Marvel reinstated the rules for incursions 1 year after they were written

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Wonders.Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness introduces the idea of ​​destructive intrusions into the MCU, but Wonders officially rewrote how they work a year later. These powerful catastrophes, which risk destroying entire realities, first occur when people spend too much time outside of their home timeline or universe. Given that Phases 4-6 of the MCU are narratively focused on the multiverse, this is clearly a big deal.

Wonders also demonstrates how unstable the multiverse is, as Monica Rambeau’s final heroic act leaves her stranded in an alternate universe. Additionally, space adventure changes what an incursion is and, more importantly, what causes it. The three titular heroes must stop an incursion at the end of Wonders and, in doing so, show that the multiverse is even more dangerous than previously thought.

RELATED: Marvel’s Guide to Marvel Actors and Characters

How wonders reaffirm the rules of incursions

In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of madness, Earth-616 Doctor Strange is brought before the Illuminati of Earth-838, who explain that their Doctor Strange has caused incursions with devastating effects. According to them, these disasters were caused by spending too much time in alternate universes.. Multiverse of Madness reinforces this idea during the end credits scene, when a witch named Clea approaches Doctor Strange, telling him that his actions in alternate universes have caused an incursion into his home.

However, Wonders established a new way of appearing for incursions. When the evil Dar-Benn finally reaches Kama’s bracelet Wonders, a hole in time and space tears apart, revealing another reality. This is exactly how the incursions are described in Multiverse of Madness, but the cause is quite different. It seems that either the MCU retconned the incursions, or the Illuminati of Earth-838 simply didn’t have the full picture.

Why the MCU Had to Replace the Incursions Rules

The MCU was smart to reestablish the rules of incursion in Wonders because the previous incursion rule does not hold up well in the current state of the MCU. Too many characters spend time in alternate realities and timelines without issue for this to pose a real threat. Captain America, for example, uses time travel to spend his entire life with Peggy Carter and suffers no backlash. America Chavez’s power spans the multiverse, and because she is actively hunted, she is constantly traveling to new universes. However, it leaves no traces of incursions in its wake.

Because the state of the MCU afterAvengers: Endgame relies on the characters spending extended periods of time in alternate universes, if the original rule remained canon, incursions would have to occur constantly. With Wonders By changing the way incursions are formed to be more about explosions of power and less about moving between realities, the MCU established a less rigid set of incursion circumstances and retconned some awkward plot holes.