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Ever since Batman Begins (2005) introduced Hollywood audiences at large to the concept of the live-action reboot, it has become a popular strategy for long-tail film and television franchises to wipe the slate (mostly) clean and start afresh for new audiences. Before the 2020s and the cinematic popularization of the multiverse as both a narrative device and a branding umbrella, most franchise reboots were intended to be the dominant continuity for viewers. Thanks to the multiverse, some of these reboots – and the versions preceding them – now exist in a complex web of narrative, thematic and intertextual relationships. This article charts the how, why and so what? of the accidental multiverse; superhero franchises that have multiple narrative versions existing concurrently that were not originally intended to do so. As a potential blueprint for entertainment franchises in the future, the accidental multiverse offers a site for interpreting changing dynamics in industry production and audience reception logics and reminds us that in the streaming, niche-targeted content era, everything is connected.
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Publication Date:
https://doi.org/10.1386/ajpc_00094_1 Published content will be available immediately after check-out or when it is released in case of a pre-order. Please make sure to be logged in to see all available purchase options.