鈥淟et鈥檚 do things differently this time.鈥
Those are the first words you hear at the beginning of this month鈥檚 an on multiple realities and how our lives might unfold. The message is clear from the get-go: We have choices. Things could be malleable. You are you, sure. But wait 鈥 you might also be you and you and you.
The world is a stressful, 鈥 and more so at a moment when 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 supposed to be this way鈥 has become a not-uncommon mantra. But what if things could turn out another way? What if, somewhere, they had? Enter the realm of the multiverse and alternate realities, one of the most glorified canvases in popular culture's recent years 鈥 and a repository for the ache and longing of living in an era of uncertainty.
Alternate universes are everywhere these days, as the attests with its regret-streaked, history-changing storyline (and its multiple variations of Batman). There is a deep hunger, it seems, for exploring possibilities 鈥 for seeing what might have been if just one thing had unfolded differently.
鈥淭he cultural assumption used to be that the world we live in is the way it is, and that鈥檚 the only way it could be,鈥 says , who read 27,000 from across the decades for his book, 鈥淎ll of the Marvels.鈥
鈥淲hat has happened in culture,鈥 Wolk says, 鈥渋s that people are saying, 鈥榃ell, no. This consensus reality is not how things have to be.鈥欌
THE MULTIVERSE HAS A RICH HISTORY 鈥 OR HISTORIES
The notion of exploring life鈥檚 twists and turns through alternate timelines has been around for a while, albeit in varying guises.
the quintessential Christmas movie from 1946, sent the affable George Bailey tumbling into a timeline where he鈥檇 never been born to reveal his true impact. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e been given a great gift, George 鈥 a chance to see what the world would be like without you,鈥 he鈥檚 told by his wannabe guardian angel, Clarence.
In the decades since, that notion has accelerated 鈥 a rise in stories that consider events both fictional and real, extrapolating different choices.
What if the South had won the Civil War (鈥淐SA: The Confederate States of America鈥)? What if Germany and Japan had won World War II ( )? What if John F. Kennedy hadn鈥檛 been assassinated ( )? What if the Soviets had beaten the Americans to the moon (鈥淔or All Mankind鈥)? What if 9/11 had played out very differently (鈥淭he Mirage鈥)?
Fictional worlds are more malleable, though, and can yield more content. So it is that imaginary characters 鈥 particularly beloved ones with established stories 鈥 are toyed with in books, TV shows and movies that airlift them out of one life and into another. It's a concept that cuts across genres, from rom-com (1998鈥檚 鈥淪liding Doors,鈥 where missing a train splits a young woman鈥檚 life into diverging paths) to near-musical (2019鈥檚 where a budding musician tumbles into a universe where the Beatles never existed).
You have the reality where Spider-Man never married Mary Jane Watson (Marvel Comics鈥 鈥淏rand New Day鈥); the universe where one variant of Doctor Strange has gone insane ( ); the universe where a never existed but the stuck around and got old ( which we鈥檙e not spoiling since this was in the trailers).
And you have the 鈥渕irror universe鈥 of 鈥淪tar Trek,鈥 whose dark and aggressive Terran Empire reveals the baser instincts of beloved characters. Not to mention the recent spate of 鈥淭rek鈥 movies, which unfold in , splintered when an aging Spock went back in time.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a way to explore a problem that鈥檚 never actually happened in the main story,鈥 sums up Nic Lemire, 13, a California teenager who co-hosts an occasional called 鈥淢arvel Mondays鈥 with his mother, former Associated Press film critic Christy Lemire.
One crowning example of multiverse success: Last year鈥檚 which showed all the different lives that might have lived 鈥 with the point being that across the multiverse, her family remains a family. It won , including best picture.
Whatever the subject matter, these works are united by one theme: There are always possibilities, for better and for worse, and exploring them is entertaining, enlightening and escapist. That鈥檚 no small thing in facing the ravages of extreme climate events, the rancor of political polarization and the 鈥 a planet where convulsive change can seem the only constant.
鈥淔ictions have implicitly done what alternate universes seem to be doing more lately: letting us explore some reality that鈥檚 not actual, for the purpose of learning about the actual world,鈥 says , an assistant professor of philosophy at Macalester College who has researched why the multiverse resonates.
鈥淲e鈥檙e bombarded with things that seem arbitrary, random,鈥 she says. 鈥淭he number of difficult developments the past few years 鈥 the pandemic, political upheaval, effects of climate change, etc. 鈥 leave the anxiety-riddled person with the nagging feeling that this all could have been otherwise.鈥
IT鈥橲 A LUCRATIVE BUSINESS MOVE, TOO
Exploring the question of 鈥渨hat if鈥 continues to be lucrative 鈥 to the point where there's an entire Marvel show exploring alternate realities called 鈥淲hat If...?鈥 And while multiple universes are starting to feel spread thin as a plot device, the trope isn't going away any time soon in our single world, where reality is constantly called into question.
After all, if you can remix popular characters in multiple properties while retaining the potential for a reset in a 鈥減rime universe,鈥 what is there to lose? Well, there's one thing: If everything is reversible, unlike real life as we know it, how high can the stakes really be?
鈥淚t narratively lets you have your cake and eat it, too 鈥 you can kill off the character, have an emotional death scene and then bring the character back from another universe,鈥 says , whose 9/11 novel, 鈥淭he Mirage,鈥 posits an alternate universe that flips aggressors, victims and prejudices. In its reality, it was Christian extremists who attacked the Twin Towers of the 鈥淯nited Arab States鈥 in Baghdad.
鈥淚f everything鈥檚 possible, the choices are less interesting. The consequences don鈥檛 matter all that much,鈥 Ruff says. 鈥淧art of engaging in the real world is engaging with the fact that there鈥檚 no magical solution.鈥
That, though, may be precisely why the notion resonates. Human beings have always wanted to try on other outfits, other outcomes, maybe even other lives. That鈥檚 what stories are about. Could we be hurtling toward a narrative era 鈥 the of choose-your-own-adventure stories 鈥 where all possibilities are on the table?
Technology has enabled people to obtain most anything 鈥 customized, to boot 鈥 from the world鈥檚 bounty within 48 hours. Who in the network television days of the 1980s could have imagined that streaming would bring thousands of television shows and movies to our eyeballs with the push of a button? So why not thousands of stories with thousands of possible endings for characters and plotlines? What does that do to our relationship with our stories?
鈥淵ou are looking at a piece of a bigger cultural picture that provides a constant barrage of cultural images that reinforce this idea that we can be better versions of ourselves,鈥 says David Newman, a sociologist at Colgate University who has written . 鈥淧eople want to believe that when we have a problem, the problem is fixable.鈥
There鈥檚 one Marvel Comics offshoot, something called 鈥淢arvel 1602,鈥 which chronicles a universe in which Earth鈥檚 mightiest superheroes existed at the beginning of the 17th century. In it, Reed Richards, the leader of proposes something.
鈥淚 posit we are in a universe which favors stories,鈥 he says. 鈥淎 universe in which no story can ever truly end; in which there can only be continuances.鈥
However it might play out, that鈥檚 a universe full of possibilities. And judging from the past two decades in the popular culture of human beings, it鈥檚 good business as well to keep on asking: What if?
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Ted Anthony, director of new storytelling and newsroom innovation for The Associated Press, has been writing about American culture since 1990. Follow him on Twitter at
