Has introducing a multiverse story ever made anything better?
- Thread starter winb83
- Start date
Wargames
One Of The Last Real Ones To Do It
It can work, you just have to lean it fully and then move on. outside of video games it’s a narrative device like a issue of “What if” that should tell a single story and reach a conclusion.
The issue with the marvel movies is they keep dropping hints and haven’t moved the story along to reaching a conclusion.
The issue with the marvel movies is they keep dropping hints and haven’t moved the story along to reaching a conclusion.
dontreadthis
philly.
rick and morty?
Fillerguy
Veteran
It's weird seeing people complaining about a concept that has been a staple and continues to staple in fiction for over 100 years.
Just because hacks abuse a trope doesn't mean the trope is the issue. Some of the greatest literature use some variation of multiversal concepts.
Just because hacks abuse a trope doesn't mean the trope is the issue. Some of the greatest literature use some variation of multiversal concepts.
Yupthe issue comes down to stakes.
If you introduce a multiversal issue, you immediately neuter it's importance. "so what if things go terrible in this timeline. There are others' becomes the immediate response, even if it's subconscious.
So, either it becomes a 'save all the universes' in which case the scope gets too big, or it's a big-ass Ye Shrug when stuff starts getting tough because all the important characters can just relocate to a less-bad timeline, since we know they exist now.
It's just better for the telling of a story to keep it grounded in, at least, a singular reality.
this in terms of telling a story with conflict. If it's more of a plot device in the background of a slice-of-life, romance or just an adventure it can be fine. But if you're trying to give it gravitas, quickest way to not do that is to have a multiverse. It's a nihilism dream being told that the whole universe as you know it is 1 of many and yours doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things
After decades of reading Marvel, the MCU was refreshing because it was just one, relatively smaller scale universe and it felt like things had permanence in a way comics didn't but that's all gone now.
Multiverses work in shorter stories where the multiverse is the entire point or adaptations that are celebrations of the original IPs, but they kill stories that are meant to be ongoing.
AquaCityBoy
Veteran
Power Rangers, TMNT, Transformers
They work well sometimes, they're just overdone.
Flash Season 2 was an example. Was great when it was just Earth 2 and Earth 3, but once they started overdoing it in later seasons and spamming too many versions of Wells the quality went down a lot.
Flash Season 2 was an example. Was great when it was just Earth 2 and Earth 3, but once they started overdoing it in later seasons and spamming too many versions of Wells the quality went down a lot.
My Girl is Bow Legged
JUST DO IT LIKE
yes
2 Up 2 Down
Veteran
Any examples because I can't think of any
Fillerguy
Veteran
Alice in Wonderland
The Dark Tower series
Chronicles of Narnia
Discworld novels
Lensman series ( OG green lanterns before comics existed, from 1937)
The Wheel of Time
Norse (which marvel heavy leans on) and Buddhist mythology.
Hell even the nightmare before Christmas
The Dark Tower series
Chronicles of Narnia
Discworld novels
Lensman series ( OG green lanterns before comics existed, from 1937)
The Wheel of Time
Norse (which marvel heavy leans on) and Buddhist mythology.
Hell even the nightmare before Christmas
