I’ve been seeing a lot of people complaining about Multiverse stories of late. It’s the usual crowd, influencers with a large audience and an argument to stick to. It’s fine, I’m not hoping to change their minds - their whole brand depends on them sticking to their guns. Gotta be experts in their fields, after all…
Anyway, their basic argument is that stories about multiverse variants of characters are not only meaningless, but render the main continuity meaningless as well. And, while I think they’re missing the point, I think the way that multiverse stories are told these days is missing the point, as well.
The idea behind the multiverse story, at least to me, is that it’s a narrative opportunity for the characters rather than for the readers. A character being given the opportunity to see where they would have ended up if they’d chosen a different path, or where they will end up if they stay on their current path, has fantastic potential for conflict and is great motivation for character growth.
There’s an old episode of Rugrats (shut up, just trust me) called “Chuckie’s Wonderful Life” where Chuckie wishes that he’d never been born. After this wish, he's given a vision of what everyone else’s life would be like if he had never been born. It’s a dark and depressing timeline where everyone is worse off without Chuckie. Waking up in his normal life again, Chuckie re-evaluates his previous wish and decides that things aren’t so bad after all.
In an episode of Buffy (again, shut up) called “The Wish” the character of Cordelia wishes that Buffy never came to Sunnydale, and her wish is granted. She’s given a VIP tour of a world where vampires rule the town because Buffy never arrived. Things are so bad that she doesn’t even make it alive, and even Buffy herself is killed right before the world is reverted. Now, granted, they fuck it up by having Cordelia forget everything when things revert, but while she was alive in the other world she was very much regretting her choice.
Finally, to the oldest example, A Christmas Carol, the tale of Scrouge being taken on a journey to his past, present and potential future. He’s shown what the world will be like if he doesn’t change his ways, and it’s a world where at best people don’t care about his passing and at worst are glad that he’s dead. Upon waking in his normal life, he’s a man changed from his experience. Unlike with Buffy, A Christmas Carol managed to stick the landing.
Charles Dickens is a better writer than Joss Whedon… go figure.
Anyway, my point is that these characters are given the opportunity to see a dark version of their world, and it makes them wish for something different. Whether they achieve it or not isn’t really the point, it’s the fact that there’s the desire for change, for something better, within them.
The problem with modern takes on the Multiverse narratives, which is primarily just Marvel and its labyrinthian and all-dominating Cinematic Universe, is that it’s primarily being used to show audiences “cool and alternate” versions of characters that we already know and love. Want to see a girl version of Loki? Done. Want to see a billion versions of Spiderman? Done. Want to see John Krasinski as Mr. Fantastic? Sure, we can make that happen in a safe and non-consequential manner… All of this is fine, even I’ll admit that it’s exciting, but it’s not using the multiverse to its full potential.
Doctor Strange meets an evil version of himself in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and then he does the exact damn thing that made that version of him evil in the first place. He doesn’t learn a thing. It also doesn’t help that there’s a teenage girl that just bounce around between universes so that we can see all these cool and alternate versions of earth… because that sets up what it’s all about - the visual spectacle and the cool factor.
Another series, Rick and Morty, revels in the meaningless of the modern multiverse. Both Rick and Morty jump through various timelines and universes, interacting with various versions of themselves and replace one another with frightning regularity. Rick isn’t actually Morty’s Rick, because Morty’s Rick killed Rick’s wife and daughter, and Rick figures if he can hang out with that Rick’s Morty, then he might get a chance for revenge. Also, Morty lost his real dad in a multiuniversal daycare for Jerrys, but also he lost his entire world because he and Rick accidentally destoryed it then took the place of another Rick and Morty just after they’d died.
This isn’t to say that Rick and Morty isn’t deep at times, just that it’s dived head-first into the mutliverse narrative and is pushing the bounds of storytelling in pursuit of what it can get from such a set up. Characters do grow in Rick and Morty, but the situation they’re in is simply so batshit insane that it’s nigh-unrelateable for people. It’s interesting watching Rick kill hundreds of different versions of himself, but it’s not exactly relateable.
Getting a chance to meet an alternate version of your dead father isn’t the same as still having your father, because your real father died and you really experienced that death. This multiversal version of him isn’t your dad, and you might not even be his kid in his world. Along with this, no matter how much you hang out with this not-perfect copy, you’re never going to forget your actual dad dying.
It seems like good storytelling, because there is drama there. But the drama stems from the fact that your father is dead and now there’s a near perfect copy of him standing in front of you and you’re trying to reconcile the conflicting narratives. And you do want your father back, your real father, and you might just be desperate enough to take this imitation of him… but it wouldn’t be the real him. His death happened in your life, in your timeline. It’s part of your story, and you can’t change that by bringing in some copy. It’s not about that.
Maaaybe, at best, this still-living copy of your dead father could help give you closure and help you move on with your life, but he’s not there to “fix” the fact that your dad died.
Because that’s what Multiversal Narratives have the potential to be. The character being shown a different version of their world, as a way of gaining perspective on their own world. Some things may be better, some things may be worse, the point is that it allows characters the opportunity to see alternatives and make a better decision about their own life when they return home.
Any attempt to stay in the alternate timeline is merely a character running from their life, which is why the variant timelines are often far worse than their own world. It’s a safeguard against characters wanting to stay, and therefore appearing weak for effectively running from their problems. Far better for them to see a far worse version of their lives, learning from the experience, before returning and modifying their lives while they still have the chance.
Multiverse Narratives can be meaningful, but they have to be handled in the proper manner to be so. It’s not about seeing cool but slightly different versions of well-known characters, it’s not about escaping to a new world to run from your problems… it’s about gaining insight and returning home all the stronger for it.