One of the most highly anticipated movies of 2022 is finally here. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a film that I’ve been waiting a LONG time for, especially when Marvel Studios pulled in Sam Raimi to direct it. The movie will pick up right after Spider-Man: No Way Home when Benedict Cumberbatch’s Stephen Strange helped Spider-Man in fixing their spell which caused the multiverse to fall apart. Little is known about the film’s plot, as Marvel is great at keeping plots locked away, but they’ve been slipping lately in being able to keep spoilers from spewing across Twitter. I won’t talk about spoilers, because I actually have a heart, but I will be diving into my theories, and what I believe we could see in the ground breaking sequel.
Lets do a brief history lesson though on how we came to where we are now: back in 2019 Scott Derrickson left the project after Marvel Studios refused to make the movie Rated-R, and Derrickson wanted it to be more scary than what Marvel had planned. Sam Raimi is a HUGE fan of Doctor Strange though, and clearly knows how to make great superhero movies as his Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, remain to this day, as two of the greatest superhero movies of all-time. Marvel definitely rebounded quite nicely in being able to get Raimi aboard, and I don’t believe it’ll be the last time that we see Raimi in the MCU either.
Image via The Digital Fix
The film will see Strange meeting up with America Chavez, who has multiverse abilities in being able to travel between universes at will, much like Miles Morales if anyone is aware of his world hopping abilities in the comics as well, which were loosely teased in 2018’s Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. It remains to be seen how Chavez will come into play, but it’s safe to assume that Gargantos, presumably a follower, or even relative of Shuma-Gorath due to their very similar appearance, will be after the character to give to Shuma-Gorath for him to consume her. Shuma-Gorath consumes the powers of both mystical and multiverse-tied characters to enhance his own abilities. It’s been rumored for a while now that the grotesque Marvel villain could make its debut in the Doctor Strange sequel, and seeing how a key point of the plot will involve the multiverse, it might soon prove to be true that he could appear.
The Illuminati will be players in this movie as well, thanks to Marvel revealing it in a new TV spot where Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Baron Mordo name drops them, and in the trailer where Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier is revealed as well. The Illuminati are one of my personal favorite Marvel teams in the comics, who deal with threats that could effect not only their world, but the universe as well. They deal with the multiverse from time to time, and I’m expecting this version of the team will be comprised of heroes from different worlds. My long-running theory has been that the team will consist of: Charles Xavier, Reed Richards, Captain Carter from What If…?, Maria Rambeau (a variant of Monica’s mother whose Captain Marvel), Black Bolt (a new version of Anson Mount’s character from 2017’s terrible Inhumans show), Superior Iron Man (played by Tom Cruise as the character is based off of him), and possibly an Erik Killmonger variant played by Michael B. Jordan.
Image via The Direct
I strongly believe that the trailers are misleading. Showing Wanda being happy and willing to work with Strange in the first trailer, as well as her seemingly being evil, to then every trailer/TV spot to follow showing her being evil. We also see in a new TV spot, the scene where Wong is fighting some sort of demonic creatures, Wanda is by his side (dressed as Scarlet Witch) and seems to be fighting with the good guys. I believe the scene where she’s presumably destroying Kamar-Taj, is actually her fighting the unknown creatures or… evil version of herself.
The trailer shows Scarlet Witch kneeling down to hug her children, as another Wanda is watching them and looks sad. My guess is that the other Wanda is an evil variant from the multiverse, who might be what the Illuminati is after, and she could be adapting Wanda’s classic line from the comics “no more Mutants,” to, “no more magic [or Strange’s.” I just can’t see our version of Wanda, whose already enslaved a town of hundreds of innocent people, being able to redeem herself on top of her wrecking havoc and getting on not only Strange’s bad side, but the Illuminati’s bad side as well. It comes to a point where a hero can do so much wrong where they aren’t looked at the same ever again, and the children of Magneto know this far too well…
Oh yeah, in the comics Wanda is Magneto’s daughter. Her half-sister Lorna Dane aka Polaris, whose powers are a cross of Magneto’s and Wanda’s was resented by many Mutants as they couldn’t get over the fact that Lorna was Magneto’s daughter, and it caused her to have severe depression and anxiety in the comics. I’m guessing that if my theory is correct about there being an evil Wanda, she could be from the same universe as this variant of Charles Xavier whose hellbent on ending her reign after maybe losing her children on her own universe. I just don’t believe our Wanda is going to be full-blown evil.
Image via Nerdist
Many variants of characters are set to appear, and a few weeks ago it was revealed by a producer of the film that the movie will have, “more surprises than Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: No Way Home combined.” We’ve already seen a handful of Doctor Strange variants in: Defenders Strange, Zombie Strange, and Sinister Strange who forms a third-eye in a new TV spot. We could get the return of multiple Fox characters in Ioan Gruffudd’s Reed Richards, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, Chris Evans’ Human Torch anyone? And maybe even Sophie Turner’s Jean Grey and James McAvoy’s Charles Xavier as the two were seen (with bright red hair and bald) in LA as reshoots began… In LA back in the Fall.
There have been many rumors surrounding the movie, as well as countless fan theories since the movie was announced back in 2018. Could we get the introduction of the Fantastic Four? Could this movie be where we get a proper sendoff to Fox’s X-Men characters to pave the way for the inevitable newcomers? We are about to find out, and I have a feeling that we’ll get variants of various X-Men as well as a member or two of the Fantastic Four. The popular fan theory is that John Krasinski will be introduced as Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic, and while I am not a fan of that idea at all, as I just can’t seen Jim Halpert from The Office playing the smartest man in the Marvel universe… I’m willing to give him a shot. At the end of the day, Kevin Feige and his team have done a great job at casting characters since Iron Man back in 2008.
Image via Marvel Studios
I believe that this evil variant of Wanda will kill off this Illuminati, or most of them at least, and cause Strange and Captain Carter to potentially recruit a new team. The Illuminati is flawed in many ways, and Strange (a founding member in the comics) was always the sensible one that kept the team at bay. And I believe that Charles Xavier will see that as well, and will convince Strange to join the team… or to at least assemble a new team in the end. There’s also the possibility that Kang the Conqueror, the soon to be new main villain of the MCU, could appear as well. Due to his direct ties to the multiverse, and the rumor of Loki, Sylvie and Mobius appearing in The Multiverse of Madness, I’ve been thinking lately that Kang could possibly appear in some way. After all, we’re going to need some explanation as to why Kang’s going to be the villain in Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. Especially after that cliffhanger of an ending from season one of Loki.
Image via ScreenRant
Long before Freddy Krueger, Marvel Comics had their own villain in the realm of bad dreams. That would be Nightmare, the dream demon who has long been a thorn in Doctor Strange’s side. In fact, I’d consider Nightmare as Stephen Strange’s second or third most significant nemesis, right behind Dormammu and Baron Mordo. And now, certain signs point to Nightmare appearing in the MCU’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Who, or more precisely what, is Nightmare? Nightmare’s main power in the comics is that he can infect the dreams of powerful beings on Earth, corrupting them. He can also literally take over the bodies of others by infecting their dreams. Additionally, Nightmare has the ability to trap someone’s dream soul in his realm and torment them for all time if he chooses to.
While Nightmare is incredibly strong, even his power has limits. He once tried to ensnare the waking world into his realm, but ultimately failed. Nightmare is one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel universe, and once even overtook the entity known as Eternity. A being that encapsulates the entirety of reality. As long as there are beings who dream, Nightmare can extract their fear and turn it into raw power. Because of this, he can never truly be destroyed, just temporarily defeated. Although not totally powerless outside of his own realm, in the waking world, he is definitely weaker.
Image via Marvel Studios
The many references to bad dreams and a nightmare world in the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness teasers have fueled speculation that Nightmare is going to be the secret villain of film. After all, the Dream Dimension is part of the larger multiverse. The demon Shuma-Gorath has connections to Nightmare in the comics. The lord of the dream dimension once served Shuma-Gorath, but that power dynamic could be reversed for the MCU. It’s also quite possible Wanda opened a doorway to Nightmare’s Dream Dimension using the Darkhold, either by accident or on purpose. At the end of WandaVision, we see her intently using the ancient tome, almost in a dreamlike state. Could WandaVision‘s final scenes have been teasing Nightmare and Wanda ending up in his realm? And, if so, could Nightmare have entered the Scarlet Witch’s mind while it traveled into his Dream Dimension?
On top of this, the teasers and trailers also keep showing Strange having recurring nightmares. In the most recent trailer, he even says, “every night, I dream the same dream. And then the nightmare begins.” Hints don’t get much bigger than that. Time will tell, but I’m willing to bet that Nightmare will end up being the main villain.
There’s a lot that could play out in this movie, and I’m confident in Feige and Raimi to deliver a great movie with many twists, turns, and a handful of surprises that are bound to make fans excited!