Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness plot and predictions

Doctor Strange played by Benedict Cumberbatch has become a major character in the latest phase of the MCU which is pretty impressive since he’s only had one solo movie made so far.

His second solo movie Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is due out soon and following closely in the footsteps of Spider-man No Way Home where his spell tore holes in the multiverse nearly destroying the world. From what we’ve seen so far of his new movie he’s gone maverick again with either another spell going wrong or an alternative version of him coming from the multiverse causing trouble. Since getting his hands on the time stone he’s had a track record of breaking the rules.

Rachel McAdams returns to play Strange’s love interest Christine Palmer. In the initial trailer, we see what looks like their marriage but with her not being mentioned in any of the other movies I’m wondering if this is an alternative reality/universe where they were together longer. With the What If.. series being borderline cannon I’m wondering if they will incorporate parts of those episodes into the movie. There does look like a bit of cross-over between What If and the movie, especially the version of Strange that went power-mad to resurrect his lost wife.

The trailer also features what looks like Shuma-Gorath who in the comics dates back to pre-history and has given Strange some pretty dark storylines over the years. Although he could be the main villain based on his comic appearance it’s not like Marvel to give away a last-act fight within the trailer.

Scarlet Witch has a scene in the trailer that will hopefully mean she has a bigger part in the movie, from what we saw in Wander Vision she gained some epic powers and might be enlisted by Strange to help fix the multiverse.

IMDB also lists Mordo who was played by Chiwetel Ejiofor as a returning character. Mordo is one of Strange’s long-time villains dating back to the 1960s, he didn’t get on with Strange in the first movie and if he’s returning could be a contender for the main villain if it’s not an evil version of Strange.

So far we’ve seen the multiverse being cracked open a few times in the MCU, I guess the first official time was in End Game when Loki teleports off with one of the stones and then causes more problems in his own series. Then most recently the multiverse was pulled apart in No Way Home.

Considering the movies for the next few years have been confirmed and probably won’t need to deal with the multiverse this could be the last we hear of it for a while, at least until they need to introduce the X-men somehow or we see a new series of Loki.

Posted by Adi Mursec on January 9, 2022