A superhero without free will? Multiverse Narratives in Marvel and DC Movies and TV Series
A superhero without free will? Multiverse Narratives in Marvel and DC Movies and TV Series

Summary/Abstract: This article examines contemporary superhero franchises as both commercial commodities and cultural symptoms, focusing on multiverse narratives in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (particularly Loki and the Spider-Verse franchise) and the DC Animated Universe. It argues that the multiverse device becomes systematic at moments when superhero mythopoeia requires renewal, enabling franchises to reconfigure worldbuilding, dramatic conventions and archetypes for new generations while responding to shifting socio-political contexts. More than a narrative gimmick, the multiverse functions as a generic mechanism that hybridizes dystopian and uchronian conventions, expanding the syntactic framework of superhero fiction. In doing so, it transforms the genre into a form of philosophical thought experiment, with contemporary productions regularly focusing on the destabilization of heroic agency. By multiplying possible worlds, these narratives interrogate determinism and free will, challenging the classical model of the superhero as a figure superior in kind to other men and to its environment. The proliferation of alternate versions of protagonists reframes heroism not as ontological superiority but as a fragile and constant negotiation with contingency. In this respect, the superhero multiverse echoes modern reflections on indeterminacy while re-embedding myth within contemporary anxieties. The contemporary superhero multiverse thus emerges not only as a strategy of franchise expansion, but as a cultural laboratory in which the genre rethinks the limits of the hero’s agency.

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