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Summary
Marvelhas amount to specify the popular design of a " Multiverse,“comprised of infinite pas seul of its ficitonal reality , differ from one another in mode crop from the minute to the uttermost – recently , in MCU offer likeLokiandDr . Strange and the Multiverse of Madness , but prior to that , work back decades with its comic book exploration of alternate continuity .
While Marvel ’s Multiverse has an interesting pre - history , its true parturition in Marvel Comics lore came with the unveiling of the companionship ’s iconicWhat If … ?anthology series . What If … ?#1 – write by Roy Thomas , with art by Jim Craig – set the feeling for decade deserving of tale to come by ask , " What If Spider - Man Joined The Fantastic Four ? "
In increase to exploring the alternate possibility of Marvel ’s roster of legendary characters , What If … ?#1 also localize a case law , with its downbeat ending institute that the statute title was a place to tell story that deviated from the traditional narrative meter of a superhero book .
link : Fantastic Four Just Made Every ' What If ' Reality Part of Marvel Canon
Rather than arrive at what it means to tell a multiverse account through visitation and erroneousness , Marvel ’s effort predate from it , by distilling the multiverse down to its core : " What if ? " questions .
“What If?” Is The Question At The Core Of Every Multiverse Story
" What If Spider - Man Joined The Fantastic Four ? " is a relatively aboveboard account – but it begins with an introduction that would at long last change Marvel Comics perpetually . In a preface not unlike a Rod SerlingTwilight Zonenarration , cosmic type Uatu the Watcherexplains to the reader that there are , in fact , countless realities , rather than just one ; further , he explain , these reality hinge on possibilities , whether actualized or not . Rather than come at what it means to tell a multiverse story through trial and fault , Marvel ’s effort precede from it , bydistilling the multiverse down to its essence : " What if ? " questions .
InWhat If … ?#1,Spider - Man joining the Fantastic Fourleads to a cascade of consequence that result in Sue Storm leaving the team to becomeNamor ’s undersea Brigid . Spider - Man ’s dangerous undertaking with the Four are for the most part fun , ' 70s amusing Quran fare , but with the ending , writer Roy Thomas takes the chance to reason out the consequence in a way the fair main continuity storey of the time would not have – by demonstrate the dramatic repercussions of the heroes ' decisions , and leaving them with a drastically altered status quo . In this fashion , " What If Spider - Man conjoin The Fantastic Four ? " steadfastly lay down the kind of storiesWhat If … ?would secern during its run .
The Multiverse Has Been Integral To Marvel’s Mainstream Success
By enclose the musical theme of the Multiverse , with its unnumberable storytelling possibilities , What If … ?#1 gave Marvel Comics a narrative mechanism that would amount to be integral to the company ’s fictional world , and its stain personal identity , over the course of the next several decades . In addition to being the locomotive of the long - running"What If … ?“series , the Multiverse has played a major role for all of Marvel ’s major franchises . It has resulted inbeloved series likeExiles , and crossover event like 2015’sSecret Wars , which finish the original run of Marvel ’s alternate continuityUltimateimprint , bring primal factor of it into the main continuity .
More late , the Multiverse has been at the inwardness of cinematic adventures admit theSpider - Verseanimated films , and the latestDoctor Strangefilm , along with the Disney+ seriesLoki , and ananimated adaption ofWhat If … ?,putting an MCU twist on the classic comic . All of this line back to 1976’sWhat If … ?#1 – which , in addition to demonstrate that the continuity conversant to Marvel reader at the time existed with a much larger Multiverse , alsolaid a successful blueprint for how Marvel would evidence Multiverse news report moving forward , which in the long - term has proved vital to their crossover into mainstream popularity .
