I noticed how characters can travel the multiverse in Doctor Strange. This sort of sci-fi is material is common in the literature. Yet I question the plausibility. I examine the issue with a Thomistic lens assisted by what scant knowledge of quantum mechanics I have. Due to my scant knowledge, I reserve the right to be miserably wrong.
The current most prevalent theory of quantum mechanics mirrors a part of Thomism, a branch of philosophy/theology developed by St. Thomas Aquinas. In Thomistic metaphysical system, there exists a notion of prime matter, a matter that is pure materiality itself. "Prime matter is the ultimate subject of form, and in itself indefinable." Prime matter thus needs a form to be definable. To illustrate, imagine yourself a girl named Suzie. Suzie is composed of matter. When the matter with which she is composed is broken down to its most elementary unit, we get prime matter. The clump of matter that is Suzie is indefinable until you apply the idea of Suzie you imagined previously. The idea you applied to the clump of matter is similar to the "form" mentioned. Prime matter thus exists in a state of pure potency unless brought into actuality by a form; whatever prime matter could be or become disappears the moment it becomes subject under a form.
We can see why this system of metaphysics mirrors quantum mechanics, especially in light of string theory. String theory proposes that the fundamental objects are strings, objects that compose all particles that make up matter. We know that these fundamental objects exist in superposition of states.
Superposition of states is what makes multiverse possible. A supposed infinite amount of universes can exist, each universe being a single state within a superposition of states. In likeness to Thomistic metaphysics, the theory of superposition of states mirrors how prime matter is pure materiality itself, existing in pure potency.
Let us then consider the idea of traveling the multiverse. For an individual to travel to another universe, traveling through a portal of some sort, the necessary condition is that the two universes the portal is connecting must actually exist simultaneously, and that the matter composing an object passing through the portal must be transferable to one universe to another.
But how can this be? We theoretically live in a multiverse with an infinite number of universes. And yet we still live in a single multiverse, within a single superposition of states. It means that all universes are composed of equal amount of fundamental objects (strings or prime matter).
Let us imagine Bran. He wants to travel through a portal into another universe. But how can Bran pass into another universe when he himself, that its, the clump of matter that he is composed of, is already within the universe he wants to travel to by way of alternate state within the superposition of states? Traveling to another universe is like asking me to travel to the exact place I am currently sitting: it cannot be done because it's already being done.
Furthermore, the notion of observer effect makes travelling more unlikely. Let's add an actualizing effect, the observer effect to choose one. Through experiments, we can confidently say that human beings are observers, the actualizing effect. The matter that exists in random, all possible states suddenly becomes objective and comes to possess a singular state. How can there be more than one universe where observers reside? It seems to me impossible for, when matter existing in randomness has already gained objectivity, then that matter stays in an observed position of state instead of persisting in existing in a superposition.
(Another side of the argument can say that the inhabitants of this universe, the observers in particular, are collectively shifting different position of states, technically travelling the multiverse continuously like flipping through a book)
If we consider the observer effect, much like Thomism, only one state among the superposition of states becomes actualized. In other words, only one universe of supposed infinite universes exists in a state of actuality and the rest exist in a state of potency.
These are the inferences I have made.
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