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List of fictional works featuring parallel universes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Parallel universes (or the multiverse) are a common plot device in fiction.[1][2] This is a list of notable fictional works which feature parallel universes as a plot element.

Short stories

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Year Title Author(s) Description
1934 Sidewise in Time Murray Leinster The story follows an apocalyptic event where aspects of one timeline manifest in others.[2]


Novels

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Year Title Author(s) Description
1977- Xanth series Piers Anthony Xanth is a world governed by magic that coexists with Mundania, a world very much like our own.
1980-1990 Apprentice Adept series Piers Anthony Phaze and Proton are two parallel worlds in different dimensions, one magical the other highly technological. If a person in one world lacks a counterpart in the other they can cross to the other world.
1999 Timeline Michael Crichton 21st century history students use "quantum technology" to travel to 14th century France in a parallel universe where time has progressed less quickly than ours.
2020 The Space Between Worlds Micaiah Johnson Features a young woman, Cara who is able to travel between different versions of Earth, but only versions where her counterpart has already died.[3] In Cara's case she is unusual in that in most of the known worlds she is already dead, and this gives her value.
2020 Overstrike C. M. Angus Overstrike by C. M. Angus features high-functioning schizophrenics with the ability to simultaneously perceive multiple realities.

Films

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Year Title Director(s) Description
2001 The One James Wong The film follows rogue interdimensional cop Gabriel Yulaw, who attempts to kill all 124 of his alternate universe counterparts and absorb their power to become a god-like being known as the "One".[4]
2018 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman Several parallel universe versions of Spider-Man from within the film's multiverse are depicted.[5]
2022 Everything Everywhere All at Once Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert The film follows Evelyn Quan Wang, a Chinese-American laundromat owner who travels between universes and draws knowledge from her alternate universe counterparts.[6]
2024 I Saw the TV Glow Jane Schoenbrun Main characters Owen and Maddy slowly realize that they are living false lives trapped in a pocket dimension within the world of their favorite TV show, The Pink Opaque, having been imprisoned there by series antagonist Mr. Melancholy.[7]
2024 Deadpool & Wolverine Shawn Levy The film involves Wade Wilson / Deadpool from the Deadpool film series being transported to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[8] An alternate universe variant of Logan / Wolverine also appears, separate from the versions of the character who appeared in the X-Men film series and Logan.[9][10]

Television series

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Airdates Title Description
1995 Spellbinder The series follows the adventures of Sydney high-schooler Paul Reynolds as he is accidentally stranded in a parallel world where the industrial revolution never happened. Only a small number of people there have technology – the "Spellbinders" – and they pretend it is magic and use it to rule over everyone else, manipulating people's fear and ignorance. Paul, with the help of a local girl called Riana, uses his wits and his own knowledge of science to survive, whilst his high-school friends try to rescue him.[11][1][12]
1997 Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord The series follows Kathy who decides to explore an unusual boat that she discovers next to a lake, she is accidentally pulled from her home in Australia into a parallel universe. The new world she finds herself in is populated by ethnic Chinese, who possess advanced technology, including a talking computer called the "Oracle" that runs the empire. Kathy spends most of her time trying to evade dangerous people in different parallel worlds, return to her own world, and reunite with her family. She is further antagonised by Ashka, a cunning and manipulative woman who has escaped from prison in her own world (for her crimes in the first series) and who seeks to gain advantage for herself. The series also depicts a journey Sun takes to Kathy's world, where he is no longer protected by his empire, and people do not respect his authority.
1997–1998 Magic Mountain The series follows the adventures of four national but iconic creatures of China; Dragon, Lion, Panda, and Tortoise – four friends having lots of fun with a little Dragon magic thrown in.[13] These four creatures "enjoy wonderful times as they invent unusual games, play tricks on each other, and have exciting adventures as they explore their enchanting world."[14]
1995-2000 Sliders Quinn Mallory (Jerry O'Connell) invents a device that allows one to travel to alternate versions of Earth via wormhole device. He's (initially) accompanied by his close friend Wade Welles, his mentor Professor Maximillian Arturo (John Rhys-Davies) and accidentally by professional singer Rembrandt "Crying Man" Brown. A key plot device is that Mallory's controller has lost the coordinates of Mallory's home world and that it times down to the next wormhole opening, providing a limited opportunity for the "sliders" to escape their current situation and slide to the next world.
2004 Parallax The series is about a boy named Ben Johnson, who discovers a portal to multiple parallel universes, and explores them with his friends: Francis Short, Melinda Bruce, Una, Due, Tiffany and Mundi as well as newfound sister, Katherine Raddic.
2004 Awake The series is about a detective who works for the Los Angeles Police Department who switches between two realities, one in which his wife has died and one in which his son has died. He uses details from each reality to solve cases in the other.[15]
2013–2018 Nowhere Boys The series is about four boys, goth Felix Ferne, nerd Andrew "Andy" Lau, golden child Sam Conte, and alpha jock Jake Riles, after returning home from a school excursion, find themselves in an alternate reality where no one recognises them. They battle mystical threats and demons to find their way back home.
2014–2017 Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero The series follows Penn Zero and his friends Sashi Kobayashi and Boone Wiseman as they travel between universes and assume the forms of each world's heroes.[16]
2017 Re:Creators The series features fictional characters from popular in-universe media traveling from their respective narrative universes to contemporary Japan.[17]
2021 Wonder Egg Priority
2024–present Dark Matter The series follows Jason Dessen, a physicist who is captured and replaced by his alternate self and travels through numerous alternate universes while attempting to return home.[18]
2025 Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX The sixteenth main entry in the Gundam franchise is set in an alternate universe version of the Universal Century (the series' original timeline), which is later revealed to be one of many split timelines created by Lalah Sune in pursuit of a universe where Char Aznable was not killed.[19][20]

Video games

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Year Title Developer(s) Description
2002–present Kingdom Hearts series Square Enix/The Walt Disney Company A core element of the series is Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy traveling to the worlds of various Disney properties within the Realm of Light. While doing so, the three use Donald's magic to transform themselves and blend in with the inhabitants of each world.[21]
2005 Sonic Rush Dimps A playable character, Blaze the Cat, and one of the game's antagonists, Eggman Nega, originate from an alternate world known as the Sol Dimension.[22]
2012 - present Call of Duty: Black Ops series Treyarch/Activision The Zombies mode features maps and characters from alternate universes. The concept of parallel universes acts as central plot point in the 'Aether Story' of the games.
2020 Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage! Colorful Palette/Sega Characters within the game visit alternate dimensions made from their emotions, called Sekai, where alternate versions of Hatsune Miku and other virtual singers reside.
2021 Blue Archive Nexon Alternate universe versions of Sensei (the game's player character) and Shiroko appear as antagonists in "Volume Final".

References

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  1. ^ a b Burt, Stephanie (October 31, 2022). "Is the Multiverse Where Originality Goes to Die?". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on October 31, 2022 – via www.newyorker.com.
  2. ^ a b Wolfe, Gary (July 4, 2007). "Surfing the multiverse". Nature. 448 (7149): 25–26. doi:10.1038/448025a. ISSN 1476-4687.
  3. ^ Falk, Aidan (Aug 31, 2020). "The Intergalactic Intersections of "The Space Between Worlds"". Chicago Review of Books. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
  4. ^ Stuart, Jan (November 2, 2001). "Jet Li is hero and villain in action film 'The One'". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Archived from the original on July 29, 2019. Retrieved May 27, 2025. In "The One," Li plays Gabriel Yulaw, a nasty excuse for a space investigator who bounces between parallel universes (a.k.a. "the multiverse") seeking out his 120-odd alter egos in order to destroy them. With the death of each alternative Yulaw, Gabriel becomes stronger, smarter and faster.
  5. ^ Debruge, Peter (November 28, 2018). "Film Review: "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse"". Variety. Archived from the original on November 28, 2018. Retrieved November 28, 2018. Just when you thought you couldn't take another Spider-Man reboot, along comes the movie to put them all in perspective. Or maybe you can't get enough of Marvel's friendly neighborhood crime-fighter and are already beside yourself in anticipation of a project loaded with half a dozen parallel-universe Spideys. Either way, the brilliance of Sony's snappy new animated "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" shows itself in the project's uncanny ability to simultaneously reset and expand all that has come before, creating an inclusive world where pretty much anybody can be the superhero … even you!
  6. ^ Lee, Chris (April 13, 2022). "Daniels Unpack the Everything Bagel of Influences Behind Everything Everywhere All at Once". Vulture. Archived from the original on April 16, 2022. Retrieved April 17, 2022. Michelle Yeoh plays Evelyn, a scatterbrained laundromat owner with mounting debt and a crumbling marriage, who finds herself unwittingly thrust into the multiverse: literally tripping and kung-fu kicking her way across multiple dimensions, tapping into the power of alternate selves via "verse jumping" and, incidentally, trying to prevent the destruction of reality as we know it.
  7. ^ Adams, Sam (May 7, 2024). "I Saw the TV Glow Is a Movie About How Fandom Could Save Your Life—or Ruin It". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Archived from the original on May 7, 2024. Retrieved May 27, 2025. She disappears for years, and when she returns, she tells Owen she's been inside The Pink Opaque, and that the world he lives in is actually the Midnight Realm, the domain of the show's Big Bad, Mr. Melancholy.
  8. ^ Outlaw, Kofi (June 22, 2022). "Deadpool 3 Writer Teases First Story Details About Deadpool's MCU Arrival". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on June 22, 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2025. During a recent interview, Reese basically teases Deadpool 3 being a "fish-out-of-water" story about the character trying to acclimate to his new Marvel reality, while being an outrageously zany character compared to the more grounded reality of the MCU. He even teased the possibility of working a Morbius joke into Deadpool 3! (If Deadpool doesn't say "It's Morbin' time!" we won't be satisfied…).
  9. ^ Sharf, Zack (September 28, 2022). "Wolverine in 'Deadpool 3' Is 'Totally Separate' from 'Logan,' Ryan Reynolds Confirms: 'Logan Died' and We're 'Not Touching That'". Variety. Archived from the original on September 28, 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2025. As Reynolds continues to presumably share details about Wolverine's return, Wham!'s "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" blasts over the video and blocks out everything he's saying. It's a goof, but at least Marvel fans know that "Deadpool 3" will not be screwing with Wolverine's powerful death scene in "Logan." Considering the MCU is now fully exploring the multiverse, expect Jackman to play a different iteration of Wolverine as the version who died in "Logan" remains dead.
  10. ^ Sharf, Zack (December 20, 2022). "Hugh Jackman Says Wolverine in 'Deadpool 3' Won't Screw With 'Logan' Timeline: 'That Was Important to Me'". Variety. Archived from the original on December 20, 2022. Retrieved May 27, 2025. Based on Jackman's new comments, it appears all but confirmed that he'll be playing a version of Wolverine that fans have not met before. Whether that means it's an entirely different Wolverine from across the multiverse or the same Wolverine but just back in time before his 2029 death remains to be seen.
  11. ^ "Spellbinder". Chip Taylor Communications LLC. Archived from the original on 2019-02-28. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  12. ^ Zuk, T. "Spellbinder". Australian Television Information Archive. Archived from the original on 2005-03-09. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  13. ^ "Magic Mountain – ABC Kids TV guide". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 2005-11-05.
  14. ^ "Magic Mountain". CEGTV. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  15. ^ Powers, Mary (February 17, 2012). "Awake: Conversation with Executive Producers Howard Gordon and Kyle Killen". The Voice of TV. Archived from the original on March 11, 2012. Retrieved February 20, 2012.
  16. ^ Truitt, Brian (November 21, 2014). "First look: 'Penn Zero' premieres with holiday special". USA Today. Archived from the original on November 22, 2014. Retrieved May 27, 2025. Suburban kid Penn Zero (voiced by Thomas Middleditch) goes to school during the day but because his heroic mom Vonnie (Lea Thompson) and dad Brock (Gary Cole) are stuck in another dimension called the "Most Dangerous World Imaginable," he inherits the gig of saving this world and others with his pals Sashi (Tania Gunadi) and Boone (Adam DeVine) as they dimension-hop to places that need them and battle the evil part-time bad guy Rippen (Alfred Molina) and his minion Larry (Larry Wilmore).
  17. ^ "The Spring 2017 Anime Preview Guide - Re:Creators". Anime News Network. April 7, 2017. Archived from the original on April 8, 2017. Retrieved April 28, 2025. The basic premise here is intriguing in and of itself, and it reminds me of the sci-fi novel Redshirts. Re:CREATORS has set itself up to do for anime characters what that book did for expendable Star Trek crewmen: let them know they're living in someone else's fictional universe, and then give them a chance to tell their "gods" exactly what they think about the situation.
  18. ^ Lowry, Brian (May 8, 2024). "'Dark Matter' becomes the latest show with a bad case of multiverse madness". CNN. Archived from the original on May 11, 2024. Retrieved April 28, 2025. Suddenly, Jason is not only abducted but replaced by a version of himself, having conjured a box that allows him to navigate between multiverses and an infinite assortment of possibilities, altered – sometimes dramatically, others almost imperceptibly – by individual choices and pivotal moments.
  19. ^ Duran, Misael (2025-06-27). "Gundam GQuuuuuuX Breaks the Original Series' Timeline in a Massive Way". ComicBook.com. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
  20. ^ "Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX ‒ SEASON FINALE". Anime News Network. 2025-07-03. Retrieved 2025-07-03.
  21. ^ Plante, Corey (November 9, 2018). "'Kingdom Hearts 3' Release Date, Worlds, Plot, and Everything to Know". Inverse. Archived from the original on October 6, 2018. Retrieved May 27, 2025. When Sora goes to a specific world, his attire or form sometimes change. Here he is as a toy in the world of 'Toy Story'.
  22. ^ Gerstmann, Jeff (November 14, 2005). "Sonic Rush for DS Review - DS Sonic Rush Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on March 2, 2009. Retrieved February 20, 2009. The wrinkle here is that there's some interdimensional madness at play, too. There's what appears to be an alternate-dimension version of Eggman hanging around, known as Eggman Nega.