In an early scene of “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” the spell-casting superhero (Benedict Cumberbatch) encounters a character from another universe who offers him a primer on the multiverse concept.
He shrugs it off: They went through all this in the “Spider-Man” movie released last year.These days, the multiverse is everywhere.
In both “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Multiverse of Madness,” it provides the corporate excuse to import characters from other franchises, previous iterations of the same franchises, and even franchises that don’t exist yet.
But it’s also the ultimate embodiment of an idea that has growing appeal in popular culture for other reasons.
In chaotic times, the potential of other realities can be an enticing proposition.
On the surface, the existence of the multiverse means that nothing is permanent and everything is fungible.
Who wouldn’t want an edit function for their own life?
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