The multiverse, the favorite idea of every mega-franchise (and Oscar-winning non-franchise), can often seem like homework. Why, it’s fair to wonder, does every other blockbuster movie ticket come with a five-minute lecture on quantum physics for casuals? It doesn’t have to be that way. Instead, the multiverse can just be as it is in the most recent episode of Titans: a silly nod to the history of a long-running franchise that’s a lot of fun, but ultimately not all that essential to the experience.
With the all-timer episode title “Dude, Where’s My Gar?” Titans — which resumed its fourth and final season this month after a five-month hiatus — sends Beast Boy, aka Gar Logan (Ryan Potter) on a metaphysical journey across the DC multiverse. He is coached by Dominic Mndawe/Freedom Beast on how to connect with The Red, the cosmic force of the DC Universe that connects all animal life, and The Green’s counterpart, who connects all plant life.
This results in Gar briefly getting lost in the multiverse, where he catches glimpses – mostly via archive footage and audio – of numerous DC film and television adaptations, including Cesar Romero’s Joker, Grant Gustin’s Flash, Zachary Levi’s Shazam, and even the animated film Beast Boy out Teen Titans Go!. He also meets a few characters in the flesh, namely Stargirl (Brec Bassinger) and reunites with Cyborg from Doom patrol.
Gar’s journey through the multiverse isn’t quite as expansive or ambitious as the truly bonkers Arrowverse Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover – it’s more of an Easter egg than a big event – but there’s a sense of fun to it that makes it counterbalance the earnest stakes of something like the MCU’s Multiverse Saga.
It also helps that DC has a multiverse to speak of – since the company has never worked as hard (or as successfully) as its competitor to create an ongoing movie universe, it can retroactively create any DC TV and labeling film ownership as part of “the multiverse.” And, according to my copy of Quantum Physics For Dummiesthat all makes perfect sense.