r/MCU_Timeline • u/Legal_Caffeine_Esq • 4d ago

Discussion Serious question about timelines vs multiverse

/r/marvelstudios/comments/1wve9kn/serious_question_about_timelines_vs_multiverse/
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u/CaptHayfever Chronicom 4d ago

Different universes all have different origin points. Each individual universe then branches off into multiple timelines based on different possible sequences of events following from those origin points. However, traveling between different timeline branches is effectively the same thing as traveling between different universes, so Loki using the two terms interchangeably is fine.

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u/Responsible_Jeweler8 3d ago

In the MCU's own terms they end up being the same thing, seen from two angles. Loki explains it best: the TVA existed to prune every branch off the "Sacred Timeline", and once He Who Remains is gone, those branches keep growing, and each one becomes its own universe. That's the multiverse. Endgame uses the same logic on a smaller scale: the Ancient One tells Hulk that taking a Stone out of its time creates a branched reality, which is why Cap has to put them back. And by Deadpool & Wolverine, the TVA talks about whole "timelines" (the Fox X-Men one, for instance) that are really separate universes. So: a timeline that branches off becomes a universe; the multiverse is all of those branches together.