List of fictional works featuring parallel universes

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.

[1]

[2]

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.

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]

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]

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".

List of fictional works featuring parallel universes

Short Stories

Novels

Films

Television series

Video games

References

Wikiwand - on