Apple TV Sci-Fi Show Creator Slams The MCU's Multiverse Saga

The creator of a hit Apple TV science-fiction show is not impressed by the Multiverse Saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Phases four through six of the MCU are part of the Multiverse Saga, with many of the corresponding movies and shows exploring other realities and variants of familiar characters. This narrative has led to the upcoming film Avengers: Doomsday, which sees the entire multiverse threatened by Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.) as heroes from various from multiple realities come together, including the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and X-Men.

In an interview with SlashFilm, Blake Crouch, who is the creator of Apple TV’s Dark Matter, explained why he does not “respect” the MCU’s use of the multiverse. He criticized them for relying on the multiverse “because it’s easy” while explaining that his science-fiction show uses it “as a way to explore character, to explore what our characters are capable of.” Check out Crouch’s comments below:

Marvel comes along, and they make [multiverses] the plot device of every single movie. I know why they do it, it’s because it’s easy, and it’s because … I’m sorry, I don’t have an extraordinary amount of respect for that kind of storytelling, just for what you said. This is literally the antithesis, what we’re doing, of that. We’re using it as a way to explore character, to explore what our characters are capable of.

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Marvel comes along, and they make [multiverses] the plot device of every single movie. I know why they do it, it’s because it’s easy, and it’s because … I’m sorry, I don’t have an extraordinary amount of respect for that kind of storytelling, just for what you said. This is literally the antithesis, what we’re doing, of that. We’re using it as a way to explore character, to explore what our characters are capable of.

Along with creating and being the showrunner of the Apple TV sci-fi series, Crouch wrote the 2016 Dark Matter novel that the adaptation is based on. Season 1 adapts the story of physicist Jason Dessen being kidnapped, left in a different reality, and attempting to find his way back home via a source of interdimensional travel known as the Box, all while another version of himself attempts to take over the life he left behind. After adapting the book, season 2 goes beyond the source material and further explores the multiverse and other variants of the characters.

In terms of how Crouch sees Dark Matter‘s take on the multiverse, “There’s a line in the book towards the end, when Jason has this kind of epiphany as he’s driving his family to the power plant to escape, and he says, ‘I realize I’m not just one man, I’m just one facet of a multifaceted man called Jason Dessen.’ And that’s really what the show is. And the difference of the show is we’re not just showing you multifacets of Jason, we’re showing you multifacets of most of our main cast.”

Joel Edgerton plays multiple versions of Jason, and season 2 sees other members of the Dark Matter cast all playing multiple versions of themselves, including Jennifer Connelly as Daniela Dessen, Oakes Fegley as Charlie Dessen, Alice Braga as Amanda Lucas, Jimmi Simpson as Ryan Holder, Dayo Okeniyi as Leighton Vance, and Amanda Brugel as Blair Caplan.

Dark Matter‘s take on the multiverse is overall much more grounded than the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, with none of the characters in the Apple TV show having superpowers. As Crouch explains, the many realities and variants are used to explore the various facets within a single person, along with their many emotions, regrets, and dreams.

Rearrange the movies into the correct US release order.

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Meanwhile, the MCU tends to use the multiverse to use the more so to create battles and team-ups that would not otherwise be possible, including Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s version of Spider-Man, and the villains they previously faced, joining the story of Tom Holland’s web-slinger in Spider-Man: No Way Home. It is now being used to bring heroes from different universes together in the fight against Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has faced its fair share of criticism for the Multiverse Saga, especially compared to the Infinity Saga, but several of its multiverse-heavy stories have still managed to be critical or commercial hits. No Way Home achieved both feats by earning $1.9 billion at the worldwide box office, along with receiving a 93% critics’ score and 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Expectations are high for Avengers: Doomsday to reach or even surpass these numbers, especially at the box office after releasing in theaters on December 18.