


Yet no character is more conversant in the metaphysical and narrative implications of the multiverse than Spider-Man, who has been hopping through portals for years, both in the live-action film No Way Home and in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, an animated delight that pushed every limit of the medium to smoosh seven very different spider-stars into one adventure. Films about extra-dimensional travel and parallel versions of ourselves aren’t restricted to the realm of comic-book nerdery the reigning Best Picture winner at the hoary Oscars is all about “verse-jumping,” after all. Multiverses are, at this point, familiar ground for Hollywood.
