Hello, Marvel Cinematic Multiverse. The Loki finale has changed the landscape. Not only did we get introduced to our main antagonist moving forward, but we also saw the Sacred Timeline meet its end. What once had order has now scattered into chaos. An endless possibility of Variants has now jumped into existence. What If will be our introduction to many of them. It’ll get explored further in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. We always knew it was coming ever since the Strange sequel’s title announcement. The Spider-Man: No Way Home rumors added even more to its existence, but we never knew we’d get to witness the actual birth of the multiverse.
We’re about to enter a very new storytelling landscape for Marvel Studios. It adds more credence to our theory that Marvel Legacy projects are technically part of the franchise. No Way Home rumors hint at other Spider-Men making their grand live-action return with old villains confirmed to return. There are no limitations to how they’ll expand the franchise, yet the production company will face a new kind of hurdle. Up until now, our biggest worry was how the storylines fit together. Black Widow takes place between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was a direct sequel to the first but didn’t release until the rest of the franchise moved forward. Moving forward, we’ll also question if we are still part of the main timeline.
It’s a risky venture to make sense of multiple timelines and dimensions. We played around with the idea of them introducing characters from older franchises, especially with Deadpool joining the franchise in his upcoming threequel. So, it seems likely we’ll get some more multiversal storylines in the future, but it might be time for Marvel Studios to offer an overview. Marvel Studios’ Legends series offer a recap of a character’s history in the franchise, but there are still troubles knowing when every story takes place. Spider-Man: Homecoming offered a definite timeline between it and the first Avengers that didn’t even line up.
Of course, I might just be overthinking it. Even if there won’t be a guide through the MCU’s timeline and the future MCM expansion, we’ll have plenty of stories heading our way. Loki did teach us that the connective tissue might be Kang. It introduced us to the concept of the Multiversal War, and head writer Michael Waldron hinted that the familiarity of this storyline may be intentional. Marvel Studios saw the potential of reaching out into the multiverse, and nothing is stoping them now. Hopefully, we’ll find out what else they have in the story sooner rather than later.
