10 of the best multiverse movies according to a physicist, from the Matrix to Spider-Man

I am a physics professor at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and the author of 18 popular science books. While my training was in theoretical physics, specifically finding and interpreting unusual solutions to Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, I have had a lifelong appreciation for science fiction and fascination with the manifestations of physics in culture. In my latest book, The Allure of the Multiverse, I apply my experience and interests to a study of the scientific debates and popular beliefs surrounding the notion of parallel universes and alternative strands of reality. Here are my 10 favourite films on that topic, listed chronologically, each chosen for being thought-provoking and fun.

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Beyond the treacly aspects of this Christmas classic lies much worthy to chew on, including the question of what the world would be like if we didn’t exist. In theoretical physics, the hypothesised anthropic principle cordons off from all reality the realm of possibilities that eventually lead to conscious observers. Alas, unlike the film’s protagonist George Bailey, we have no guardian angel who might reveal to us what the universe would be like without humanity. But maybe, in George’s spirit, we might appreciate the fact of our existence as sentient beings on a fragile planet and take that responsibility seriously.

Back to the Future (1985)

Children dream about changing their parents. Through the wonders of a time-travelling DeLorean, Marty McFly inadvertently manages to make that happen. In physics, the feasibility of backward time travel is debatable. Might the paradoxes engendered by past-directed voyages, such as actions precluding the time traveller’s birth, make those impossible? Marty’s voyage to 1955 almost prevents his parents from falling in love, until he finds a way of convincing them to do so. He returns to his present-day 1985, to realise that he is in a parallel reality in which his parents are far cooler. Such a multiverse avoids paradoxes and offers hope to teenagers.

Groundhog Day (1993)

In quantum physics, actuality is a blend of different particle histories – as if denizens of the subatomic world need to try all possibilities to get things right. Eastern philosophy likewise stresses that reincarnation leads ultimately to perfection. Similarly, in this hilarious film, weather forecaster Phil Connors seems destined to repeat the same awful day over and over again, until he is able to cast aside his self-centred attitude and become more sensitive to others. In the process, he not only finds love, but also experiences ample time to master French, ice sculpture and the piano. Courtesy of a kind of multiverse of recurrence, he contains multitudes.

12 Monkeys (1995)

Inspired in part by the excellent La Jetée, 12 Monkeys offers a plotline like a twisted knot of wires. But does it constitute a single, consistent strand or contain loose ends? James Cole, its protagonist, travels back in time from an imagined 21st century to the 1990s to try to collect clues as to the origin of a devastatingly lethal pandemic. Although his superiors emphasise that the past cannot be changed, he seems at times to be affecting reality – only to be confronted with its apparent resilience. While the hope of him preventing the catastrophe ultimately vanishes, even in the final scene there are hints of alternatives.

Sliding Doors (1998)

Who hasn’t missed catching a train by mere seconds, and cursed the ensuing lost time? Yet if that delay resulted in avoiding an accident, it would rather seem a blessing. Brilliantly, through the magic of cinema, we see both strands of a multiverse in which the protagonist Helen alternatively misses and catches a tube train. In the former case she fails to witness her boyfriend having an affair, and persists in a state of ignorance. In the latter she does witness the affair, and soon meets Mr Right. Both strands, though, have common elements – marking the way to an astonishing juxtaposition of fates at the end.

Run Lola Run (1998)

If two versions of reality aren’t enough, try three. In this inventive German film, fate awards Lola three opportunities to save her boyfriend, who lost a whopping sum of cash and needs it to fulfill a task for a crime boss. Each time, she has 20 minutes to acquire the loot somehow and run with it across the city to her frantic lover. Echoing the butterfly effect in chaos theory, minute discrepancies lead to vastly different outcomes. While the first two attempts prove fatal, the third time’s the charm. Our passion for a multiverse, the film demonstrates, reflects our desire for multiple chances in life.

The Matrix (1999)

Cinema enables us to envision whole new worlds. Artificial intelligence bolsters that illusion. Imagine if an incredibly powerful, malicious electronic entity exploited our capacity to be fooled, and manufactured a false world for us to experience our lives. Meanwhile, it drained our bodies of energy for its own evil purposes. The film’s groundbreaking science fiction plot and special effects remain relevant to today’s discussions of AI’s capabilities and threats. Some thinkers speculate that the observable universe is a simulation. If so, its script writers, ensconced somewhere else in the multiverse, ought to win an Academy Award for most inventive screenplay.

Donnie Darko (2001)

One of the most profound enigmas in theoretical physics is the concept of wormholes: hypothetical connections between otherwise disjointed sectors of the cosmos. Theorists have derived wormhole solutions of Einstein’s general theory of relativity, and demonstrated how they potentially could be used as time machines. In practice, nobody has a clue how to assemble the extraordinary amount of mass – including a special negative-mass ingredient called “exotic matter” – required to create such objects. Nonetheless, they serve as an effective plot device in this haunting movie about a troubled teenager who strives by means of time travel to save the world from imminent apocalypse.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Mention “multiverse” today, and many think of Marvel Comics and its incorporation of the concept into its blockbusters. One such recent hit resolves the question of whether or not there can be more than one Spider-Man. With jaw-dropping animation, the film follows the life of a boy named Miles Morales who, like Peter Parker in the classic comic series, finds himself bitten by a radioactive spider and granted extraordinary powers. In teaming up with an ageing Parker from another universe to stop the villain Kingpin’s fiendish plan, he feels inadequate at first. Wonderfully, the film shows how he finds confidence and saves the world.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Only one multiverse flick has bagged numerous Academy Awards, including best picture. Its plot is surreal and its acting exquisite. As in some of the previous films mentioned in this list, it features an improbable hero fighting to rescue reality amidst a plethora of competing timelines. In our universe, Evelyn Quan Wang runs a launderette, but in others she has mastered martial arts, crooning, cooking and other pursuits. Meanwhile, her estranged daughter has a powerful, nihilistic multiverse counterpart determined to destroy all creation by means of a singularity called the “Everything Bagel”. Remarkably, the film ends in self-awareness, family reconciliation and cosmic harmony.