The entire inspiration for the Marvel Cinematic Universe came from the simplest of ideas drawn from the comic books; an interconnected set of stories that all took place in the same world, where characters from one series could show up anywhere across the slate to continue joining the dots.
Obviously, nobody in Hollywood had ever attempted anything on such a scale before, but it would be the understatement of the century to say that Kevin Feige pulled it off with aplomb. Now that the MCU is thirteen years, 26 feature films and five TV shows deep, he’s upping the ante again with the introduction of the multiverse.
Alternate realities and splintered timelines have been a staple of comic book storytelling for decades, and in an interview with Collider, Feige admitted that he was waiting until the MCU was in a strong enough position before he began folding the multiverse into his grand plans.
“The Ancient One mentions it in Doctor Strange, when she’s taking Stephen Strange through that sort of mind warping journey. It was always one of the most powerful storytelling tools in the comics. One you have to wield carefully, because it can get overwhelming. But one that now with, obviously the 60 to 80 year history of the comics, now we have a 20 plus history of the movies and there are enough characters that we can start playing with it that way.”
It was Loki that set the stage earlier this year, but the upcoming trio of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania are set to take things to a whole new level, with Phase Four comfortably the most expansive and ambitious stage of the MCU to date.
