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New Doctor Strange 2 rumors detail exciting villain cameos

Published Feb 23rd, 2022 10:17PM EST
Doctor Strange and Wong in Multiverse of Madness trailer
Image: Marvel Studios

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For months now, we’ve heard all sorts of exciting Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness rumors. Some detailed the film’s plot, at least until the reshoots happened, but most of them concerned the various cameos that Marvel planned for the movie. Then Marvel started confirming a few of the Multiverse of Madness cameo rumors via the Super Bowl trailer and poster release. But what if the Doctor Strange 2 villain cameos were just as crazy?

A new set of rumors claims that Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his fellow Avengers might have to face more than a single villain in the film, detailing how that might happen. Before we get any further, you should know that big Multiverse of Madness spoilers might follow below.

The known Multiverse of Madness cameos

We can’t talk about the Doctor Strange 2 villain cameos before remembering just how impressive the hero cameo list is.

To recap, Marvel just confirmed two big Doctor Strange 2 cameo rumors with the Super Bowl trailers. The most obvious one is Professor X (Patrick Stewart), no matter how hilarious the actor’s denials are.

The second one has caused some debate online. Some people think the Captain Marvel-like apparition isn’t Captain Marvel. Instead, they say it’s a version of Iron Man. Specifically, it’s the oft-rumored Tom Cruise Tony Stark variant. However, trusted leakers say we’re looking at Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) attacking Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) in the trailer as Captain Marvel.

Not to mention that a plot leak says that Captain Marvel will be a part of the Illuminati team debuting in Doctor Strange 2. And the Super Bowl trailer already confirms plenty of details from that extensive plot leak.

Finally, the poster indicates that Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) will make her live-action debut in Multiverse of Madness.

On top of that, we have plenty of rumors detailing other exciting superheroes that might show up in the movie. The list includes Wolverine, Mister Fantastic, Human Torch, and Spider-Man, to name just a few.

Doctor Strange 2 Super Bowl Trailer
Captain Marvel fighting Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) in Doctor Strange 2 Super Bowl trailer. Image source: Marvel Studios

The big Multiverse of Madness villain

Some people might find it hard to believe but Wanda will be the main villain of the Doctor Strange 2 story. Even if the Darkhold corrupts her or some other malevolent force, it’s still Wanda that will wreak havoc across the multiverse and in the primary MCU reality.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with such character development. The writing has been on the wall since the beginning, with WandaVision cementing the idea that Wanda can be extremely dangerous to everyone, Avengers included, if she feels threatened.

In her mind, she’s protecting herself and the ones she loves. And in Doctor Strange 2, she’ll be looking to save her children, thinking they’re in danger. That means she’ll stop at nothing, even if that means defying Strange and the other Avengers. Or killing them. And make no mistake, Wanda will dispose of some of the heroes you love, albeit they will be variants from different realities.

Defender Strange is one such example, dying early in the movie while saving America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez).

Gargantos, the one-eyed, tentacled demonic beast in the trailer is a temporary villain. Wong (Benedict Wong) and Strange will kill him in the main MCU reality.

While having Wanda face off against a number of Avengers from various realities will further underscore the power of the Scarlet Witch, she might not be fighting alone. And that’s where the fantastic Doctor Strange 2 villain cameos rumor comes in.

Doctor Strange 2 Super Bowl Trailer
Wong (Benedict Wong) battling Gargantos in Doctor Strange 2 trailer 2. Image source: Marvel Studios

The surprise Doctor Strange 2 villain cameos

Mind you, we have no way of confirming any of what follows, so you should take the rumor with the appropriate grain of salt. But that doesn’t make it any less exciting.

We expect Doctor Strange 2 to feature some sort of major clash between the good guys and the antagonists. Doctor Strange will get plenty of help in the movie, whether from MCU characters or multiverse variants aiding him against Wanda.

That’s why the idea that Wanda could summon her own team of villains is so exciting. That’s what Twitter user @Moth_Culture posted a series of tweets that claim we’ll see several villain cameos in Doctor Strange 2.

One of them says that Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man will fight a zombie version of himself. A now-deleted tweet said that Wanda will summon the live-action Marvel Zombies in the final battle. A different tweet (also deleted) said that alternate villains will be making appearances.

It could be all wishful thinking. And Marvel doesn’t have to tick off these boxes for Multiverse of Madness to be excellent. The hero cameos in Doctor Strange 2 are exciting enough, without requiring villain counterparts.

Doctor Strange 2 Super Bowl Trailer
Zombie Strange in Doctor Strange 2 trailer 2. Image source: Marvel Studios

Not all Doctor Strange 2 zombies are villains

But a multiverse story can have a bunch of such surprises. After all, the plot leak that the Super Bowl trailer seems to confirm says that the Illuminati police the multiverse. And they won’t shy away from taking prisoners. It happens to Strange and Chavez in the movie. But those cells might contain other familiar villains.

As for the zombies, we will see Doctor Strange as a zombie. That’s not a villain, however. It’s our own Strange’s astral form taking over the body of Defender Strange. And Wanda isn’t exactly a zombie in the trailer. What we see there are the effects of the chaos magic on her body. But she could find a way to summon zombies, as she’s traversing the universe.

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.