Loki
made it official; the multiverse is here to stay in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. We’ll see the multiverse expand in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is one reason why the movie is so exciting. There might be three Spider-Men teaming up to fight villains. Similarly, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a highly-anticipated multiverse movie. It’s not just the film’s title. It’s all the Doctor Strange 2 rumors that tease several crazy cameos that will help Marvel bring over characters from other universes. A brand new leak delivers another amazing spoiler about the sequel: It’ll feature a “supreme” villain surprise. Beware, several spoilers follow below.
Who is Strange Supreme?
MCU fans who are already up-to-date with everything Marvel launched this year know that Strange Supreme (Benedict Cumberbatch) appears in What If…? episode 4. The Avengers superhero turns into a prominent villain in a different timeline. Rather than losing his hands, Strange loses the love of his life in this universe, Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams). Like in Doctor Strange, his need to fix things consumes him to the point of becoming an evil version of Strange.
He’s willing to do everything in his power to bring Christine back, and that ultimately leads to Strange destroying his entire universe. Marvel crew and cast teased that the Strange episode might be the best in What If…?, and we finally understand why.
It’s a dark story, one that doesn’t have a happy ending. Instead, we get to see Strange Supreme kill his entire world, beating the good Doctor Strange in the process.
The Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer twist
By the time you see Strange Supreme in What If…?, you should have already witnessed some strange behavior from the MCU’s main Doctor Strange. The main timeline’s sorcerer supreme will perform an experimental and dangerous spell in No Way Home to make everyone forget that Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is Spider-Man.
From the moment Sony released the trailer, fans have been trying to understand Doctor Strange. One theory says that the Strange we see in the trailer might be a more villainous version. It could be Mephisto disguised as Strange.
After What If…?, you start wondering whether we’re looking at a Strange variant that’s turning evil, just like Strange Supreme did in the animated series.
The new Doctor Strange 2 rumor
This brings us to a new rumor from One Take News. The blog reports that Doctor Strange Supreme will appear in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It’s unclear where the spoiler comes from, but the site also notes that well-known Daniel Richtman has confirmed the scoop.
As always, with spoilers and leaks, it’s unlikely this big Doctor Strange 2 surprise will get any confirmations from Marvel before Multiverse of Madness drops. But we do have evidence that supports this scoop.
Scooper @DanielRPK also revealed today that #DoctorStrangeSupreme will be making an appearance in the movie! pic.twitter.com/sex20WH9Vu
— Doctor Strange 2 Updates (@DrStrangeUpdate) September 3, 2021
Doctor Strange Supreme is important for Marvel
We learned from an interview with the What If…? editing team that Kevin Feige was quite involved in making the animated series. In particular, the high-ranking Marvel exec focused on the Doctor Strange episode where the evil Supreme Strange appears.
It was important for Feige to ensure that the episode sticks the landing. This indicates the episode might be important for the grander scheme of things. What If…? events are MCU canon stories from other parallel timelines. And while it might not seem clear from the episodes we saw so far, there’s an overarching story for the animated series.
Back to Feige, here’s what What If…? editing team Joel Fisher and Graham Fisher told The Direct about Feige’s role in the Strange Supreme episode:
He’s like ‘I feel like it’s a little bit all over the place, how can we simplify it?’ And he posed to the writer, and he’s like ‘Pitch it to me in this form.’ And she just started going beat by beat, just going ‘bink, bink, bink, bink, bink,’ would happen, and he was just like ‘That’s it. Yes, that’s what we need to clarify the story and make it land the way it needs to.’ And so we put it up on its feet the next screening and he was like ‘That’s fantastic.’
The mysterious faceless Benedict Cumberbatch interview
If Feige’s involvement in What If…? episode 4 isn’t enough to prove that Strange Supreme will appear in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, then we have an even better piece of evidence.
Back in mid-March, Cumberbatch gave a Zoom interview where the camera was pointed at the ceiling. By the way, you’re looking at a ceiling because I can’t show you my face because I’m filming Doctor Strange and it’s all embargoed.”
We didn’t think what to make of this revelation at the time. What could be so revealing in showing his face? Rumors said that Strange might have a different suit for Multiverse of Madness. Could it be a Supreme Strange suit?
Supreme Strange in What If…? episode 4 looks different than the Doctor Strange we know. He looks evil, and the cape his wearing has a different design. On that note, the capes fighting scene is one of the highlights of episode 4. Could Cumberbatch have been wearing the Supreme Strange cape while he was on that Zoom call? We might never know. But Cumberbatch was clearly trying to prevent massive leaks at the time.
