Parallel universes in fiction#Fantasy

One of the first science-fiction examples of a parallel universe is Murray Leinster's short story Sidewise in Time, published in 1934. Although Leinster's story was not the first example of parallel universes, it is credited with popularizing the concept.{{Cite web |title=NOVA {{!}} Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives {{!}} Science Fiction and Fact (non-Flash) {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/manyworlds/time-nf.html |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=www.pbs.org}}{{Cite magazine |last=Burt |first=Stephanie |date=31 October 2022 |title=Is the Multiverse Where Originality Goes to Die? |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/11/07/is-the-multiverse-where-originality-goes-to-die |magazine=The New Yorker |via=www.newyorker.com}}{{Cite journal |last=Wolfe |first=Gary |date=2007-07-04 |title=Surfing the multiverse |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/448025a |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=448 |issue=7149 |pages=25–26 |doi=10.1038/448025a |issn=1476-4687}}

The use of parallel universes as a device in superhero fiction was popularized with the publication of the 123rd issue of The Flash, Flash of Two Worlds in 1961.

The device has seen much usage in popular media in the late 2010s and early 2020s, particularly in superhero films, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the animated Spider-Verse franchise. The multiverse device has also seen usage in other works, including the 2022 film Everything Everywhere All at Once.'{{Cite magazine |date=27 April 2022 |title=A Guide to All the Major Cinematic Multiverses |url=https://time.com/6169255/cinematic-multiverse-list/ |magazine=TIME}} Some filmmakers and critics, including Endgame co-director Joe Russo, have expressed concern that film studios may be embracing multiverse-centric plotlines to capitalize on characters and intellectual property with pre-existing popularity, ultimately to the detriment of originality and creativity in filmmaking.{{cite web |date=24 February 2022 |title='Avengers: Endgame' co-director Joe Russo warns multiverse could be too much of a good thing |url=https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/avengers-endgame-director-joe-russo-warns-of-multiverse-oversaturation}}{{Cite web |last=Kain |first=Erik |title=The Madness Of The Multiverse: How Infinite Universes Are Killing The Superhero Genre |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2023/11/14/we-truly-are-living-in-a-multiverse-of-madness-and-it-needs-to-stop/ |website=Forbes}}

{{Main|Isekai}}

Isekai is a subgenre of Japanese fantasy light novels, manga, anime, and video games revolving around a normal person being transported to or trapped in a parallel universe. Often, this universe already exists in the protagonist's world as a fictional universe, but it may also be unbeknownst to them.{{Cite news |url=http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-feature/2018/01/17/hacking-the-isekai-make-your-parallel-world-work-for-you |title=Hacking the Isekai: Make Your Parallel World Work for You |publisher=Crunchyroll |access-date=2018-03-20 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180320105703/http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-feature/2018/01/17/hacking-the-isekai-make-your-parallel-world-work-for-you |archive-date=2018-03-20 |url-status=live}}

In fan fiction, parallel universes are commonly used as a setting for a story that departs from the official canon of the fictional universe that the fan work is based on. Such works are usually referred to as "alternate universe" works, often abbreviated to "AU".{{Cite journal |last=Finn |first=Kavita Mudan |last2=McCall |first2=Jessica |date=2016 |title=Exit, pursued by a fan: Shakespeare, Fandom, and the Lure of the Alternate Universe |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26382275 |journal=Critical Survey |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=27–38 |issn=0011-1570}} Common motivations for writing such stories are to either explore alternative narrative possibilities not depicted in the original media, or to "fix" plot points which were disliked by the fandom.{{cite thesis |last= Koning |first= A. J. |date= June 25, 2015 |title= THE FAMOUS AND THEIR FOLLOWERS FANFICTION AS AN ALTERNATIVE FORM OF LITERARY CRITICISM |url= https://studenttheses.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/20.500.12932/20326/BAThesis%20Janieke%20Koning%203858863.pdf?sequence=1 |type= BA |chapter= Chapter 3 A Quest For Family |publisher= Utrecht University}}

• List of fictional works featuring parallel universes
• Alternate history

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