Could Doctor Strange Lead To The Big Screen Debut Of The Ultimate Universe?

Marvel introduced comic book fans to the Ultimate Universe back in 2000, but could Doctor Strange‘s exploration of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s multiverse lead to that alternate reality being brought to the big screen? Based on some new comments from Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, it certainly sounds like a very real possibility.

First though, some background. The Ultimate Universe was a world much closer to our own, and it reimagined the early years of characters like The Avengers (now known as The Ultimates) and Spider-Man in some drastically different ways. Some of what those comics did has already been seen on the big screen – Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury for example – but could the heroes and villains we’ve come to know in the MCU find their way to an alternate reality similar to this one?

Here’s what Feige had to say about exactly that:

“When comic book fans hear parallel dimensions or multiple dimensions, they think of Earth 616 and Earth 617 or Earth 618. That’s all possible, but what we’re playing with in this world is that there are dimensions. That the other dimensions are not just parallel realities. We’re playing as much with the multiverse as alien dimensions for lack of a better term, than as parallel realities where there’s a Strange that wears Iron Man armor! We’re not there yet.”

It sounds like something Marvel has at least considered then, but it’s a plot point which won’t factor into Doctor Strange or any of their upcoming releases in Phase 3. The fact that it’s on the table is very interesting though, and will obviously one day open the door to some very different types of stories.

For now, it’s up to Doctor Strange to introduce the concept of new dimensions and the multiverse, and that alone is going to be a very big task. Based on everything we’ve seen from the movie thus far though, it’s fair to say that Marvel will succeed in having done so when it opens on November 4th.