After a somewhat disconnected Phase 4 with standalone films lacking cohesion, Marvel Studios has recently started focusing more on the multiverse concept, delving deeper into stories related to realities beyond the Sacred Timeline. This is clearly reflected in projects such as Spider-Man: No Way Home, Loki, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, What If…?, and most recently, Deadpool & Wolverine.
With each of these projects, Marvel Studios introduces many new definitions related to the multiverse. Over time, these definitions are becoming increasingly complex and can easily confuse any audience member if they do not closely follow the MCU films.
Absolute Point
One of the most impressive episodes of What If…? Season 1 revolves around the tragic story of Stephen Strange, where a car accident takes away his “muse,” Christine Palmer, instead of his hands as seen in the Sacred Timeline. Unable to face this immense loss, Strange decides to study sorcery with the ambition of rewriting history and saving the one he loves, regardless of the damage he may cause to his reality.
However, Palmer’s death, as explained by The Ancient One, is an Absolute Point – an event that must occur and cannot be changed; otherwise, the entire timeline will collapse immediately. More broadly, an Absolute Point can be a superhero’s origin story or a significant event like the Battle of New York, which gave rise to the Avengers.
Nexus Being & Nexus Event
In fact, the concept of Nexus Being has never been mentioned in the original Marvel Comics within the MCU, yet its significance has been embedded in the WandaVision series. Specifically, in a commercial for a medication called “Nexus,” it was mentioned that “this is a drug that helps keep users grounded in their current reality or the reality they choose.”
In the comics, Nexus Beings are unique individuals in each timeline with powerful abilities that can alter future outcomes. Some notable Nexus Beings in the original comics include Wanda Maximoff, Franklin Richards (the son of Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman), and Kang the Conqueror.
Meanwhile, the Nexus Event has been clearly and precisely defined in the first episode of the Loki series. These are moments or decisions that are “against nature” and lead to timeline branching. One of the biggest Nexus Events that the MCU has explored is when Sylvie, a variant of Loki, kills He Who Remains, a variant of Kang who manipulated the entire Sacred Timeline. This event caused severe timeline branching, or more accurately, liberated the entire Marvel multiverse.
Incursion
Incursion was first explored in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and somewhat referenced in Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. Essentially, it refers to the collision between different realities caused by the prolonged multiversal travels of an individual. Incursion can lead to the collapse of one or more different timelines and is currently viewed as the greatest threat to the stability of the multiverse.
Of course, multiversal travel is not the only reason that can cause an incursion. To lead up to the Secret Wars event, Marvel Studios needs to trigger a series of incursions to “kill off” almost all realities in the MCU, allowing Doctor Doom to appear and create Battleworld, similar to the original comic storyline. This can be seen as a planet composed of fragments from different realities to prevent their destruction. The incursion phenomenon will undoubtedly play a more significant and deeper role in upcoming projects of the Multiverse Saga.
Sacred Timeline
The Sacred Timeline is the creation of He Who Remains, who emerged victorious in the multiversal war between the variants of Kang. Essentially, the Sacred Timeline is the main timeline of the MCU, also known as Earth-616, and is “written” by He Who Remains. He decides all the events that have happened, are happening, and will happen here, and any action that deviates from his arrangement will cause timeline branching.
This is why He Who Remains founded the Time Variance Authority (TVA) to eliminate all those timeline branches. In this way, he prevented the formation of all other Kang variants that could threaten his power and status. However, after two seasons of Loki, the Sacred Timeline is no longer the only reality in the Marvel multiverse. Loki has used Asgardian magic and himself to maintain the existence and balance of all timelines, rather than erasing the universe branches outside the Sacred Timeline.
Anchor Being
According to Mr. Paradox in Deadpool & Wolverine, an Anchor Being is an individual with a uniquely critical role in the universe they inhabit. If they die, that universe will gradually fade away until it is completely erased. Logan is the Anchor Being of the Earth-10005 universe, which is the former superhero universe of Fox. The death of this character, according to Marvel Studios’ interpretation, is the cause of the collapse of the Fox X-Men universe.
It can be seen that Anchor Beings have many similarities with Nexus Beings, and it is not unlikely that Marvel Studios will merge these two concepts for future projects. Currently, Anchor Being remains a relatively new and somewhat vague concept. Deadpool & Wolverine suggests that if an Anchor Being can be replaced by another variant of themselves, like in Logan’s case, they can “outsmart fate” and ensure their existence in their reality.
Source: ScreenRant