The fun began when 2011’s Thor established the existence of other worlds through the Nine Realms. In 2015’s Doctor Strange, Marvel gave its titular sorcerer glimpses at other worlds in the multiverse, and the mission to defeat Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Endgame led Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to discover how there’s more just one single timeline. The Ancient One explains to Bruce Banner that amending the past won’t fix his future, but create a branch reality. Phase 4 can’t seem to decide whether she was right, but the Ancient One opened MCU minds to the concept of differing timelines existing within the same franchise.

The multiverse is expected to become even more important in future MCU projects. The possibilities of what Marvel can do with this concept are endless, as there’s no limit to how many timelines and dimensions might exist. The multiverse can also introduce all sorts of comic heroes and villains who live in parallel worlds and couldn’t be feasibly introduced before. Given the storytelling potential on offer, it’s easy to see why Marvel is making the multiverse central to Phase 4. Here’s every movie and show in Phase 4 that has included (or will include) the multiverse.

WandaVision

After Black Widow was pushed to 2021, the first project on Marvel’s slate for Phase 4 became WandaVision, a Disney+ series that shone a spotlight on key Avengers heroes Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany). The concept of Wanda living in a sitcom with a resurrected husband initially had fans believing Scarlet Witch found suburban bliss by opening the multiverse and creating her own reality. That theory proved wide of the mark. Wanda had actually hexed the town of Westview and reassembled Vision from the sythezoid’s own remains. WandaVision did end up connecting to the multiverse in its finale, however, as Agatha Harkness revealed Wanda as the fated “Scarlet Witch” capable of harnessing chaos magic. If Agatha is to be believed (and why wouldn’t we believe her), Wanda has the potential to reshape reality, making her a possible threat to the multiverse.

Another clue connecting WandaVision to the multiverse is Scarlet Witch’s confirmed appearance in Doctor Strange 2. With Scarlet Witch reading the Darkhold and hearing her non-existent children at the end of WandaVision, it may become possible for her to open doorways into other timelines. One of the timelines rumored to join the MCU’s multiverse is the X-Men‘s mutant reality.

Loki

During the events of The Avengers, the time-traveling heroes from 2023 try to get their hands on the Space Stone, but lose it to a recently defeated Loki, who uses the Tesseract to escape. In Tom Hiddleston’s Disney+ solo series, this is revealed to be a “Nexus event” that deviates from the so-called Sacred Timeline. Loki provides the best MCU multiverse explanation yet via Jonathan Majors, who arrives in the final episode as He Who Remains. According to this mysterious guardian at the end of time and space, the MCU was once a vast, sprawling multiverse, until a version of himself from the 3000s broke the barriers between worlds. Different variants of He Who Remains started meeting each other, but some had less than honest intentions. To fix his mistake, He Who Remains consolidated the multiverse into a single Sacred Timeline and created the Time Variance Authority to prune any diverging paths (such as Loki stealing the Tesseract).

Loki ends with Sylvie (a pruned Loki variant) killing He Who Remains, thus ending his vigil over the timeline. The multiverse is open for business once more, and Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror (who was already confirmed for Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania) is seen ruling over the TVA in Loki‘s final scene. Not only does Loki open up the MCU multiverse through Sylvie’s violent act, but Kang is a villain who can hop between worlds, potentially alongside other evil variants of himself. There’s also a Void universe full of pruned variants, including many versions of Loki and a Thanos Copter.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Peter Parker’s next solo movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home, is possibly Marvel’s biggest foray into the multiverse yet. First came confirmation that Jamie Foxx, who brought Electro to life in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, would reprise his role, but that return was swiftly followed by a host of other rumored comebacks. Every major character from Sony’s Spider-Man franchises soon found themselves linked to Tom Holland’s upcoming MCU threequel, but Kevin Feige remained tight-lipped throughout the speculation. Finally, the long-awaited Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer confirmed what many had already suspected.

The Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer reveals that Peter Parker asks Doctor Strange to make the world forget his identity, following on from the mid-credits scene of Spider-Man: Far From Home. Strange duly obliges, but Peter can’t keep his mouth shut and interrupts the spell, resulting in a split multiverse. The footage suggests Peter exploits these cracks to live separate lives – one as a teenager, one as a superhero – but he’s quickly confronted by a host of villains pouring from the multiverse. Jamie Foxx’s Electro is hinted at (as well as Sandman and Lizard), but the big reveals are Alfred Molina’s return as Spider-Man 2 Doc Ock, and the strong hint of Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin. Rumors persist that more multiverse surprises are to come, with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield both heavily rumored as variants of Peter Parker.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Arguably the biggest MCU movie of Phase 4 is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which could represent the culmination of everything that transpires in WandaVision, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Loki. As the title implies, the Sorcerer Supreme – who will be paired with Scarlet Witch and possibly the God of Mischief too – is set to embark on an adventure in a multiverse rapidly spiraling out of control. There’s no telling who or what he may encounter on his travels. Strange could meet new versions of existing MCU characters, or previously unseen figures from parallel worlds. One new superhero Strange may meet while traversing the multiverse is America Chavez, who is a confirmed addition and will be played by Xochitl Gomez. As for who Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness‘ villain might be, the leading theory is Nightmare, an entity that can manifest itself in dreams.

Ant Man & The Wasp: Quantumania

With a title like Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, Scott Lang’s third solo venture is all but guaranteed to connect to the MCU multiverse. Ant-Man has plenty of experience exploiting the Quantum Realm to move between timelines and realities, and the new title promises even more sub-atomic trips in his upcoming Phase 4 return. Additionally, Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror is confirmed as Ant-Man 3‘s main villain. Thanks to Loki, we know that Kang is a multiverse-hopping variant of He Who Remains, determined to bring as many realities as possible under his dominion. If Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne seek to bring Kang (or, indeed, Kangs) down, they’ll have no choice but to explore new strands of the multiverse. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness might end up looking small-time compared to what Ant-Man, Wasp and Kang get up to.

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