Multiverse Theory Time Travel vs Dynamic Time Travel

Time travel shows up in a lot of sci-fi and superhero stories, but not all time travel works exactly the same way. One of the biggest differences comes down to this question:

Does changing the past change the future or create a new alternate timeline?

These two types of time travel lead to very different kinds of stories, each with different stakes and different outcomes.

Multiverse Theory Time Travel

In multiverse theory time travel, changing the past does not change the original future. Instead, it creates a new alternate timeline. Think of reality like a large river. The main river is the original timeline. Every change in the past is where the river splits into more rivers. The original timeline still exists unchanged while the new timeline exists alongside it.

This means you can save someone in the past, but only in the new alternate timeline. The original version of history still happened in the original timeline so you can’t truly fix your own past. You can only create an alternate timeline where you saved someone and that someone you saved isn't your version of them either since it's another timeline. And any ripple or butterfly effects that occur can also be why one timeline may end up drastically different from another.

This type of time travel is often used in multiverse stories to avoid paradoxes and keeps the timelines neat and tidy.

It's worth noting that an alternate timeline can sometimes be considered a parallel universe but differs slightly as well. I explore that here in this blog.

Dynamic Time Travel

In dynamic time travel, there is only always one timeline and changing the past does change the future.

If you go back in time and stop a certain event, then that event never happened and the future will adjust itself accordingly to fit the new reality. This type of time travel allows you to fix past mistakes but can risk messing up the timeline in a way that causes paradoxes or perhaps result in characters even erasing their own existence.

Stories that use this type of time travel may focus on the danger of altering history and unintended consequences. Even small changes can create ripple or butterfly effects that completely alter the future.

An example of a ripple effect in dynamic time travel is like going back in time and stepping on a flower and then going back to the future and realizing that stepping on the flower in the past set off a chain of events that caused the planet to explode.

From a writer's perspective, dynamic time travel can also be easy to mess up if some kind of time travel rules aren't put in place for the story's universe. One of the worst outcomes for a time travel story is for it to lack logical consistency.

Is One Type Of Time Travel Preferable?

Neither approach to a time travel story is better than the other. They just simply serve different goals.

Stories involving multiverse theory time travel can explore topics like dangerous parallel outcomes while dynamic time travel can put more emphasis on something like consequences of trying to play God.

Both types of stories can be intriguing if written well.

Time Travel in the Zero Hour Universe

In Zero Hour Epsilon Force, multiverse time travel is one of the first themes presented. Dr. Ore is an evil cyborg scientist that constantly loses to Tyrannogator.

Due to an incident with a black hole, Dr. Ore arrives in the past and decides to try and kill Tyrannogator while he's still young and developing in hopes of a much easier fight.

The comic explains that this particular method of time travel works on multiverse theory and that the Dr. Ore from the future is actually the same Dr. Ore from the Zero Hour Rescue mobile game.

This means that the comics represent the present timeline, while the games represent a future timeline. However, since Dr. Ore originates from the games, the games could also be considered the original timeline.

Final Thought

Would changing the past change the future or create an alternate timeline? I don't know. But time travel stories make for fun scenarios to explore in various kinds of fictional stories including comics.

Whether the time travel story works on multiverse theory, dynamic, or any other kind of time travel, time travel stories with clear set rules can become amazing storytelling engines. If you enjoy fantasy and sci-fi worlds that take their internal logic seriously, that philosophy runs through my entire comic universe. You can purchase Zero Hour Epsilon Force at Spidercade Studios.