Multiverse Matters

The new James Bond film "Skyfall" has been very well received, and is cleaning up at box offices around the world. However, there's one particular breed of James Bond fan that hasn't been reacting well to the movie. These are the viewers with a certain amount of investment in the James Bond franchise, and who have a particular interest in the series' continuity. There's been a popular theory that all the Bond films could happen in the same universe if "James Bond" is a code name the way "007" is, and passes along to each new agent who comes along. This would mean that James Bond is not just one man, but several, which explains how six different actors could play the part across twenty-three movies over fifty years without contradictions. The 1967 "Casino Royale" spoof subscribed to this theory. Up until now, the series has been coy about confirming whether it's true or not, but "Skyfall" finally provided a definitive answer. If you want to avoid spoilers for the film, please skip the next paragraph.

We get confirmation that the real name of the secret agent played by Daniel Craig is actually James Bond, thanks to a couple of thoughtfully placed tombstones. However, the confounding continuity doesn't end there. "Skyfall," along with the 2006 "Casino Royale" and "Quantum of Solace," have been reboot films, reinterpreting the classic franchise for the modern age. "Skyfall" in many ways works as a prequel to the older Bond stories, since it depicts his first meetings with familiar Bond characters like Q and Miss Moneypenny. However, there are also numerous indications that the current Bond may have had some of the past Bond's adventures, with the references to exploding pens, and the reappearance of the Aston Martin DB5 from "Goldfinger," with all its weaponry in good working order. We see the death of M, played by Judi Dench, the only member of the cast to have carried over from the Pierce Brosnan era. However, she's replaced by a male M, played by Ralph Fiennes, in a final scene that shows Bond receiving his orders in the office of the original M, played by Bernard Lee, from the 60s films. Clearly the references were fanservice for the benefit of longtime Bond fans, but it gave the more literal-minded ones a royal headache.

The answer to all the continuity issues is that the James Bond franchise is a multiverse, meaning the action takes place in multiple universes that feature different versions of the same character, but some things remain immutable like the iconic Aston Martin. This is how many of the big franchises have decided to operate nowadays. Perhaps the most prominent multiverse aside from Bond is currently the "Star Trek" universe. The 2009 "Star Trek" film reboot tells the audience outright that the adventures of the new crew of the Starship Enterprise happen in a different timeline from the original television series and its many, many sequels. They even get a nice sendoff from the original Mr. Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, who has briefly slipped into their universe. You can see the appeal of this approach. It allows the filmmakers to use all the old characters and concepts and removes all the potential continuity problems with the older material.

Multiverses are becoming much more common since franchise films have become so prominent over the last few years, and studio executives are leaning harder than ever on the ability to reboot popular characters. Comic book characters like the Punisher, the Incredible Hulk, and Spider-man have run through several onscreen versions apiece over the last few years. It doesn't matter that "X-Men: The Last Stand" and "X-Men: First Class" had contradictory scenes, since they probably weren't part of the same continuity. It's been announced that Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to be playing Conan the Barbarian again, and the filmmakers will have the option of picking up where "Conan the Destroyer" left off, or starting over with a new stand-alone film. I'm pretty sure they'll be ignoring last year's less-than-stellar "Conan the Barbarian" reboot with Jason Momoa.

There's a big downside to multiverses, which is that they can be confusing and alienate segments of the potential audience. It's harder to get invested in the continuing adventures of the Incredible Hulk if the details of his Hulkhood and the actor playing him keep changing with every new movie. Keeping some continuity with older installments of a franchise may also be an indication of other problems. Multiverses often result when reboots are only half-hearted, made by filmmakers who are relying too much on nostalgia and are not bold enough to give us a totally new reinvention of a familiar story. There is a lot less room for creativity when a filmmaker is still beholden to the formula or the template of the original version. This is the biggest criticism I've seen of "Skyfall" in some discussions, especially among fans of the recent "Casino Royale." They argue that resurrecting so many elements of the old Bond mythology amounts to the franchise backsliding into tired old habits.

Film multiverses are a fairly recent phenomenon, really only made possible by lengthy series like the Bond films. It's become part of the Bond formula to reinvent itself every few years, a trick very few others have mastered. There are still many franchises like "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" where fans have too much invested in the original versions to accept reboots. So even though the promise of a new "Star Wars" movie on the horizon would be a perfect chance to start over, I think we're probably going to end up with some kind of sequel instead, because of the likelihood that filmgoers are not yet ready to accept a new Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia. "Star Trek" was easier to let go of, since that film series had already transitioned once to the "Star Trek: the Next Generation" crew, and killed off William Shatner's Captain Kirk back in 1996.

I really liked what "Skyfall" did, putting bits and pieces of the franchise's past together in interesting combinations, and contributing a little of its own mythology to the mix. I don't think there's any other franchise that could get away with flaunting so much continuity so blatantly, multiverse theory or not. And yet it does work, so James Bond might as well enjoy it, especially on his birthday. After all, having survived six lead actors, eleven directors, the Cold War, and an epically awful Madonna title song, I think he's deserved it.
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