“Deadpool and Wolverine” has recently come out to critical and commercial acclaim. Audiences enjoy the humor, action, and character development present as shown by the film making $1.21 billion dollars globally.
Another element to this film is that it satirizes the current multiverse trend, including terms that are convoluted and cameos of characters that were not really beloved in the first place. It is to the point where Deadpool tells the audience outright that this really is not working. It pokes fun at what Marvel and DC has been doing recently, issues that have plagued them in the public eye for the past four years.
It is easy to say that audiences are tired of the multiverse, but that cannot be the full story. There is something deeper. We must navigate through the multiverse of problems that Marvel and DC have placed themselves into.
On the Marvel side of things, they have pivoted hard into the multiverse side of things following “Endgame,” immediately naming this saga, the Multiverse Saga.
The issue is that this saga feels rather unfocused. Out of the 11 movies and 12 television shows, only seven projects have been relevant to the multiverse. It feels rather rushed in comparison to the Infinity Saga, which ran for 11 years and had constant hints to the overarching plot.
Even ignoring the lack of relevance, the MCU multiverse seems rather…underbaked. In comparison to its comic counterpart where each deviation from the main universe’s path is really throughout and interesting.
For example, the new Ultimate universe takes place with all their heroes’ origins being delayed and altered in ways that fundamentally change who they are as people and the lives they will live.The MCU universes are showcased in “What If…?” changes a few details but are still bogged down by having to still have the characters match their MCU versions, leaving any kind of interesting variations in the dust.
So what does the MCU use the multiverse for? Cameos. Lots and lots of cameos.
“Spider-Man:No Way Home” was the first movie to suffer from this issue. While a majority of the cameos in the film are for the development of the story, both Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman and Rhys Ifans’ Lizard do not add much in terms of narrative value and are really only there out of a need to have the main villains of each previous franchise present.
It can be argued that the cameos in the movie, namely Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s previous iterations of the Spider-Man character, do assist in the plot and in Tom Holland’s Peter Parker’s development.
The same cannot be said about both “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and “The Marvels” usage of cameos.
Starting with Doctor Strange, the movie includes the Illuminati, various superheroes who have joined together to assist the world from the shadows. This group is made up of Patrick Stewart’s Professor Xavier, Haley Atwell’s Peggy Carter, Lashana Lynch’s Maria Rambeau, Anson Mount’s Blacktagar Boltagon, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Karl Mordo, and a version of Mr. Fantastic played by a popular fan-cast, John Krasinski.
With an all-star cast like this, it would be thought that they are allowed to do something to assist in the plot, but that would be a mistake. Everyone except for Mordo is used as fodder for the Scarlet Witch to show how powerful she is. Something completely unnecessary because that is demonstrated for the audience in the scene she is in directly before she arrives where the Illuminati is.
It is a pointless waste of time where they could have focused on Doctor Strange, who feels at times like a footnote in his own movie. But okay, Multiverse of Madness has multiverse in the name, that works.
What does not work is what “The Marvels” does with the multiverse. In the conclusion of the film, Monica Rambeau is trapped in another universe and the post-credits scene reveals that that universe is the X-Men universe, with a version of her mother and Beast.
While it is cool to see this universe again before “Deadpool and Wolverine” came out, but why? What did it add? It just comes out of nowhere and will most likely lead to an underbaked and underdeveloped conclusion.
Marvel’s multiverse usage has been a waste so far. What truly encapsulates the failures of this saga is that recently the main villain of this saga has been replaced by a Robert Downey Jr. variant of Doctor Doom, not only undermining any build up Kang could have had as a villain but also hoping that audiences point and clap at a recognizable figure.
However, it could always be worse. DC has had a rough few years, all culminating in their attempts in multiverse movies. On both the live action and animated sides.
“The Flash” illustrates the issues with DC’s multiverse usage well. Unlike Marvel, most cameos are useful to the story, but they still undermine the main plot. Micheal Keaton’s Batman and Micheal Shannon’s General Zod are ever-present within the story. It is cool to see them again, but they take away from Barry Allen’s story as everything has to focus on them instead of the titular character.
That is not even the worst of it, that comes in the ending. While Flash is reversing time, universes collide, showing previous actors from DC films. The problem is none of those actors actually returned.
All cameos within the last few minutes are CGI, not even paying the actors to return. In the case of George Reeves and Christopher Reeve, digitally resurrecting them for cheap claps. Doing digital necromancy for fanservice feels utterly soulless.
On the animated side, the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” trilogy shows the worst of the soullessness DC’s multiverse has. Within the story, numerous animated DC universes are wiped away, destroyed without even a final hurrah. It feels like they are present simply for people to recognize them and associate their good memories with this subpar film series.
The main problem that these two multiverses have is that they are not used to the best of their ability. If you want a good example of good multiverse stories, look no further than “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Both of these films have what the Marvel and DC films lack, heart.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” tells a heartwarming story about mother and daughter and acceptance. The multiverse serves as a plot point that shows how everything in our lives makes us who we are. It works, because it is a human story.
Ultimately, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” works for the same reason: it is a human story. Everyone has felt like they are not good enough or have generally just felt fear but placed with the fantastical elements of Spider-People. It elevates the story. The multiverse has a purpose. It works to show what Miles can be and encourages him to get there.
The multiverse works when it has heart and is used to tell a down-to-earth story. It is the issue that the DC and MCU multiverses have at the end of the day–they are tacked on for little reason and lack any emotion.
It cannot always be about cameos and fanservice. It has to tell a story or the multiverse will collapse.