The Infinity Saga Doctor Strange (2016) In
Doctor Strange, the term "
multiverse" is used by the
Masters of the Mystic Arts to describe the multitude of
dimensions within the MCU.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 5 (2017–2018) The bulk of the
fifth season of the
ABC series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2017–2018) is set in an alternate future, around the time of
Infinity War, where Earth has been destroyed.
What If...? season 1 (2021) The first season of
What If...? explores numerous alternate realities that have deviated from the Sacred Timeline.
Tom Hiddleston was reported to return as Loki, but was absent from the final film. The film introduces several multiverse-related concepts to the MCU. Early on in the film, dreams are revealed to be visions of one's alternate counterparts in the multiverse. Maximoff and Strange later engage in "dreamwalking", a "mentally [and] physically exhausting spell" in which one possesses one's multiversal counterpart using the
Darkhold. Additionally, "
incursions" are established as universe-ending events that occur when one leaves a large footprint in an alternate reality, causing the connection between both universes to destabilize and resulting in the destruction of one or both of the universes. The film's focus on the multiverse was revealed at the 2019
San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), with the announcement of the film's title and release date. Explaining the subtitle
Multiverse of Madness, co-producer
Richie Palmer stated that the film would explore the definitions of the word "madness" as well as inner demons, while Feige stated his intention to explore the "mind-bending frightening side" of the multiverse. The cast found it difficult to keep track of the different realities of the multiverse. Waldron also sought to avoid excessive fan service, and had to "move fast" regarding the multiverse due to
Multiverse of Madness being a film and not a television series. Feeling that his work on the series
Rick and Morty (2013–present) had prepared him with introducing concepts like the multiverse, he added that
Multiverse of Madness depiction of the multiverse differed from the aforementioned series in that the alternate realities were not solely played for laughs, instead viewing the multiverse as the emotional centerpiece of the film. Waldron chose to write
Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch as the film's antagonist instead of a multiverse-related villain such as
Kang because he did not want the film to be "overstuffed", and decided to introduce the Illuminati so the film could "find the madness in the multiverse". As
Multiverse of Madness was originally intended to be released before
No Way Home, Waldron worked with McKenna and Sommers to adjust the plot of the film accordingly after
Multiverse of Madness was delayed. Feige described the multiverse as "the next step in the evolution of the MCU", noting that this film would also have significant repercussions on the MCU.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) Kang appears in
Quantumania, serving as the film's primary antagonist. In the film, he is revealed to have instigated the multiversal war mentioned in
Loki, subjugating and destroying entire timelines. Kang's variants, known collectively as the "
Council of Kangs", banish him to the Quantum Realm out of fear, and Kang plots his revenge. In the Quantum Realm, he enlists the help of Janet to rebuild the power core of his spaceship, which allows him to travel the multiverse, but Janet rebels upon learning of his past. Using
Pym Particles, Janet enlarges the core, rendering it unusable. Decades later, Kang has established an "empire" in the Quantum Realm, terrorizing its inhabitants. He coerces Lang to retrieve the core and restore it to its original size, but Janet intervenes and a battle ensues. Lang and his allies eventually defeat Kang by destroying the core, which distorts and then engulfs him. The film's mid-credits scene introduces three variants of Kang:
Immortus,
Rama-Tut, and
Centurion, who convene the Council upon learning of Kang's apparent death and plan their multiversal uprising against Earth-616. In the film's post-credits scene, Loki and Mobius encounter yet another variant of Kang,
Victor Timely, in 1893. This scene sets up
the second season of
Loki. Two of Hope's sons from an alternate universe were originally intended to appear, but were cut. According to
Jonathan Majors, who portrays Kang, the character is a "Nexus Being" who can affect the stability of the multiverse. Screenwriter
Jeff Loveness said that since the concept of time travel had already been explored in
Endgame, he sought to place greater emphasis on Kang's connections to the multiverse and "evolve" the MCU's multiversal storytelling. He also described the Quantum Realm as a "connected limbo outside of space and time", likening it to the "basement" of the multiverse. Director
Peyton Reed stated that Kang's arrival to the MCU would have major implications for the MCU going forward.
Loki season 2 (2023) Victor Timely, a variant of Kang, appears in the second season of
Loki. He is recruited by Loki and members of the TVA to help stabilize the Temporal Loom, a device that refines raw time into physical timeline strands. After several futile attempts to stop the Loom from overloading, Loki uses his burgeoning time-slipping ability to return to the Citadel at the End of Time, where He Who Remains resided in season 1. When Loki confronts He Who Remains in the moments before Sylvie had killed him, He Who Remains explains that the Loom was in fact a failsafe designed to preserve the Sacred Timeline in the event that the timeline branches grew beyond the control of the TVA. He presents to Loki two choices: either let the Loom run its course of eradicating everything but the Sacred Timeline, or eliminate the Loom and thus let all timelines die. After much consideration, Loki sacrifices himself by using his powers to destroy the Loom, revive the dying timeline strands, and reform them into a tree-like structure, seating himself at its center in the Citadel ruins to manage the tree in perpetuity.
What If...? season 2 (2023) The second season of
What If...? continued to chronicle the activities of the Watcher, exploring new alternate realities in the multiverse. Some of the storyline elements from the first season with Captain Carter, Doctor Strange Supreme, and the Watcher are continued in this season. The
sixth episode introduces an original MCU character named
Kahhori, a young
Mohawk woman in an alternate timeline who seeks to discover her new-found powers after the
Tesseract crash-lands in the
Haudenosaunee Confederacy in
pre-colonial America where
European colonization has not occurred. The season's final episode includes the multiverse tree established in the
Loki season two finale, and also sees Doctor Strange Supreme capturing various "universe-killers" to atone for his past sins. Strange asks Carter to assist with capturing an escaped variant, who fled to a universe where
Hydra used the Tesseract to destroy the world. Carter agrees, in spite of the
Watcher's warning. She encounters Kahhori, who reveals that Strange had actually been capturing both heroes and villains from various universes to feed to the Forge, a contraption he created to resurrect his own universe, which he indirectly destroyed trying to avert
Christine Palmer's death. As Strange attempts to kill Kahhori, Carter frees the imprisoned variants in the Sanctum, allowing her and Kahhori to escape from Strange. They run into
Black Panther Killmonger, but Kahhori teleports him out of his Infinity Armor, allowing Carter to use it. Carter and Kahhori confront Strange at the Forge, where the latter begins feeding the variants to it. Carter is assisted by the variants who lend their weapons to her aid, while Strange is slowly taken over by his demonic self. Eventually, Carter manages to separate Strange from his demonic counterpart. As the Forge begins to collapse, Strange sacrifices both him and his demonic self to the Forge. The Watcher teleports Kahhori back to her universe and takes Carter to his dimension, where he reveals that Strange's universe had been restored, though Strange himself would never be born into it. Carter asks the Watcher to show her the multiverse before taking her home.
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) The film
Deadpool & Wolverine features the character
Wade Wilson / Deadpool from the
X-Men films
Deadpool (2016) and
Deadpool 2 (2018) produced by Fox, with
Ryan Reynolds reprising the role. Most of the film takes place on Earth-10005 and the Void, while the TVA and Alioth from
Loki also appear. Writer
Rhett Reese described the film as a
fish out of water story for Deadpool, as he is a lunatic who will be dropped into the "very sane world" of the MCU. Feige has described that Wilson will discover the Sacred Timeline in the film and find it fascinating, but he will realize that
Paradox's plans may not be what they seem and he will learn that his offer isn't as simple and there are "universe sized" stakes on the way. The film also includes several characters from 20th Century Fox's
X-Men films and other Marvel productions, including
Hugh Jackman reprising his role as an alternate version of
Wolverine,
Aaron Stanford as
Pyro from
X2 (2003) and
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006),
Tyler Mane as
Sabretooth from
X-Men (2000),
Dafne Keen as
X-23 from
Logan (2017),
Jennifer Garner as
Elektra from
Daredevil (2003) and
Elektra (2005),
Chris Evans (who portrayed
Captain America in the MCU) as the
Human Torch from
Fantastic Four (2005) and
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), and
Wesley Snipes as
Blade from
New Line Cinema's
Blade film trilogy (1998–2004). Additionally,
Channing Tatum portrays
Gambit as a reference to an
unproduced Gambit film where Tatum was set to star as the character before its cancellation due to Fox's acquisition by Disney. Keen and Stanford confirmed their roles to not be variants of Laura and Pyro respectively but the same ones they portrayed in the
X-Men film series, with the backstory provided by Reynolds and director
Shawn Levy being that they were pruned by the TVA some years after their last appearances instead of being taken from specific points of certain timelines. Wolverine comes from a reality where all his fellow X-Men died, while the rest of those characters appear as inhabitants of the Void, with Pyro and Sabretooth working for
Cassandra Nova (
Emma Corrin), while Laura, Elektra, Blade, the Human Torch, and Gambit oppose her as resistance members which previously included
Daredevil,
Magneto, the
Punisher, and
Quicksilver. Other characters who work for Cassandra are the
Juggernaut (Aaron W. Reed),
Blob (Mike Waters),
Azazel (Eduardo Gago Muñoz),
Callisto (Chloe Kibble),
Lady Deathstrike (Jade Lye),
Psylocke (Ayesha Hussain),
Arclight (Jessica Walker), and
Toad (Daniel Medina Ramos), all portrayed by stunt performers over their original
X-Men film series actors, as well as the
Russian (Billy Clements) and
Bullseye (Curtis Rowland Small). To decide which characters from the 20th Century Fox era of Marvel films would return, Levy and the filmmakers contacted the dozens of actors displayed at the film's Fox tribute reel during the credits, including ones that ultimately didn't return like
Ben Affleck as Daredevil or
Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut, while prioritizing the movie to be emotional and poignant over "going crazy" with the Multiverse and taking the audience's "eye off the balls" that count most, noting some of the characters depicted in the film were since its earliest drafts whereas others "evolved" over months into
pre-production. Several Deadpool variants from the Void also appear, such as Nicepool (also portrayed by Reynolds),
Dogpool (portrayed by
dog actor Peggy),
Ladypool (voiced by
Blake Lively),
Headpool (voiced by
Nathan Fillion), Cowboypool (
Matthew McConaughey), among others. Seven other versions of Wolverine briefly appear, with six also portrayed by Jackman while one, dubbed "The Cavillrine", is portrayed by
Henry Cavill. One of those variants appears fighting the Hulk.
Captain America: Brave New World (2025) In the post-credit scene,
Sam Wilson visits an incarcerated
Samuel Sterns at the
Raft. Sterns tells Wilson about the multiverse, warning him that there are other worlds besides theirs and that he will need to protect their universe from being attacked by others.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) The entirety of the film
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set on Earth-828, a 1960s-inspired
retro-futuristic Earth separate from the main MCU. In this universe, the Fantastic Four came about after an accident in 1960 that gave them superpowers and thus becoming the Fantastic Four. A Fantastic Four spaceship arrives in Earth-616 at some point after the events of
First Steps and during the post-credit scene of
Thunderbolts* (2025). The cosmic being known as
Galactus comes from a period before the current iteration of Earth-828. The number 828 is inspired by co-creator
Jack Kirby’s birthday of August 28, 1917.
Marvel Zombies (2025) The storyline of the episode "
What If... Zombies?!" from the first season of
What If...? was continued in the Disney+ series
Marvel Zombies (2025). The series depicts a group of survivors discovering the key to bring an end to the zombie plague, which leads them to risk their lives traveling across a dystopian landscape and fighting superpowered zombies to save the world. Additional survivors appearing in the series include
Kamala Khan,
Riri Williams,
Kate Bishop,
Blade Knight,
Yelena Belova,
Alexei Shostakov,
Shang-Chi,
Katy Chen,
Jimmy Woo,
Death Dealer, and
Valkyrie. Survivors also returning from the storyline of "What If... Zombies?!" include
Peter Parker,
Scott Lang,
T’Challa, and
Bruce Banner who is revealed to have survived and is contained by the energy of the Infinity Stones becoming Infinity Hulk.
Wanda Maximoff is depicted as the queen of the dead who is turned into a zombie. == Notable universes ==