Avengers: Endgame introduced the concept of time travel into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but things are about to get a whole lot weirder when the multiverse comes into play next month in WandaVision. The trailers for the upcoming Disney Plus show have promised something completely unique within the context of the franchise, and as well as telling a self-contained narrative, the Phase Four kickoff will also be laying the groundwork for what’s to follow.
Every single project in the MCU features at least one overt reference to events that have either transpired or are yet to come, and WandaVision will be no different. We already know that Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch takes second billing in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, while the Sorcerer Supreme will next be seen in Spider-Man 3, and all three titles not-so-coincidentally happen to revolve around the idea of alternate realities and multiple timelines.
The multiverse is a major and game-changing storytelling device, one that could easily be overused if it ended up featuring in every single one of the 25 projects Marvel Studios currently have in various stages of development, but the more likely scenario is that it only factors into the overarching story of Phase Four every now and again.
To that end, insider Daniel Richtman claims that WandaVision, Spider-Man 3 and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will combine to form a loosely-connected ‘multiverse trilogy,’ with connective tissue threading through all three of them. There’s already plenty of confirmed overlap, and Kevin Feige probably doesn’t want to overuse the gimmick too early, either, so it makes complete sense that the trio of film and television outings tie together without overshadowing the rest of the Phase Four slate.
