Planning a Crossover? Skip the Multiverse.

Look. We get it. No Way Home, the movie with three Spider-Men, was an even more monstrous hit than anyone was expecting. Rick & Morty, the most popular animated show on TV, is so into moving between realities that the production company named itself “Green Portals.” Somehow, on the heels of a pandemic (okay, let’s be honest, in the middle of one), Everything Everywhere All at Once, the film about an infinity of Michelle Yeohs, is the highest grossing film that A24 has ever produced. And now Warner Bros. is all set to release Multiversus, a multiplayer combat game which brings all their valuable intellectual properties together in a combat arena. You’re not losing your mind – there’s definitely a trend happening here. If you’ve got a stable of IP to exploit, or a cast you want to rearrange in as many ways as you have episodes, it really seems like the multiverse concept is the safest bet. No complicated explanations needed for why these two vastly different properties are mashing up, or why your story’s entire status quo has changed. You’re just shifting between realities in an infinite multiverse where everything is possible.

Well, don’t get ahead of yourself. We’re here to warn you that “multiverse fatigue” is already beginning to set in. It hasn’t fully taken hold just yet. You might be able to cash in if you work fast. But: media savvy consumers are starting to see the seams holding the concept together. Because the concept of a multiverse proposes that absolutely everything that could ever happen, does in fact happen somewhere, the stakes of a story are slowly eroding. Didn’t save the day in this universe? That’s okay. Everything’s just fine one Earth over. Stories like Rick and Morty, and even Everything Everywhere All at Once, are able to endure this by making their story about the inherent nihilism. That true value comes from your own experiences within the moment, as opposed to some need to preserve a meaninglessly endless cascade of realities.

But existentialism aside, there’s a similar, but thornier problem when it comes to opening up a hole in continuity to let the Iron Giant meet Superman: it cheapens the meeting. It’s fun to see these characters interact, and it’s true that keeping them within separate universes of origins is a simple way to maintain story integrity in both worlds. Why doesn’t Wonder Woman show up in Game of Thrones’ Westeros, if she knows Arya Stark from Multiversus? That’s the kind of question that barriers between fictional worlds can resolve. But it’s also one which takes a little bit of excitement away from the meeting of these characters. It’s easy to pop Jake the Dog and Steven Universe into the same neutral territory, but it robs an audience of opportunities to consider the worlds and dynamics involved.?

An enduring crossover should be more than just two characters who would normally never meet getting to see each other. It should be one which is respectful of both their backgrounds and stories, meshed together in a singular event which enriches all the properties involved for their coexistence. It’s a difficult task, but not an impossible one. Comics, cartoons, video games – even Green Acres and Petticoat Junction used to do it all the time. You never knew who was going to pop out the window as Adam West and Burt Ward scaled a building as Batman and Robin. And the presentation of an unexpected character in a strange and foreign land is one which excites and engages the imagination.

So, if you’ve got two great flavors to find a way together, we offer you this challenge: skip the simple, “green portal” solution. Find a way to make it work on each story’s terms. Remember that episode of The Simpsons where The Critic showed up? We sure do. And if you go the harder road, your audience will remember your crossover for decades.

This opinion piece was brought to you by the BPM Writer’s Room