Now that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has come and gone, let’s get to know the latest surprise character to join the MCU. The mid-credits scene for Multiverse of Madness revealed a portal appearing to Doctor Strange in the streets of Manhattan, with a mysterious character telling Strange that she needs his help in stopping an incursion that he started. This character was none other than Clea, played by Charlize Theron, and her and Strange have quite the relationship in the comics, as they just to happen to be husband and wife.
Clea is a fascinating character in the comics as she is the daughter of Prince Orini (whose the son of Olnar, the former ruler of the Dark Dimension) and the Faltine fugitive Umar (sister of Dormammu). Clea's birth was very traumatic to Umar and the experience scarred her even more when she learned she had lost the ability to revert to her Faltinian form (extra-dimensional energy beings born from pure Magic.) She abandoned Clea with Orini and became violent, picking a conflict with her brother. In her weakened state, however, she was defeated by Dormammu and banished to another realm. Clea always had a good heart, but due to her love for her father, and the fear that she always had for uncle Dormammu, she was raised as a villain… which was short-lived as Strange fully unlocked the superhero within her.
Image via: Marvel Studios
Clea is an immensely powerful sorceress whose powers rival that of both Doctor Strange and the Scarlet Witch. Her Faltinian heritage gives her other abilities on top of her magic, such as a minor healing factor, and enhanced strength. Doctor Strange and Clea have been an on-and-off couple for nearly 60-years now in the comics, so getting this relationship formed in the MCU will be great to see moving forward. With Stephen Strange moving on from his world’s Christine Palmer, he’s going to need to find love, and with someone of his own universe. While the movie dealt with “multiversal madness” and crazy events, love was also part of it, and Strange will now realize that Christine isn’t for him.
"We always knew we wanted to introduce Clea, who in the comics you could say is the great love of Doctor Strange, but really in a lot of ways is his formidable equal as a sorcerer herself," Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron told to Deadline. "Her backstory is fascinating. She's the niece of Dormammu, the giant floating head from the first movie. And so, they have a lot of great adventures in the comics, and we knew we wanted to introduce her, but it felt like we had to close the book to some extent on his love story with Christine Palmer, Rachel McAdams' character."
Image via: Marvel Comics
Clea and Strange both serve as mentors to one another in many iterations of the characters over the decades, and they quickly fell in love. In the comics, Clea was sent by Dormammu to deceive Strange by posing as an ally, and to bring him to her uncle who he had planned on killing. But things didn’t go as planned as she grew fond of Strange, told him the truth, and they dynamic duo were able to defeat the cosmic entity. She decided to stay on Earth and promised Strange that she’d mentor him and and teach him everything that she knew, if he’d do the same in return. One thing lead to another, and over time they became a couple and were eventually married.
Due to Clea being half-Faltine and half-Dark Dimensional mortal, she has powers on a near god-like level and is far more powerful than even he Scarlet Witch. MCU fans think that Wanda could take out Superman? Well, they’ve quite literally seen nothing yet. Clea eventually became the Sorceress Supreme of the Dark Dimension, where, after the two defeated Dormammu, her goal was to fix the hellish dimension and to bring balance and order the realm. Clea is capable of molecular rearrangement and can rearrange molecules, which she has used to alter her clothing. She also innately controls the powerful Flames of Faltine, raising her already formidable magical abilities to even higher levels. The Flames of Faltine is Dormammu’s go-to power which is capable to incinerating anything. If Clea wanted to, she could quite literally burn Wakanda to the ground and all of its Vibranium with it.
Image via: Marvel Studios
Clea was also a member of an incarnation of the Defenders, a superhero team that Strange helped to assemble. While The Defenders was part of Netflix's roster of Marvel shows, the entire concept has seen the team's membership fluctuate over the years. Powerful characters such as the Silver Surfer and the Hulk have even joined its ranks, alongside more grounded heroes in Iron Fist and Luke Cage. It wouldn't be a stretch to re-configure the Defenders as a film or even a potential Disney+ series and up the stakes from street-level to cosmic.
But there is another storyline that this post-credits scene, as well as the entire film, hints at. The concept of incursions was first brought up during Jonathan Hickman's tenure on the “New Avengers,” as the Illuminati wrestled with destroying planets to save all of reality. Their actions eventually led to “Secret Wars,” which Hickman wrote and Esad Ribic illustrated. After the universe was destroyed, a godlike Doctor Doom merges the remnants of alternate realities into a realm called Battleworld. That world was populated by alternate versions of Marvel heroes, with Strange serving as Doom's right hand. If a third Doctor Strange film ends up leading to a “Secret Wars” adaptation, fans could truly witness a multiverse of madness.