‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness‘ delves into the working of the multiverse, as the title suggests. The idea of the multiverse was first introduced in ‘Loki‘, the Disney+ series, where the God of Mischief came across variants from different universes. 

What is the multiverse?

The multiverse is a collection of universes, and as per Marvel comics, the universe where the majority of the events take place is Earth-616. Different universes have different numbers attached to them for identification. 

The new ‘Doctor Strange’ movie doesn’t just take place on Earth-616, but also on Earth-838.  The sorcerer is able to move between the two with the help of America Chavez, a superhero, who can open portals between universes but her powers need control. 

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However, there is a danger to universe-hopping. There’s an incursion when two universes collide, which results in their destruction, and the contraction of the multiverse. As per the Marvel comics, the time taken for an incursion reduces with an increase in frequency. 

While the Strange of Earth-838 was executed for his incursion, the film’s end shows that the sorcerer on Earth-616 has also caused an incursion by possessing a dead body. 

What is dreamwalking and how does it work?

When a person can inhabit an alternate version of themselves from a different universe, it is called dreamwalking. Both Wanda Maximoff and Strange pull this off in the movie. 

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For Maximoff, dreamwalking is about her sons, Billy and Tommy, who exist in other universes. In Earth-616, they’re destroyed when Maximoff’s made-up town of Westview, in the ‘WandaVision’ series. 

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Strange, meanwhile, dreamwalks the netherworlds reality to fight Maximoff and save Chavez. However, the only version of Strange existing on Earth-616 is the corpse from another universe. The sorcerer decides to possess the body, but it comes at a price since he’s almost immediately attacked by spirits.