Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has shown how dangerous and troublesome multiverse travel can be with the concept of invasion – a phenomenon that can destroy at least the entire universe. 1 reality.
This movie is just the beginning of the MCU’s multiverse series, and the encroachment phenomenon will certainly be one of the most important factors for Marvel Studios to continue developing its next projects. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has briefly explained the nature and causes of the invasive phenomenon, and the original comic book will help us understand it more clearly, deeply, and importance. of this phenomenon to future events, such as Secret Wars.
Explaining the invasive phenomenon in the MCU
Invasion is mentioned many times in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, especially in the second half of the film. It all started with the Illuminati event of reality Earth-838 capturing Stephen Strange of Earth-616 (also the main MCU timeline). They then explained that the Illuminati were created to protect the universe from various threats, including multiverse invasions.
Invasion occurs during such invasions, or more specifically, when an individual impacts another reality, causing the two universes to collide. The Illuminati have revealed that this phenomenon happened when Doctor Strange of Earth-838 used the Darkhold magic book to find a way to defeat Thanos. Later, Strange decided to use “sleepwalking” – to enter himself in another reality, causing this reality to perish. So, after defeating Thanos, the Illuminati were forced to eliminate Strange to prevent similar incidents in the future.
That’s all the MCU explains about the invasive phenomenon at the moment, and surely Marvel Studios will continue to exploit this concept in the future. In the film’s mid-credits scene, Doctor Strange teamed up with Clea, a powerful sorceress of the Dark Dimension, to deal with the encroachment caused by Strange himself after using the Darkhold to stop Wanda Maximoff. Based on Clea’s suggestion, it became clear that there was at least one solution that could prevent this terrible phenomenon, and help Strange avoid going down the same path of his own being.
Invasive phenomenon in Marvel comics
Invasion is a relatively new concept to Marvel Comics, created by writer Jonathan Hickman as part of the Secret Wars reboot storyline and helped reboot the entire Marvel multiverse. In the comics, this phenomenon occurs when the timelines come into contact or collide with each other.
Similar to the MCU, Marvel comics also own countless universes, countless Earths and countless different events. However, all these universes suffer the same fate: That is death and destruction to maintain equilibrium for the multiverse. In addition, the timelines are also connected in some way, including concepts such as when they were created or perished.
In the opening sequence leading up to the Secret Wars event, Jonathan revealed that many years ago, a universe was destroyed earlier than expected by the evil Molecule Man – the villain of the Fantastic Four. This event created a chain reaction across the multiverse, with the number of realities being “erased” increasing exponentially. And when two universes collide, in any case, the point of collision is always Earth. In the eight-hour period since the collision, or invasive phase, the multiverse connection window will open, allowing the Earths to observe each other and get close to each other.
There are many ways to prevent this phenomenon, including destroying 1 Earth to save 2 universes and the remaining Earth. The Avengers also used the Infinity Gauntlet to push the Earth that was about to collide with their reality, in exchange, they accidentally destroyed a series of Infinity Stones in many different realities. After the above 8 hours, if no one intervenes in time, the invasion process will be complete, completely destroying the 2 universes, narrowing the multiverse and setting up for many other collision phenomena to occur in the future. future.
Invasive phenomenon “paved the way” for the MCU’s Secret Wars event
The inclusion of the invasive phenomenon in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness shows that Marvel Studios is planning the Secret Wars event – “Endgame” the next version of the MCU.
Secret Wars was created by Jim Shooter in the 80s, before being “slapped” by Jonathan Hickman in 2015, thereby simplifying the concept of the multiverse, eliminating redundant realities, and helping the story. Marvel paintings are more coherent and fluent. It all led to the encroachment between the main Marvel universe (Earth-616) and the Ultimate universe (Earth-1610), as well as the convergence of several other universes on Battleworld. Despite only exploring a bit of the multiverse, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is clearly one of the works that paved the way for the MCU’s Secret Wars event (you can learn more about this event here). here).
However, because the multiverse has only been exploited “fog” in the MCU, it may be a long time before we can see the Secret Wars movie version. This movie can act as Avengers 5, taking place at the end of phase 4 or phase 5, estimated around 2025 – 2026. If Marvel Studios wants to turn Secret Wars into a big event like Avengers: Endgame, the series The film is a summing-up for their decade of activities, then perhaps until 2030, this multiverse war will be brought to the big screen.
According to ScreenRant