Deadpool & Wolverine Proves Marvel’s Multiverse Is Doomed To Fail
Now that Deadpool & Wolverine has finally been released to the public, Marvel fans far and wide have rejoiced, as the film has widely been hailed as the savior of the struggling franchise. In classic Deadpool fashion, the film itself pokes fun at Marvel’s recent disappointments, especially those that involve the franchise’s shaky use of the multiverse. Unfortunately, the film also demonstrates exactly what’s wrong with Marvel’s multiverse rollout, as it displays that there are essentially no consequences for anything in the entire MCU.
Multiverse Resurrections
I won’t reveal any major spoilers for the recently-released Deadpool & Wolverine film, though suffice is to say, there is a major multiverse angle which comes into play, uniting the merc with the mouth and several characters from the greater Marvel canon.
While the film itself is an absolute joyride, it demonstrates exactly where Marvel screwed up with their introduction of the multiverse, by showcasing characters who have died, or characters who have had their entire timelines erased.
Death In Marvel Means Nothing
This essentially means that nothing has any meaning in the Marvel universe anymore, as characters could be brutally killed and laid to rest in an emotional sequence, only to return from another multiverse two films later, undercutting all of the emotional framework it took to gain the viewing public’s investment.
Why should audiences care when a flagship character dies if they can just come back later from another universe? Why would anything have consequences if you could just find another being from a distant universe to swoop in and solve all of your problems?
The Rules Went Out The Window
Fans were already concerned with this logical fallacy when Avengers: Endgame introduced the concept of time travel, though that film took extensive care to showcase how difficult it would be to create the conditions for time travel in future ventures.
Spider-Man: No Way Home took a similar approach with the multiverse, which suggested that crossing the universal streams would result in dire consequences.
However, this all seems to have been thrown out the window with Deadpool & Wolverine, because any character from any Marvel multiverse could simply wind up in the Void.
Anyone Can Be Brought Back
My biggest issue with this development is the fact that it makes it functionally impossible to convincingly write characters or actors out of their roles, as in-universe survivors could always snatch a new Wolverine, or a new Iron Man, or a new Hulk from another world at any time.
What implications does this hold for actors who tragically pass away, or simply wish to retire from being on the big screen? While the Marvel multiverse could hand-wave these changes by recasting flagship characters, is that really what the fans want?
Conditional Immortality
The Marvel comics have managed to maintain long-form narratives that include the multiverse and the Void for some time now, so it isn’t entirely impossible for the MCU to regain their footing, but for now they seem to be on shaky ground.
I just personally find it hard to care about the impending doom of these characters when I know that the multiverse grants them conditional immortality that could see them returning for future MCU installments.
Luckily, the good-natured ribbing of Deadpool seems to imply that the multiverse will no longer be a major factor for the franchise moving forward, so there is still hope to get things back on track.
