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Warning: Spoilers for Captain America #15!Marvel just broke the fourth wall in the funniest way I’ve ever seen, and I can’t help but think it’s a dig at DC Comics. Considering DC’s exhausting history of multiversal collisions and constant crises, it was only a matter of time before Marvel started poking fun at its biggest competitor. The way Marvel does it, however, is in such a Deadpool-like way that it involves the reader.
Captain America is having a wild new adventure in Captain America #15 by J. Michael Straczynski, Jesús Saiz, Matt Hollingsworth, and Joe Caramagna. Teamed up with Spider-Man and Thor, they retreat to the safe haven of Broxton, Oklahoma. However, while trying to work out certain glitches that don’t correspond with time, Spider-Man and Captain America hazard a new theory of the Multiverse that puts DC to shame.
According to Spidey, the multiverse cannot exist, and that’s such a fundamentally radical concept for comics that Captain America and Spider-Man have to break the fourth wall in order to communicate how wild this idea is to the reader.
Marvel May Be Poking Fun, But DC Comics’ Multiverse Has Been Around Since the Sixties
The Flash #123Cover by Carmine Infantino
The multiverse is a classic science fiction concept that was perfected by superhero comic books. DC first experienced the clashing multiverse in 1961’s “The Flash of Two Worlds” story from The Flash #123by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino. Marvel followed suit just one year later in Strange Tales #103by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, where the Human Torch accidentally crossed into a parallel reality and introduced the multiverse. Around the same time, both DC and Marvel were toying with other worlds than these.
To learn more about the most up-to-date status of DC’s multiverse, check out 2024’s
DC All In Special
#1 by Joshua Williamson, Scott Snyder, Daniel Sampere, Wes Craig, Dan Mora, and more, available now from DC Comics.
As the years passed, that multiversal idea got even bigger, with DC creating an over-saturated landscape of universes and Marvel filling out their Ultimate Universe in the 2000s. Sometimes, even, the two publishers engaged in major crossovers, where characters like Superman and Spider-Man could team up or Batman and the Hulk could fight. Nowadays, however, I just think it’s all way too complicated to follow, especially when it comes to DC’s multiverse.
DC Comics Has Long-Standing Issues with Its Multiverse
The Absolute Universe Finally Fixes Its Over-Saturation Problem
It’s no secret that DC has a mess of alternate realities. Ever since Crisis on Infinite Earths by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, DC has had a lot of fun nixing and returning and nixing again alternate versions of beloved characters, mapping out entirely different landscapes. But for me, the crises have been coming one after another, and it feels like I’m drowning in them. Every few years, the universe resets and all my beloved characters have changed. Nothing is constant in DC, not even the multiverse, which dies and is reborn as often as the years change.
DC is giving fans like me a chance to see a different version of a hero running alongside the classic continuity.
Recently, however, in an effort to fix this, DC’s Multiverse is gone. Instead, the publisher will be focusing on its Absolute Universe, which is not unlike Marvel’s Ultimate Universe. Steering away from constant changes to the original characters, DC is giving fans like me a chance to see a different version of a hero running alongside the classic continuity. This new status quo means that, hopefully, there will be fewer continuity changes in the near future – so I can catch my breath.
Marvel Comics Has a Much More Digestible Multiverse than DC’s
Secret Wars cover by Mike McKone and Rachelle Rosenberg
Just across the street, Marvel presents a different version of the multiverse idea. Not only did it change the game in the 2000s with the Ultimate universe, which allowed Marvel to cater to a new population of readers such as myself, it also changed the game with its What If series. Instead of outlining an entire multiverse, Marvel has managed to detail moments in its history where things could have been different and allowed fans like me to see a glimpse into that otherworld scenario. Then, Marvel returns to its regularly scheduled programming with no character resets and no timeline fudging.
Captain America Only Considers 3 MCU Heroes His Equals, Ranking Them Above Even Wolverine (You Won’t Believe #3)
A ’90s Captain America story revealed that he considers just 3 other heroes his equals in combat; these surprise MCU names made the list.
It’s such a fun concept to me that after years of multiverse comics (and years of me being a fan reading about the multiverse), it can be debunked in just a few Spider-Man panels. The science here is absolutely theoretical, as is everything about the multiverse, and yet it makes perfect sense to me. I also love that it’s none other than scientific Spider-Man who comes to this conclusion, but even Captain America knows what a heavy conclusion it is, leading to the two breaking the fourth wall in a move Deadpool would love.
Captain America and Spider-Man Officially Debunk the Multiverse
And Mimic Deadpool in the Process
It’s truly one of the funniest comic moments I’ve ever seen, precisely because I wasn’t expecting it. From Deadpool, I might expect some accidental multiversal shenanigans, but I have never seen Captain America and Spider-Man so dumbfounded that they look to me, the reader, for help. With a joke and a quick theoretical sketch, Marvel has done away with the idea of the multiverse and, in the process, taken a good jab at its competitor, DC. And yet, maybe in another universe, DC Comics is the one to have the last laugh.
Captain America #15is available now from Marvel Comics!
“}]] Marvel tears apart the multiverse with one joke. Read More