You could say that the multiverse is the name of the game in the movie world right now. With the all-encompassing MCU naming its current ongoing arc the Multiverse Saga, Sony offering up its acclaimed animated Spider-Verse, and even Everything Everywhere All At Once making the concept Academy Award-worthy, wherever you turn, a new multiverse is popping up. The silver screen has always been a window into another universe, but now that’s doubly the case.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the one that’s currently proving the popularity of the multiverse genre, thanks to its rave reception from both audiences and critics alike that makes it clear it’s a worthy successor to 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse. Ahead of a third chapter coming to conclude the journey of Miles Morales in March 2024, titled Beyond the Spider-Verse, it’s up to fans to look elsewhere for some multiversal entertainment to fill the void.
If that’s where you’re at, here’s a handy guide to the 10 best multiverse-themed movies, ranging from rom-coms to action flicks, from Hollywood blockbusters to international indies, as ranked by how much they’ll appeal to Spider-Verse viewers.
10. Sliding Doors
Let’s start off on the lighter side of the multiversal spectrum. In 1998’s Sliding Doors, future denizen of the Marvel multiverse Gwyneth Paltrow stars as we follow her character down two separate timelines — one where she manages to jump through the sliding doors of her train back home and one where she doesn’t, a tiny difference that totally changes the course of her life. Sliding Doors is a sweet-natured film featuring a wonderful performance from Paltrow in one of her earlier star-making roles.
9. Run Lola Run
What was with 1998 and movies about multiple timelines? High-concept German language thriller Run Lola Run is like Sliding Doors on steroids in that it follows the ways a young woman’s life can go very differently thanks to small changes. In this film, however, we witness three alternate timelines as the eponymous Lola tries to raise 10,000 Deutschmarks in 20 minutes flat in order to save her boyfriend’s life. The zippy 80-minute experimental thriller is just as inventive today as it was 25 years ago.
8. Happy Death Day 2U
Happy Death Day 2U, the 2019 sequel to Blumhouse’s 2017 time-loop horror-comedy, added another genre into the mix: sci-fi. In this one, Jessica Rothe’s slasher victim sorority girl is not only stuck reliving the same day but is also thrown into a different universe, meaning the killer is a totally different person from the last time. 2U plays down the scares and ups the comic edge of the first considerably, but it manages to mine a lot of emotion from its multiversal concept as well.
7. Donnie Darko
Ah, Donnie Darko, aka the movie you were obsessed with at the age of 16 and subsequently haven’t thought about for years. This 2001 dark psychological thriller is essentially the angsty teen’s answer to a David Lynch film and, despite its wildly different tone, could be said to deliver a similar coming-of-age story with a multiversal twist to the Spider-Verse offerings. Yes, Donnie is mostly a time travel movie, but the director’s cut clarifies that it (almost) definitely takes place across two alternate timelines.
6. Source Code
From one Jake Gyllenhaal film to another. It’s difficult to explain how and why 2011’s Source Code counts as a multiverse movie without veering into spoilers, but suffice it to say that it’s a high-octane, high-concept thriller about a man stuck in a time loop who must stop a bomb from going off on his train. Director Duncan “Son of David Bowie” Jones keeps throwing twist after twist at the wall across its brisk 93-minute runtime, ensuring the film has you on the edge of your seat throughout.
5. Palm Springs
As we’re seeing, time-loop films are inherently multiversal by nature, but what makes 2020’s Palm Springs count as a multiverse movie over, say, the more supernatural Groundhog Day is that it directly grapples with concepts from quantum physics, thereby turning this delightfully irreverent rom-com starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti into an unexpectedly thought-provoking and open-ended film of near-Donnie Darko proportions.
4. The One
From Final Destination director James Wong, The One may just be the first Hollywood movie to properly deal with the multiverse. Jet Li stars as a former agent of the MultiVerse Authority (yes, that is oddly reminiscent of the MCU’s Time Variance Authority) who has gone rogue and is now relentlessly wiping out all his other selves from across the different universes. The result is lots of awesome, brutal action livened up with an engaging sci-fi premise. A severely underrated entry in the genre these days.
3. Everything Everywhere All At Once
Alongside the Spider-Verse duo, Everything Everywhere All At Once has to be the definitive multiverse movie of our times. So, if you’re a fan of these types of films, you’ve probably seen it before — but, just in case you haven’t, you need to fix that right away. Somewhat similar to the Spider-Verse movies, EEAAO manages to marry Marvel-like big ideas with a bold cinematic artistry that landed it its multiple Oscar wins and nominations, not least of all the well-deserved Best Actress win for Michelle Yeoh.
2. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
We’re getting to the more obvious recommendations now, but naturally, if you enjoyed Across the Spider-Verse, the MCU’s own first proper multiverse movie is worth a (re)watch. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness might not have delivered enough of the second half of its title as fans would’ve liked, but it’s still a strong first partnership between Marvel Studios and Spider-Man trilogy director Sam Raimi who brings his customary mix of action, horror, and moments of humor to the table.
1. Spider-Man: No Way Home
If you’ve marathoned Into and Across the Spider-Verse and need a third film to scratch the itch before Beyond the Spider-Verse gets here next year, the best movie to stick on next is, of course, Spider-Man: No Way Home. Featuring the mind-blowing union of all three live-action Spideys to date — in Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire — the third adventure from the webhead to take place in the MCU is arguably the most definitive and celebratory film to star the amazing wallcrawler (at least the Peter Parker version) of them all. Spider-Man 4 can’t come soon enough.