Season 1 of Loki has now officially come to an end, and the entire series as a whole, in addition to previous Marvel teases link to a growing multiverse within the future of MCU films/shows.
Firstly, whist technically the argument could be made that all Marvel projects that are set after the events of Avengers: Endgame are in the MCU multiverse, based on Loki, these films and shows are picked for having a direct link to the MCU multiverse in some shape or form.
Here is some official information regarding future Marvel films included within the MCU multiverse. Note that there will be spoilers for Loki within the article.
MULTIVERSE FILMS
An MCU multiverse has been the main talking point for many fans ever since the title reveal of the next Doctor Strange film, Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness.
This title alone was enough to spark speculation amongst fans as to what this means for the future of the MCU, and all the different possibilities for crossovers with fan favourite Marvel characters such as The X-Men and Fantastic Four from the Fox universe (which is now owned by Disney).
The film will also include Scarlet Witch. What her role will be specifically is unknown at this point. Presumably she will be working with Strange, however, after the events of WandaVision, this might not be the case.
It might also make sense for the film to include Loki, being as though the centre of the multiverse and its inception is revealed in the series, Loki.
Later on it was officially revealed that the next Spider-Man film titled Spider-Man: No Way Home would feature appearances from Alfred Molina and Jamie Fox, reprising their roles as Doctor Octopus and Electro respectively. Although it has not been officially confirmed, the possibility of appearances from Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield as their own versions of Spider-Man is still in the air. This strongly hints towards the multiverse playing a centre role in the film, and based on the chaos seen in the after-credits scene of Spider-Man: Far From Home, a collapse of reality and structure seems just about on cue for the web-crawler.
Whilst the inclusion of these actors reprising their previous character roles isn’t direct confirmation that the film is within the multiverse, it is very unlikely that their reprisals are for any other purpose.
MULTIVERSE SHOWS
When the Disney + show, WandaVision had released in January 2021, naturally, fans were eagerly looking out for any sign of a potential multiverse. By episode 5 of the show, fan’s prayers were answered…sort of. It was revealed that the character Quicksilver had a new face (which was also acknowledged by in universe characters). The face was that of Evan Peters who played the same character, however, in the Fox X-Men film franchise. Unfortunately, this was nothing more than a joke on Marvel’s part, revealing that the character played by Evan Peters was just an average joe civilian with a funny name. However, this could nonetheless still be a tease for what is to come.
Although, whilst WandaVision merely teased a multiverse, Loki dwells much further into multiverse territory and is entirely based on different timelines and universes. The show includes different variations (a multiverse) of the MCU timeline/universe which we have become familiar with over the last 13 years, including different versions of Loki, sometimes played by different actors such as Richard E Grant as Classic Loki. This could further support the idea of a Spiderverse with Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield in No Way Home.
The Loki Connection
The last episode of the season also teased fans to well-known comic villain, Kang the Conqueror. In the show, a non-evil variant of Kang named only as “He Who Remains” is shown to manage the steady flow of time and prevents a breakaway into different branches. By the end, the character dies and the show ends with multiple timelines branching off, unleashing what is presumably the official MCU multiverse which can and (based on the mentioned films) will crossover into the main film timeline.
The actor whom played “He Who Remains” in the show, Jonathan Majors, is confirmed to be returning in the upcoming Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, as Kang the Conqueror, so presumably the film will dwell even further into the MCU multiverse.
Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness will no doubt expand the multiverse in a significant way when they release in December 2021 and March 2022.
Do you think that Spider-Man: No Way Home will feature Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield? Let me know in the comments!
