People say Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be even crazier than Spider-Man: No Way Home. Even Doctor Strange actor Benedict Cumberbatch half-jokingly called the sequel more ambitious than the upcoming Spider-Man movie. If you’ve been following MCU leaks closely, you already have an idea of why those claims are probably valid. It’s all in the title. And if Loki and What If…? taught us anything, it’s that the multiverse is full of brand new variants of the characters we love.
They’ll be involved in different adventures that might not resemble anything we’ve seen so far in the MCU. The closer we get to the Doctor Strange 2 release (even though it was just pushed back), the more leaks we’re bound to see. And it so happens that there’s a massive Multiverse of Madness leak online right now which reveals various details about the movie. That includes a brand new Avengers-like team that we’re going to meet soon. Before we can explain anything, you should know that absolutely massive spoilers follow below.
Final spoilers alert for Doctor Strange 2
As always with any leaks, there’s no guarantee that the information in this new Doctor Strange 2 rumor is accurate. It could very well be fan fiction. But if the data is genuine, then the leaks below will ruin the film for anyone looking to avoid spoilers.
That’s why we’re going to warn you one more time that massive Doctor Strange 2 spoilers follow below. And these aren’t the kind of No Way Home spoilers that everyone already knows. We’re looking at highly detailed accounts of what happens in the movie. This What If…? mid-season sneak peek, where Doctor Strange does show up alongside various Avengers, is your last spoiler warning.
While we may not see more of the “Guardians of the Multiverse” which we learned of in the finale of What If…?, we could see some of those characters in more expanded roles. There’s no doubt we’ll see Thor again, as Thor: Love and Thunder is slated to come out next year. It will actually come out about two months after Doctor Strange 2. The other heroes are speculated to be seen throughout Phase 4 and beyond.
Marvel has more superhero teams in mind, not just the Avengers
The Avengers are Marvel’s best superhero team-up so far and the most exciting one. We’ve been calling “Avengers” every superhero that joined the fight against Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Infinity War and Endgame. But, technically, not all of them were anointed Avengers. The “band” split up after Civil War.
Marvel is working on bringing up various other popular teams from the comics.
We already met the Guardians of the Galaxy in the MCU, and we’re going to see them again soon. Now that Eternals exists, we also know that the planet had 10 Eternals hiding around, waiting to intervene in a specific type of threat.
Separately, Marvel will introduce the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. And it has already started setting up the Thunderbolts and the Young Avengers in Phase 4.
This brings us to the big Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness leak that says the sequel is getting a preview of the Illuminati. That’s a team of superheroes from the comics that appeared in previous Doctor Strange rumors.
Who are the Eternals?
As we know, Eternals is coming out on November 5, 2021. The Eternals are a race of immortals who has superhuman powers and have lived on Earth for thousands of years. They consist of Sersi (Gemma Chan), Ikaris (Richard Madden), Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani), Sprite (Lia McHugh), Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), Druig (Barry Keoghan), Gilgamesh (Don Lee), Ajak (Salma Hayek), and Thena (Angelina Jolie). They were created by the Celestials and must fight the Deviants to save humanity.
An insider who posted MCU scoops on Reddit before is back with details about the Doctor Strange 2 plot that mentions the Illuminati. Redditor MyTimeToShineHello mentioned the new superhero group over the weekend.
The Illuminati in Doctor Strange 2
According to her, Strange and America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) will be hopping the multiverse, trying to escape Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen), the film’s main villain. They’ll meet a variant of Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a master of the mystic arts in his universe. He’ll trick Strange and Chavez, capturing them in the Illuminati prison.
The Illuminati is a multiverse police-keeping force, with Charles Xavier being their leader. Previous leaks did say that X-Men actors from the Fox universe will appear in Doctor Strange 2, name-dropping Professor X. The same leaks said teased battles between Avengers. This includes Strange’s own fight with Wanda. While Professor X isn’t an Avenger, previous leaks said he’ll fight Wanda.
The Redditor says that Wanda will face off against Xavier as she’s trying to get to Chavez. The latter can hop between multiverses with ease, while Wanda can only astral-project her mind in other people’s bodies. She’ll end up possessing the Illuminati universe’s Wanda and attack the superhero group.
She will kill some of the Illuminati in the process. And there will be a fight between Professor X and Wanda in the movie.
Responding to questions, the Redditor said the Illuminati team has six members. Mordo and Professor X are only two of them.
But a more extended, more detailed Doctor Strange 2 leak floating around provides even more details about the film’s plot. And it matches the Reddit leak.
The Illuminati will have some Avengers members
That leak, a trace of which can be found in a Discord channel dedicated to MCU leaks, reveals the identities of three other Illuminati members. Two of them are Avengers members in the MCU.
We’re looking at Captain Carter, whom we’ve just met in What If…?. We’d assume Hayley Atwell will play the live-action version.
Then there’s another Captain from the Avengers. Captain Marvel is an Illuminati. But it’s Monica Rambeau, not Carol Danvers. We’d expect Teyonah Parris to play this Rambeau variant.
Finally, we have Balder the Brave, a superhero we haven’t met in the MCU, so we have no idea who will play him. Also, it’s unclear whether it’s Patrick Stewart or James McAvoy playing the X-Men leader. But whatever version, he’ll reportedly appear in a hoverchair.
The identity of the sixth Illuminati is still a mystery. Some leaks said we’re looking at an Iron Man version, but the leaks do not mention Tony Stark.
What’s important here is that the Illuminati is taking shape in the MCU. Wanda will supposedly kill some of them, including Professor X. So we can only hope we’ll see a similar Illuminati force take shape in the primary MCU reality, with some of our beloved Avengers staffing it.
Doctor Strange 2 premieres on March 25th, so we have plenty of time left for more rumors and leaks.
