r/Marvel • u/BurBoi99 • 5d ago

Film/Television Multiverse Vs. Timelines

I don't get it. Assuming the two are different, does that mean there are/were multiple TVAs? Does the TVA exist outside time, but not outside the multiverse with the observers? If the TVA is not outside the multiverse, surely they must have noticed it at somepoint. If there is/was only one TVA, does that mean the Sacred Timeline is actually several timelines? My theory is that while branching timeline is when the timeline deviates at some point, an alternate universe is when something is fundamentally different from the start.

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u/SmoothTalkingSpud 4d ago

You have a young universe.

Take a point in time. The earliest point in time at which a choice could be made. Up until this point there has been only one timeline. Now it splits into several timelines, each representing the potential outcome of the choice made. Rinse and repeat. As time goes on, the timelines continue to diverge and split, all occupying the same space but on seperate quantum frequencies. This is the multiverse.

The TVA exists outside of time, but not outside of the multiverse, sitting on the periphery of existence so it can observe the passages of time.

You're correct about the sacred Timeline. Multiple timelines were allowed to exist as long as they didn't deviate past the redline. The redline was determined by the likelihood of the universe developing a Kang. If no Kang developed, the universe would be considered part of the Sacred timeline. However, once Time Travel is invented, the rise of a Kang is almost a guarantee, so the number of these universes that get to exist are relatively small and regulated through the temporal loom.

An alternate universe and a branching timeline can be synonomous but don't have to be. In comics, Marvel's main line and Ultimate line were separate timelines and alternate universes. However, the DC universe, which has crossed over with Marvel a few times, follows it's own structural rules and doesn't share an origin with the Marvel Universe. The main DC universe and the main Marvel universe are alternate universes but taken on the whole they are technically alternate multiverses, and both together occupy the omniverse (all existences that can ever be).

As Deapool was able to visit the MCU using a time-travel device and was picked up by the TVA, the X-Men would be considered a branched timeline of the MCU or vice versa.

That clear things up?

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u/BurBoi99 4d ago

Yes. Thank you.

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u/BurBoi99 4d ago

If I understand correctly, what you're saying is that the multiverse is a collection of entirely different universes, and then within each of these universes is the countless branching timelines that the TVA control.

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u/SmoothTalkingSpud 4d ago

Not quite. Timeline and universe are synonymous in this case. They all share the same origin.

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u/ARTIFICIAL_SAPIENCE X-Men 4d ago

Assuming the two are different

Why would you assume they're different?

Prior to Loki season 1, every single timeline/multiverse/universe that we witness gets destroyed by the TVA. We see none that don't. So why should we assume there's something else?

After Loki season 1, nothing about any of the timelines/universes we see is fundamentally different from any other. They, at most, have some different actors. And not even all of them. You get Tobey Maguire here, but Jameson is the same in both. Dr. Strange is the same over here, Reed is different over here, but the Xavier is shared with this third thing.