The Multiverse Saga

• Core Identity: The Multiverse Saga is the second major overarching narrative of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), chronicling the chaotic fracturing of reality and the rise of a new ultimate threat, Kang the Conqueror and his variants, in the aftermath of the universe-altering events of the Infinity Saga.
• Key Takeaways:
• Role in the Universe: This saga serves as the MCU's second act, expanding the franchise's scope from cosmic threats to infinite, existential ones. It explores the consequences of tampering with time and reality, introducing concepts like alternate timelines, variants of established heroes and villains, and the catastrophic danger of incursions.
• Primary Impact: The saga's central conflict redefines the nature of heroism and villainy in the MCU. It shifts the focus from a singular “big bad” like Thanos to a multiversal war against infinite versions of a single, brilliant, and dangerous individual, forcing heroes to confront not just external threats, but twisted reflections of themselves and the choices they never made.
• Key Incarnations: Unlike the Infinity Saga, which drew heavily from the 1991 Infinity Gauntlet comic, the Multiverse Saga is a unique MCU creation that synthesizes decades of Marvel Comics lore. While comic storylines like Jonathan Hickman's 2015 Secret Wars and various Kang the Conqueror stories provide the primary inspiration, the MCU's execution—tying it to the fallout of the Avengers' Time Heist and the actions of Loki and Scarlet Witch—is a distinct adaptation.

The Multiverse Saga was officially announced by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige at San Diego Comic-Con on July 23, 2022. The announcement provided a comprehensive roadmap for the MCU's next several years, structuring the narrative into three distinct phases: Phase Four, Phase Five, and Phase Six. This move mirrored the successful structuring of the preceding Infinity Saga, giving audiences and creators a clear sense of the overarching story's trajectory. Phase Four, which had already begun with 2021's `WandaVision`, was retroactively framed as the saga's foundation. Feige described it as a period of reaction and consequence, dealing with the collective trauma of “The Blip” and introducing a new generation of heroes while established ones grappled with loss and new identities. Thematically, it was about exploring grief, legacy, and the initial, unintentional cracks appearing in the fabric of reality. Phases Five and Six were announced as the core of the conflict, directly confronting the multiversal threat. The titling of key films like `Avengers: The Kang Dynasty` and `Avengers: Secret Wars` signaled to long-time comic fans the immense scale Marvel Studios was aiming for, promising an event even larger and more reality-shattering than the battle against Thanos. The saga was conceived to not only raise the stakes but also to serve a crucial logistical purpose: it provided a canonical in-universe explanation for integrating characters from previously separate Fox-owned properties, such as the `Fantastic Four` and the `X-Men`, as well as alternate versions of characters from Sony's `Spider-Man` films.

It is critical to understand that the “Multiverse Saga” is a brand name exclusive to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, the concepts that form its bedrock have been integral to Marvel Comics for over 50 years. The comic book multiverse is a far older, more complex, and sprawling construct. The initial concept of a multiverse in Marvel Comics was formally established in The Flash #123 (a DC Comic) which introduced Earth-Two, but Marvel quickly adopted the idea. Early explorations came through interdimensional travel in stories featuring `Doctor Strange`. The true foundation was laid with the introduction of the Captain Britain Corps, a league of mystical protectors, with each member hailing from a different reality in the Omniverse. This concept, created by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe, established that infinite parallel Earths existed, each designated with a unique number (e.g., the prime universe being Earth-616). The idea of multiversal threats became a recurring theme. The 1985-86 series Squadron Supreme explored the dark side of an alternate Justice League-style team. The concept of “variants” was popularized through the dimension-hopping team, the Exiles, whose roster was composed of heroes from alternate realities. The most direct and significant precursor to the MCU's saga is Jonathan Hickman's epic run on Avengers and New Avengers from 2012 to 2015. This storyline introduced the concept of Incursions: a cosmic phenomenon where two parallel Earths are set on a collision course. The inhabitants of each Earth have a choice: destroy the other Earth, or allow both universes to be annihilated. This devastating dilemma forced the heroes of Earth-616, particularly the Illuminati, to make impossible, morally compromising decisions. Hickman's narrative culminated in the 2015 mega-event `Secret Wars`, where the entire Marvel Multiverse was destroyed by the Incursions, with only a few survivors escaping on a “life raft.” These survivors found themselves on Battleworld, a patchwork planet created and ruled by a god-like `Doctor Doom`, who had seized the power of the Beyonders. This event effectively “rebooted” the Marvel Universe, eventually restoring Earth-616 but with elements from other realities (like Miles Morales) integrated into it. The other core pillar, Kang, has been a perennial multiversal and temporal threat since his debut in The Avengers #8 (1964). As the time-traveling despot Nathaniel Richards, Kang's history is a tangled web of paradoxes and alternate selves, including Immortus, the Scarlet Centurion, and Iron Lad. His alternate selves have often warred with each other, most notably in the Kang Dynasty storyline and through the formation of the Council of Kangs, a group of Kangs from across the multiverse who convened to eliminate divergent versions of themselves.

The in-universe genesis of the Multiverse Saga is a direct consequence of the Avengers' victory in `Avengers: Endgame`. The “Time Heist,” while successful in defeating Thanos, violated the laws of causality and created numerous splintered timelines. The Ancient One explicitly warned Bruce Banner of this danger, explaining that removing an Infinity Stone from its proper place in time creates a divergent, doomed reality. While Captain America's mission was to “clip all the branches” by returning the stones, one branch was left untrimmed: the one created when Loki escaped with the Tesseract in 2012. This single act is the inciting incident of the entire saga. As revealed in the series `Loki`, this variant Loki was apprehended by the Time Variance Authority (TVA), a bureaucratic organization existing outside of time and space. The TVA's stated mission was to protect the “Sacred Timeline” by “pruning” any deviation that could lead to another multiversal war. The true origin was far more complex. The TVA's creator was not the god-like Time-Keepers, but a human scientist from the 31st century named Nathaniel Richards. A variant of this scientist discovered the existence of parallel universes and made contact with his alternate selves. While some of these variants were benevolent, many were bent on conquest, leading to a cataclysmic multiversal war where timelines were weaponized and entire realities were annihilated. The final surviving variant, who would come to be known as He Who Remains, harnessed the power of a creature named Alioth to end the war. He then isolated a single cluster of timelines—the Sacred Timeline—and created the TVA to police it and prevent any of his more dangerous variants (chief among them, Kang the Conqueror) from ever coming into existence. The saga officially erupts in the final episode of Loki Season 1. Faced with the choice of killing He Who Remains and unleashing the multiverse (and Kang) or taking his place as the timeline's guardian, Loki hesitates. His variant, Sylvie, consumed by a lifetime of revenge against the TVA, makes the choice for him. She kills He Who Remains, causing the Sacred Timeline to shatter instantly into countless branching realities. This single act of vengeance “broke” the universe, allowing the infinite variants of Kang the Conqueror to emerge and setting the stage for the second multiversal war He Who Remains had long feared.

The Multiverse Saga is meticulously structured to escalate the stakes from personal grief to multiversal annihilation across three phases. It's built on a foundation of specific thematic pillars and introduces a new vocabulary of cosmic rules.

• Multiverse: This is the foundational concept. It's used as a storytelling device to explore “what if” scenarios, re-introduce beloved characters from other franchises (like Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Spider-Men), and raise the stakes beyond anything seen before. The central danger is not just conquest, but the complete erasure of existence through Incursions.
• Kang: If Thanos was an endpoint—a singular, powerful threat to be overcome—Kang is a process. He is an infinite, recurring threat. Defeating one Kang variant means little when a potentially infinite number of others, some even more powerful or ruthless, can appear. This makes him an existential, unwinnable challenge, forcing the heroes to fight an idea as much as a person.
• Legacy: A core theme, particularly in Phase Four, is the passing of the torch. With key figures like Iron Man and the original Captain America gone, the saga explores who steps up to fill the void. This is seen in characters like Kate Bishop taking up the Hawkeye mantle, Sam Wilson becoming Captain America, and the introduction of a new generation like Ms. Marvel and America Chavez. It asks the question: what does it mean to be a hero in a post-Thanos, post-Blip world?

The saga established a new set of rules for how reality functions, many of which are drawn from or are adaptations of comic book lore.

• Variant: A version of a person from an alternate timeline. Variants can be nearly identical to their “prime” counterparts or drastically different in appearance, personality, and history (e.g., Classic Loki, Alligator Loki).
• The Sacred Timeline: The singular timeline curated and protected by He Who Remains and the TVA to prevent the rise of his Kang variants. It was not a “natural” state of being, but an artificial construct imposed upon reality.
• Pruning: The act of erasing a variant and their branched timeline from existence using a Time Stick. This was the TVA's primary method for maintaining the Sacred Timeline.
• Nexus Event: A choice or event that causes a timeline to branch or deviate from the path dictated by the Sacred Timeline, requiring TVA intervention.
• Incursion: The catastrophic collision of two parallel universes, resulting in the annihilation of one or both. As explained by Earth-838's Reed Richards, they can be caused by the prolonged presence of a multiversal traveler in a foreign universe or by drastic reality-altering events.
• Dreamwalking: A forbidden form of magic from the Darkhold that allows a sorcerer to possess the body of their variant in another universe. It is a dangerous and corrupting practice that strains the boundaries between realities.
• The Quantum Realm: A subatomic dimension where the concepts of time and space become irrelevant. It serves as a key pathway for time travel and, as revealed in `Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania`, is a place where exiled beings, including Kang variants, can be trapped.

While the saga involves nearly every MCU character, a few are central to the multiversal narrative.

• Doctor Stephen Strange: Positioned as a primary guardian of reality, Strange is the character who most directly confronts the consequences of the multiverse. In `Spider-Man: No Way Home`, his reckless spell-casting cracks open the doors between universes. In `Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness`, he witnesses the horror of Incursions firsthand and is forced to reckon with the potential for his own variants to become monstrous threats (like the Sinister Supreme Strange).
• Wanda Maximoff / The Scarlet Witch: Wanda's arc is one of the saga's most tragic. Her immense grief in `WandaVision` leads her to create a pocket reality, demonstrating her power as a “Nexus Being.” This grief is then corrupted by the Darkhold, transforming her into the primary antagonist of Multiverse of Madness, where she uses Dreamwalking to hunt America Chavez across the multiverse in a desperate attempt to find a reality where her children are real.
• Loki: No single character is more responsible for the saga's events. His journey from arrogant villain to a man burdened by glorious purpose is the spine of the narrative. By witnessing the TVA's machinations and understanding the threat of Kang, he becomes one of the few individuals who grasps the true scale of the coming war. His choice to try and control the multiversal loom in Season 2 positions him as a potential lynchpin for its salvation.
• Sylvie Laufeydottir: A Loki variant who was pruned as a child, Sylvie's entire life is defined by her quest for revenge against the TVA. Her decision to kill He Who Remains is the single most important action in the entire saga, a deeply personal choice with infinite cosmic consequences. She represents the uncontrollable nature of free will against a deterministic system.

The primary antagonist of the Multiverse Saga is not one person, but an infinite number of them. Nathaniel Richards is a brilliant scientist who, in every timeline, eventually discovers the multiverse. What he does with that knowledge defines him.

• He Who Remains: The “final” variant from the first multiversal war. He is not necessarily good, but pragmatic and weary. He created the Sacred Timeline and the TVA not out of benevolence, but to prevent the emergence of his more destructive selves. His death acts as the “starting gun” for the saga.
• Kang the Conqueror: The first major “warrior” variant encountered by the heroes, exiled to the Quantum Realm. As seen in Quantumania, he is a ruthless genius, a master of advanced technology, and a despot who has “killed” more Avengers than the heroes can count. He seeks to escape his prison and conquer the entire timeline, viewing it as his birthright.
• Victor Timely: A Kang variant from a branched timeline in the early 20th century. He is a brilliant but unassuming inventor, manipulated by Ravonna Renslayer and Miss Minutes. He represents the potential of a Kang before he breaks bad—the brilliant mind without the megalomania. His existence demonstrates that not every Kang is destined to be a conqueror.
• Immortus, Rama-Tut, and the Council of Kangs: The post-credits scene of Quantumania reveals a vast assembly of Kang variants. Led by a triumvirate seemingly based on their comic counterparts (Immortus, Rama-Tut, and possibly a version of the Scarlet Centurion), this council sees the Avengers of Earth-616 (designated Earth-199999 in the comics) as a primary threat to their multiversal ambitions. They are the collective antagonists of the coming war, a seemingly endless army of super-geniuses.

A significant portion of Phase Four is dedicated to exploring the concept of legacy in the wake of Endgame.

• Sam Wilson / Captain America: His journey in `The Falcon and the Winter Soldier` is a profound exploration of what it means for a Black man to wield a symbol as loaded as Captain America's shield.
• Yelena Belova / Black Widow: Introduced in `Black Widow`, she represents the lingering grief and search for purpose following Natasha Romanoff's death, initially seeking vengeance before finding a new, complicated path.
• Kate Bishop / Hawkeye: In `Hawkeye`, she embodies the inspiration the Avengers created, a new hero molded directly in the image of her idol, Clint Barton.
• America Chavez: A key new character whose unique ability to punch star-shaped portals between universes makes her a living multiversal key, hunted by those who would exploit her power.

While many projects contribute, a few form the essential, unskippable spine of the Multiverse Saga's main plot.

The first project of the saga, WandaVision, initially appears to be a contained story about Wanda Maximoff's grief. However, it lays crucial groundwork. By spontaneously creating a pocket reality and manifesting her twin sons, Billy and Tommy, Wanda proves her abilities far exceed what was previously known. The series finale sees her embrace her destiny as the Scarlet Witch, a being of immense magical power, and take possession of the Darkhold. The book's corrupting influence, combined with her desire to reclaim her lost family, directly sets her on the villainous path she follows in her next appearance.

This is the saga's raison d'être. The series deconstructs the MCU's understanding of time and reality. It introduces the audience and the titular character to the core concepts of variants, the Sacred Timeline, and Nexus Events. The introduction of He Who Remains in the finale is a masterclass in exposition, recasting the entire history of the MCU as a carefully curated “bottle” reality. Sylvie's killing of him is the moment the multiverse is truly born in the MCU, transforming the threat from a theoretical danger into an immediate, overwhelming reality.

This film brought the high-concept multiversal theory down to an emotional, character-driven level. When Doctor Strange's spell to make the world forget Peter Parker's identity goes awry, it pulls in characters from other Spider-Man film continuities who know Peter Parker is Spider-Man. The return of villains like the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) and Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), and especially the other Spider-Men (Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield), was a landmark cinematic event. It demonstrated the incredible storytelling potential of the multiverse while ending on a tragic note: to save his reality, Peter Parker must allow everyone, including his closest friends, to forget he ever existed, reinforcing the saga's theme of sacrifice.

This film is the direct follow-up to both WandaVision and the multiversal shenanigans of No Way Home. It formally introduces the concept of Incursions as the ultimate consequence of multiversal meddling. The journey through various universes, especially the brief but shocking visit to Earth-838 where the Illuminati are swiftly slaughtered by the Scarlet Witch, establishes the stakes. It shows that no hero is safe and that variants can be vastly different in power and morality. The film ends with Strange, now corrupted by his own use of the Darkhold, being recruited by Clea to fix an Incursion he caused, pulling him deeper into the multiversal conflict.

While Loki introduced the mastermind behind the curtain, Quantumania shoves the main threat onto center stage. Scott Lang and his family are transported to the Quantum Realm, where they encounter Kang the Conqueror, a variant exiled by his peers for being too extreme. This film establishes Kang's personal power, his advanced technology, and his immense history of galactic conquest. Though Scott manages to defeat this specific Kang, the victory is hollow. The film's mid-credits scene reveals the Council of Kangs, demonstrating that removing one was like taking a single drop out of the ocean. The war has only just begun.

The saga has already provided tantalizing glimpses into the infinite realities that now make up the MCU's cosmology.

• Earth-838 (Multiverse of Madness): A seemingly utopian reality where the Illuminati (composed of variants like Captain Carter, Captain Marvel (Maria Rambeau), Black Bolt, Mister Fantastic, and Professor X) defeated their Thanos, but at a great cost. Their own Doctor Strange became a threat and had to be executed. This reality highlights how different choices can lead to wildly different outcomes and power structures.
• The Void (Loki): A desolate dimension at the end of time where the TVA dumps all of its pruned variants and timelines. It is a chaotic wasteland populated by forgotten variants (like Classic, Kid, and Boastful Loki) and patrolled by the matter-devouring entity, Alioth.
• Animated Realities (What If…?): The animated series explores a multitude of branched realities observed by Uatu the Watcher. These range from a world where Captain Carter received the Super Soldier Serum to a zombie-infested Earth. The second season finale saw Captain Carter and a heroic Kahhori traverse multiple realities, showcasing the infinite possibilities.
• Sony's Spider-Man Universes: No Way Home explicitly canonized the worlds of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man films as alternate universes within the MCU's multiverse, allowing for the emotional returns of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's versions of the hero.
• Notable Character Variants:
• The Illuminati: The heroes of Earth-838, who serve as a stark warning about the dangers of hubris.
• The Spider-Men: Maguire's older, more experienced Peter Parker and Garfield's grief-stricken, rage-fueled Peter Parker provided counsel and support to the MCU's Peter, helping him through his darkest hour.
• Loki Variants: The main Loki's encounters with Sylvie, Classic Loki (who possessed far greater magical power), and even Alligator Loki showcased the breadth of what a “variant” could be.
• The Council of Kangs: An infinite assembly of Nathaniel Richards variants from across the multiverse, each with their own unique look and personality, united in their goal to control all of reality.

• kang_the_conqueror
• infinity_saga
• time_variance_authority
• secret_wars
• doctor_strange
• loki_series

^{1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10)}