The award-winning platform fighting video game MultiVersus allows gamers to play as characters from various movies and TV series as they battle it out against each other. It’s an extremely fun game that can be played as competitively or silly as you like, and it’s endlessly addictive. That being said, MultiVersus is lacking a story mode or any sort of storytelling in its Arcade Mode. 

The game would benefit greatly from telling the story of how each of these beloved characters are being pulled through the multiverse from their own universes because it already hints at lore that explains it. There are bits of evidence of that lore scattered throughout the game and its official website.

Let’s start with what’s listed on their website. There are bios for each character on the roster. The descriptions of most characters, like Wonder Woman or Jake the Dog, just have their backstories listed, while others, like Tom and Jerry, have some much juicier details regarding the game’s lore written into their bios. Tom and Jerry’s description mentions them being “great champions to have in the battle against the Nothing.” LeBron’s says that he’s “facing a new threat,” which could certainly be the Nothing. Stripe’s bio says that he was “plucked from the timeline” while Gizmo’s says that he followed Stripe into the “battle for the Multiverse” to stop him.

This all  tells us there’s some sort of villain or threat known as the Nothing that has been taking characters, objects, and other elements from each universe. The Nothing also happens to be the primary antagonist of the 1984 film The Neverending Story, which was distributed by Warner Bros. In the movie, the Nothing is absorbing everything and everyone throughout the land of Fantasia. Considering MultiVersus is a crossover of Warner Bros. properties, this might not be a coincidence. It seems like they might be building up to a battle against the Nothing to save all worlds.

There are two other notable character bios on the website, and they are the ones belonging to Shaggy and Reindog. The first intriguing detail in Shaggy’s description is that it mentions “The Change.” This probably refers to Shaggy gaining his superpowers he typically doesn’t have in Scooby-Doo. His bio goes on to say that he ate a glowing crystal thinking it was rock candy, which is what gave him his incredible abilities. This glowing crystal could be what Gleamium is (the in-game currency).

Reindog is (at least currently) the only original character playable in the game. His character profile says he is the guardian of a land known as Zanifeer’s royal family. Since he’s a character original to MultiVersus, his backstory is essentially MultiVersus lore. It then says that Zanifeer was the first world to “fall victim to the Nothing during the great cataclysm” and that he was the only survivor.

Reindog was the first to join this battle against the mysterious Nothing, which may play into the game’s lore in an interesting way. One of Reindog’s primary abilities he uses during the gameplay is that he can pull his teammate toward him using a magical tether made of light energy. This is extremely handy to help a teammate out of a tight spot or from falling off the ledge of the stage. 

The cause of each of the fighters making their way into the Multiverse could be Reindog using this ability to pull them in when they’re in danger of being taken by the Nothing. He’s pulling his new companions to safety. During the game’s first cinematic trailer, titled “You’re with Me,” we see many members of the roster phase into the world from their own universes. At the end of the trailer, though, Reindog runs in from off-camera and licks Finn in the face rather than phasing in. This could indicate that he’s happy to see them since he brought them there.

During each match, if a character reaches the end of the Blast Zone, they’re rung out. This Blast Zone looks a bit like TV static, and there’s nothing but a black void on the other side of it. The Blast Zone could be the Nothing, or at least something related to it.

One of the maps that can be played on is Trophy’s E.D.G.E., which, like Reindog, is original to MultiVersus. The map’s background features items for various universes, like a Wonder Woman statue from Themyscira, Brainiac’s Bottle City of Kandor (also from the DC universe), a giant war horn from Game of Thrones, and a giant ACME box full of fireworks from Looney Tunes. These could be trophies collected by the Nothing as it absorbs other universes. Perhaps as more IPs are added to the game, the Nothing’s collection of trophies will grow.

As for a potential reason why the lore hasn’t been focused on in any sort of story yet, the game is still in Beta. It’s not complete. Perhaps when it is as complete as the developers want, there will be more of an in-depth story based around all these lore hints. If or when more of a story is included, the game will be taken to a whole new level of awesome.