Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is getting closer and now the producer shares how Loki’s mischievous actions affected the story.
It has been days since we got the official trailer for the upcoming Marvel movie.
After Spider-Man No Way Home, it’s one that is diving further into the concept of the multiverse.
Based on the trailer, it even clearly linked the movie to the “What If…” Disney Plus Series.
Different versions of not only Doctor Strange but also of other Marvel characters appeared in the jampacked 2 minutes and 17 seconds of video.
That official video currently has 41M views and counting.
How The Loki Series Affects The Multiverse of Madness
Image: Marvel Studios
During Avengers: Endgame, the Avengers went back in time to collect the Infinity Stones.
As early as that, the movie introduced audiences to a timeline branching to a destructive other.
The Ancient One in effect taught Bruce Banner about a “branch” in the timeline.
And Bruce trying to convince the Ancient One that branch would never exist once the mission is done.
In effect, Bruce also cited a way to “prune” a variant timeline.
What was not foreseen, however, was Loki’s action.
That action led to the Loki series.
The Loki series did not show him pruned nor did they correct that specific moment.
Loki’s mischief in theft eventually broke the Sacred Timeline.
The world with all its branches became a vulnerable mess.
It is only a matter of time that the fragile capsule cracks.
Then Peter and Doctor Strange messed up a spell that they had to scooby-doo the problem.
The problem is solved but everyone forgets except Spidey.
Everyone including Doctor Strange.
How The Loki Series Affected The Multiverse of Madness
Image: Disney Plus
The presence of variants weakens a universe, the concept is highly emphasized in Loki.
Michael Waldron wrote for both Loki and Multiverse of Madness.
Waldron provided the blueprint on the concept of the Multiverse in Loki’s Disney Plus Series.
It is very well illustrated and believable that it is accepted smoothly into the Multiverse of Madness.
Marvel Studios producer, Richie Palmer shared how Loki’s Disney+ series influenced Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
[Waldron’s involvement in the movie] was a blessing for us, because we got the guy who created the rules of the Multiverse for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to come in and continue that story in our movie…Michael’s strength is the character stuff. As you saw in Loki, all the best moments involved the characters against the backdrop of those alternate timelines. It’s kind of like that in our movie, too. Michael’s script brought a lot of heart to sci-fi concepts such as the Multiverse.
Marvel did not have to focus on explaining the multiverse so much in Doctor Strange 2 because the Loki Series already had that in the bag.
In the upcoming movie, they now focus on how Doctor Strange can fix the mess somehow.
Does this mean that a Variant Timeline is just another Universe?
The Watcher in What If…? showed how a single decision made can change reality and create a new universe.
It was how Captain Carter and all the other iteration of Marvel characters featured in the series came to be.
Is Captain Carter a variant of Agent Carter who is not pruned?
Or is Loki’s mischief one of those “supposed to happen” moments like the Avengers going back in time?
In a specific point of view, if not for Loki’s mischief, it wouldn’t have been easy to crack the universe wide open.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness premieres in theaters on May 6, 2022.
