Marvel fans now have a good idea of where the MCU is going in its post-Infinity Saga story, which is now known as the Mulitiverse Saga. Featuring an amazing lineup of projects that started with 2021's WandaVision and will end with the dynamic duo of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars in 2025, this new slate of films and TV shows has no shortage of thrills.
2022 will mark the end of Phase 4 with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever before Phase 5 brings a dozen new entries through 2024, starting with an epic threequel in next year's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. From there, the story will only become more intense and exciting with team-ups for the Thunderbolts and the Fantastic Four, all leading to an inevitable Multiversal war to close out Phase 6.
Even while fans still wait to find out everything still yet to be announced for release over the next three years, knowing the direction of the MCU paints a much clearer picture for how this massive story will progress forward. Ahead of the MCU's return to animated and live-action storytelling this month, one of the company's top producers also shared his thoughts on what makes the Multiverse Saga so uniquely special.
Marvel Producer Teases MCU's Multiverse Saga
Speaking with Variety, Marvel Studios Head of Streaming, Television and Animation Brad Winderbaum shared his thoughts on what makes the MCU's Multiverse Saga so exciting for the MCU and teased the amazing stories to come.
When discussing how the animated I Am Groot series connects to the Guardians of the Galaxy movies and whether future animated series will have similar MCU connections, Winderbaum explained how the entire Multiverse Saga opens "so many more roads" to use for stories.
He noted how the Multiverse allows for "alternate paths and other takes on the characters" to be explored in "unforeseen, unexpected ways," particularly through the animated projects which will use the Multiverse concept as its "guiding light:"
"I think what’s amazing about the Multiverse Saga in particular is that you can go down so many more roads. We’ve experimented at the studio for a long time about telling stories that take place in a linear fashion, but also going back in time, and being able to show how the MCU can blossom in the past. But what the Multiverse does, it allows us to look at alternate paths and other takes on the characters, which is, of course, what happens in the comic books as different artists, different writers, different storytellers work with characters. You see them expanding and growing in unforeseen, unexpected ways. And that’s something that is our guiding light as we make more animated projects."
Will All the MCU's Animated Projects Be Multiverse Stories?
MCU fans got their first true taste of the Multiverse in Phase 4, with past heroes and villains taking leading roles in Spider-Man: No Way Home and new Variants shining in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. These movies, along with the Loki series on Disney+, opened fans' minds to what could be accomplished through the Multiverse on screen, and it will only expand from there.
With Winderbaum teasing how different versions of the same characters will play a role in the Multiverse Saga, it only opens the flood gates for how crazy things are going to get over the next couple of years. Eventually, that Incursion that started in Doctor Strange 2 will lead to universes colliding and battling in the fifth and sixth Avengers movies, expanding the MCU to levels never seen before.
While that story won't truly get too wild before Phase 4 ends, fans will start to see the effects of the Multiverse before too long as Avengers: Endgame moves further into the past.
It is interesting to hear that the Multiverse is being treated as a "guiding light" for Marvel's animated projects, possibly hinting that these stories will be solely set as Elseworlds stories rather than being tied to the mainline MCU directly. Marvel's animation has yet to properly cross over to live-action, and its future endeavors do all seem to take place in their own universes. Therefore, those hoping for animated stories to be set in Earth-616 or directly tie into the events of the films may want to hold their breath, especially considering animated MCU projects were left off of the Phase 5 slate.
That isn't to say that these Multiverse stories won't be amazing though, as the concept will indeed open infinity opportunities for the franchise moving forward.
The MCU will continue with She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, which begins streaming on Disney+ on Thursday, August 18.
