As if the Marvel Cinematic Universe wasn't voluminous enough while working in the realms of Earth and Space, last fall's Doctor Strange opened up yet another facet of the Marvel Comics legacy. Introducing alternative dimensions through the usage of magic, the Scott Derrickson directed blockbuster had some big ideas to integrate into the MCU. To do it right, they needed some professional opinions to make sure the theoretical science actually matched their fabrications, and boy did they ever.
Yahoo recently spoke with Professor Alan Frank from the University of Rochester, the consultant Marvel used to authenticate the physics and astronomy behind Doctor Strange's multiverse. Best of all is the fact that the idea that forms the basic foundation of Doctor Stephen Strange's journey into the unknown is completely sound in theory, according to Professor Frank's analysis below:
But what Marvel did that was great was, they just brought up that idea --- that you may have a universe of infinite spatial dimensions, and each of the different subsets of those spatial dimensions could be a separate universe. We live in a three-dimensional reality, and if our three-dimensional reality is embedded in a 500-dimensional space, then our three-dimensional reality and some other three-dimensional reality will coexist in that 500-dimensional space, but we would never know about the other one. That is just a cool idea! And to use that idea for your fictional superhero narrative is just totally awesome.
Out of all of the multiverse theories that occupy the world of science, Professor Frank feels that Doctor Strange's version is the best one that Marvel Studios could have picked to put into effect. Basically, in a theoretical 500 dimension multiverse, each version of reality can co-exist on adjacent planes without having to interact. So these fully formed, three dimensional realities could all be operating at the same time, without even needing to depend on one another to function properly.
That having been said, should a rogue sorcerer start to use an Infinity Stone to cross between those dimensions all willy-nilly, there's a good chance that the fate of the entire multiverse would be called into question. But, of course, no amount of acting prowess or visual effects wizardry can make up for flawed logic, and Alan Frank had some further praise for how Doctor Strange handled their multiversal logic, as seen in his follow-up statement below:
So what's good about Doctor Strange is that it draws from the way scientists think about reality and think about space and dimensions, and then it builds upon it. It doesn't have to be scientifically accurate; it just needs to draw from the spirit of what scientists think about.
If more science fiction movies followed the same logic that Professor Frank laid down above, then the genre would be a lot better off. Then again, that would mean that humorous fact checking from the likes of Neil deGrasse Tyson would become a thing of the past, not to mention there'd probably be certain stories that wouldn't exist within the constraints of more levelheaded approaches. After all, if we were limited to what was built off of scientific thought alone, we wouldn't have Sharknado or even Pacific Rim.
No matter what your opinion on scientific thought and its application to the realm of fiction, Doctor Strange will be available for you to enjoy through Digital HD on February 14th, with Blu-ray and DVD versions hitting on February 28th.
