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Huge ‘Doctor Strange 2’ leak may have spoiled Marvel’s new villain

Published Apr 22nd, 2021 11:35AM EDT
Marvel Spoilers
Image: Marvel Studios

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Of all the MCU Phase 4 films set to premiere soon, Spider-Man 3 and Doctor Strange 2 are easily the most exciting ones. Both movies will explore the multiverse. In No Way Home, we’ll dip our toes in the multiverse, with the story centered around Peter Parker. It’s really Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness that’s expected to give us a more immersive multiverse experience to prepare us for the kinds of stories Marvel will tell in the future. It should also prepare us for the dead characters Marvel may choose to revive. The best part is that the two films are connected directly, as Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) will appear in both of them. Spider-Man 3 premieres on December 17th, and Doctor Strange 2 has a March 25th, 2022 release date.

We recently saw the purported No Way Home plot from a source who seems to have access to accurate Marvel information. It wasn’t the complete plot, but the leaker presented plenty of details about what’s coming in the next Spider-Man film. We now have a similar leak on our hands from a person who claims they’ve worked on a part of the new Strange movie. While this new leak gives us a smaller portion of the plot than the Spider-Man 3 leak, it does mention some of the major villains. As always, significant might spoilers follow below so you should stop reading now if you want to be surprised.

A person posted this new Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness leak on 4chan, and Redditors quickly picked it up. We’ve always told you to treat Marvel leaks just like any product rumor. Nothing can be confirmed ahead of release, even if sources can be verified.

The person who posted these Doctor Strange 2 plot details created what appears to be a throwaway account to say that he or she tried to get the plot leak posted on Reddit before moving to 4chan. According to the post, he or she tried to get verified by mods, but was ignored:

Just want to let you folks know that I made that post on 4chan. I first posted it to this subreddit because I thought it would be viewed more credible if I got verified here but the moderators didn’t return my message after I gave them information that I now regret, because it may have been too much to the extent where if they Google what I gave them hard enough they can probably figure out exactly where I work at.

The leaker said on 4chan, and then on Reddit, that they worked on the Strange 2 production for about a month, during which time they were present on the set. “I don’t have the full picture, and the stuff I know aren’t really connected,” the person said.

That’s the kind of context you need before going through the person’s plot leak — here it is in full:

– [Elizabeth] Olsen’s first scene was in a cabin. She and Cumberbatch talk about a town and the Darkhold. Olsen mentions hearing her kids. Cumberbatch says she probably hallucinated it but after Olsen persists he has a theory.

-I don’t know how many villains in total the film has but one of them is an entity Cumberbatch called Shuma-Gorat. I heard in early drafts the character was going to be something called Chaton [likely Chthon] but [Sam] Raimi came in and wanted an even more freakish looking monster. Cumberbatch tells Olsen about the multiverse. It’s home to parallel Earths and also the chaos dimension which is also where Olsen’s magic comes from. The ruler of the dimension is Shuma voiced by Ariyon Bakare. I saw him only once on set so I assumed it was a voiceover role. Shuma was a random mo-cap person on set. Bakare’s lines had already been recorded and they were being fed to the actors through earpieces like we did with Hardy and Venom’s lines.

-Cumberbatch’s theory is fragments of Olsen’s children’s souls are still present in the dimension. The entry to the dimension is protected by Shuma. [Chiwetel] ]Ejiofor finds Olsen and says he can get her into the dimension without having to deal with Shuma but asks for help in return. They team up. Olsen is determined to get back the children but Cumberbatch is against the idea because her magic can destroy the multiverse as she travels through it.

All of that might read like good fan fiction, but it actually jives with what happened so far in the MCU and with other leaks. Wanda does hear her kids at the end of WandaVision, in a post-credits scene that teases a connection to Doctor Strange 2. Wanda is in a cabin, learning magic just like Strange did in the first film, and a variation of the Doctor Strange main theme plays.

We already know that Elizabeth Olsen will play Wanda in the sequel because Kevin Feige confirmed it a long time ago. The actress said she was filming in London for the sequel more recently, teasing that her involvement in the film is significant.

Older leaks did say that Wanda might be the surprise villain of Doctor Strange 2 — or an anti-hero. Her connection to Mordo might support that. Also, the relationship between Mordo and Wanda was teased in a different plot leak.

Other leaks pointed to beings like Nightmare and Mephisto being the real villains of the film. But Doctor Strange 2 will have horror vibes; Olsen said so herself recently. Ariyon Bakares’s purported involvement in the sequel hasn’t leaked before. You’ll recognize the actor from his recent roles in Carnival Row and His Dark Materials.

That said, the leaker only provided a small portion of the plot. There’s nothing in it about the new superheroes we expect to see in Multiverse of Madness — and that includes the rumored cameos from Avengers who are no longer with us.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.