Let's Make a Multiverse
Multiverses allow characters to live on; strengthening audiences connection to the fandom and making money for production companies.
It seems quite popular now to have the same characters present in many media products but let them all have their time in the spotlight across different media products. The most common example of this is Marvel, to the point that their latest film (or at least I think it was the latest, it’s very difficult to keep track), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The multiverse is different to sequels and prequels in that they don’t need to be watched in any specific order, although it helps, you also don’t need to have seen any others, although that absolutely helps.
The multiverse is like an intertextual reference, but the text is referring to its own body of work. Intertextual references or intertextuality is when a text refers to another one. This can be in an obvious way, or in a much more cloaked way. The technique provides meaning not only to the text but can provide an extra layer of meaning to the audience who understand the reference.
There seems to be a trend in some romance novels I have been reading that each book is focused on a friend who finds love. The initial couple/s are present in all of them, but they are relegated to side characters. Whilst this story still employs the narrative conventions of multiple storylines, the set-up strongly implies that there is no other story line for each of these characters yet… once they have had their book, there storyline may be given extra details in the following novels but there is very little action or drama around them. The detail simply enhances what we already know about them. So perhaps they are on their honeymoon after getting married which provides the set up for something else to happen, as is the case in The American Roommate Experiment, the follow up to Elena Armas’ The Spanish Love Deception. Romcom authors like Mia Sosa, Jasmine Guillory, Elle Kennedy (who is more rom than com) and Kerry Winfrey also have built a network of characters that we experience across many novels. Although, whilst Winfrey’s Waiting for Tom Hanks and Not Like the Movies focused on two best friends finding love (one in each book), her third Very Sincerely Yours just had a cameo by one the characters in Not Like the Movies, and her fourth Just Another Love Song, appeared to have no character connections.
Other authors appear to be more conscious in creating a series of books with interconnected characters. For example, Alisha Rai’s Modern Love series is a trilogy of three books that each feature one of three friends having their moment in the spotlight. Ella Maise has the To Love & Hate duology and Sasha Wasley has the Daughters of the Outback series. All her other works since may feature rural settings and romance, but none of the same characters.
Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton, is a multiverse in its own right, with each series focusing on a different sibling. Although, apparently the audience demand for Nicola Coughlan’s character of Penny’s character to be next is really throwing off the order of things. Even Maeve Binchy’s stories have characters which appear again and again, some continually acting as supporting characters, whilst some become the central focus of the novel.
As far as television shows go, when characters from one ended up on another, we referred to it as a cross-over, often with the intent of getting a show up off the ground. For example, CSI Miam appearing on CSI Vegas, or Angel appearing on Buffy after he got his own spin-off.
The multiverse allows for characters to live on and reaffirm themselves in our cultural psyche. It also allows many of them to literally live on in many different forms as they may have been killed off or living in a different universe. It’s why Joaquin Pheonix’s Joker will exist at the same time as Barry Keoghan’s. And how Robert Pattinson and Ben Affleck will be The Batman and Batman respectively.
Marvel’s approach is probably the most complicated and self-aware, with each series or product created, they spin a stronger web, closing those who are a part of it in, and leaving those who have no idea what’s going on, firmly planted on the sidelines. In the latest Tom Holland Spiderman, No Way Home, two previous actors playing Spiderman, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire returned, and recreated that famous Spiderman meme in which they are all pointing at each other (below). I always identified as a Tobey Maguire Spiderman. Not because he was my favourite, but the only one I’d seen. This is also shorthand for when I was in prime Spiderman watching age. By including all the Spidermen (?) in the one film, you introduce them to the Tom Holland generation and reignite the fandom for those who watched Maguire and Garfield.
Sequels are also incredibly lucrative. Not to consistently use the phrases sequel and contributing to the multiverse as interchangeable, but in some cases they are. This article from Henley Business School said that movies which contain familiar characters and storylines are very profitable. Further to this, the emotional investment is high. Not only do you watch everything via movie tickets or streaming services, merchandise and the sharing of content (memes etc.) ensures you are seen as a viable part of the fandom.
In a way, Disney’s extension of Copyright allows the multiverse to live on, on the producer’s terms. Even though allowing a character to become a part of the public domain can see stories go in a direction we didn’t imagine, as is the case with Winnie The Pooh’s Blood and Honey. The trailer is worth watching on YouTube.
Back to the romance genre, or really, the swoon genre, in K Dramas, there is a ‘second couple’. The second couple are somehow connected to the first couple, and their story runs parallel often getting less screen time. The second couple’s relationship may move quicker, and/or provide comic relief and/or move slower, forming a partnership when our first couple have finally sorted things out. This article ranks favourite second couples, although their number 4, is my number one. The second couple have their own thing going on, but it is often in relation to the first couple. For example, in The Business Proposal, our second couple are the secretary and best friend of the first couple, and it was the best friend’s refusal to go on a date that pushed the first couple together. The dynamic is hierarchical.
The creation of multiverses can ensure that as audiences we focus on one storyline at a time but can also expect more products featuring the same characters, just like we know each superhero will have their own origin, and in some cases, a series on Disney+. The multiverse also enmeshes us deeper into a story and creates stronger bonds between the fans and the product. It also makes parasocial relationships more complex. Whilst it can be nice to receive updates on characters it can also make things feel confusing and can be time consuming to ensure that you are across everything in the multiverse. The references between texts compel us to ensure we are across all the media products. Like everyone seems to say about Marvel films, you don’t have to have seen it, but it helps if you have.
And just like that, we’re sucked back in.
Which multiverse do you enjoy? What do you think about multiverses in general?
