The Multiverse Is Incredible for Lore, But It’s Ruining Iconic Characters Like Wolverine

The multiverse is one of comic books’ most useful and inventive tropes. It first made its way onto the page in Wonder Woman (1941) #58, although it was thrust into the public eye with The Flash #123’s “The Flash of Two Worlds!” and has since become a key part of how superhero universes operate. Even across the pond in Marvel, the multiverse became the de facto way to explore interesting questions and bring a new version of classic characters into the spotlight. Most famously, Spider-Man went from being a normal super-powered hero to a living connection to the Web of Life and Destiny, operating with an entire Spider-Verse of like-bitten heroes.

Today, the multiverse is a genuinely indispensable part of how superhero comics operate, tying together continuities and opening the door for all kinds of adventures. More recently, however, the multiverse has expanded to do one other key task: giving classic heroes a new sense of destiny. Just like Spider-Man and Captain Britain, it’s not too uncommon for heroes to discover a connection to the multiverse, but that’s not always the resounding success it is with those two. In fact, forced multiversal connections are actively dragging Wolverine down, and we’re going to talk about why this works for some characters, and why it definitely doesn’t for others.

The Multiverse of Overcomplications

Long story short, the occasionally feral X-Man’s newest run in Wolverine (2024) has introduced some hefty new lore. Wolverine is the Savage Champion, which is a role filled by a chosen hero in every universe who embodies humanity, beasts, and metal. This same position is filled by other variants of Wolverine from across the multiverse, who are all destined to do battle against Adamantine, the living consciousness of the metal of the gods. It sees Adamantium as an insulting imitation, and longs to destroy it and all who have used it. Wolverine and his Savage Champion counterparts face it in every universe, with literal gods overseeing their fight. This, however, is an utterly insane addition to Wolverine’s lore.

Wolverine’s lore is already complicated enough. He’s one of those heroes who suffers from constant retcons and additions to his origins. By this point, the Weapon X program has more villains and conspiracies shoved into it than a typical HYDRA meeting. Adding another component to that, being that he was destined to bear the Adamantium to become the Savage Champion, just makes this already convoluted mess even more insane to follow. More so, however, Wolverine has never been a character that’s needed destiny or mystical energies. He’s a rugged man who fights to maintain his humanity every day, and constantly deals with the worst type of people the world has to offer. Despite everything, he’s very grounded, which just makes the idea of him being a multiversal champion clash all the more.

Infinite Options, Same Old Stories

The multiverse is the door to literally endless possibilities. It can give us a look into scenarios and ideas that could never happen in the mainline comics, and letting characters interact with it more isn’t a bad thing on its own. However, the problems emerge when the character’s mythos becomes overly reliant on the multiverse. For example, with Wolverine. His status as the Savage Champion is meant to amp him up in the world, making him more important and adding to his character because of the mystical and divine connections, but it actually takes away because not only does it clash with his aesthetic, it feels like a lukewarm rehash of the Spider-Verse.

The same is true for whenever a new council of multiversal heroes is introduced. Sure, it worked for Captain Britain and Mister Fantastic because these concepts were new and fit them as individuals, but if it were given to other characters, it would just feel redundant or uncreative. The multiverse is supposed to allow for more creativity, but using it to make a hero “look” even cooler just makes it feel lame and adds to the endlessly growing multiverse fatigue. Nowadays, if the multiverse is going to be used, it needs to be done in a way that either meshes with the character or feels original. As it stands, it isn’t being used like that now, and it’s a darn shame.

Who do you think is a hero that’s a good example of using the multiverse in this way, and who’s a bad example? Let us know in the comments below!

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