A Quick Recap of Where Everyone is Before Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness
Doctor Strange said that the Multiverse is a concept that the people of the MCU know frighteningly little of. Still, that’s not going to stop Marvel from throwing their long-running franchise into the deep end without their floaties. While the MCU’s done some initial exploration of the concept in Loki and What-If…?, next week will mark the first big foray into the multiverse with Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. However, before we grab our sling rings and portal guns for this reality hopping mind-screw, it’s best to refresh our knowledge on where everyone is the last time we saw them. In the spirit of getting caught up, let’s take a look at where a few major players in the upcoming movie were when we last saw them. It goes without saying, but spoiler warning is in effect.
Wanda Trying to Cope With Loss and Destiny
Poor, poor Wanda; she doesn’t deserve the bad hand that life dealt her. Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, Wanda struggled to cope with the loss of her lover, the Vision. Coupled with her death via Thanos’ snapping and all the other terrible events in her life, losing Vision proved too much for Wanda. As a result, she had a full-blown mental breakdown and unleashed the full extent of her powers. Recreating Vision and unknowingly holding an entire town captive, she tried desperately to live out the happy, sitcom life she wanted for herself. Alas, the universe wouldn’t let her, forcing her to end her fantasy and say goodbye to Vision once more, along with their twin sons, before leaving for parts unknown.
The last time we saw Wanda Maximoff, she was in a bad place. A very, very bad place. Despite her actions, though, the door was left open for Wanda to rebuild her life and get a chance to truly be happy. That’s easier said than done, though. In addition to remaining determined to bring her sons back, the trailers imply that she’s beginning to embrace her moniker as the Scarlet Witch. If you read my coverage on Wanda and her struggles with madness in the comics, then you know just how catastrophic this could end up being for the MCU. Despite this, though, I still have faith in Wanda. She’s a good person at heart, and she just needs to overcome her past to be a better one.
Doctor Strange (Almost) Broke the Multiverse
Doctor Strange, as much I love you, there’s no easy way to say this: you messed up. BIG TIME.
Previously, Spider-Man got his secret identity as Peter Parker outed by Mysterio, ruining his personal life, and more importantly, the lives of his loved ones. Thus, the web-head turned to Doctor Strange for help in fixing things. Despite Wong warning him not to do so, Strange went ahead with using a spell that would make everyone forget Peter was Spider-Man. However, he made a big mistake by not making sure the two were on the same page before starting. The resulting mutual screw-up led to much heartbreak, tragedy, and almost tore the multiverse apart. Strange had to cast another spell to make everyone forget Peter Parker in order to stop the chaos, but the damage was already done.
The actions of Doctor Strange in No Way Home are almost certainly going to play into the Multiverse of Madness’ plot. The man did cast a dangerous spell without thinking things through, after all. That’s not something that the higher ups in the multiverse are going to ignore. Of course, not helping matter is the fact that he’s not the first Strange to screw up on such a scale.
The Return of Strange Supreme?
Of all the variants of someone in the MCU, I don’t think any have messed up as bad as Strange Supreme. Coming from a universe where his car crash killed his girlfriend rather than damage his hands, this Strange never got the lesson in humility that he did in the main MCU. As a result, he refused to let go of his love and tried to bring her back, despite being told that her death was an unchangeable point in time. Long story short, he didn’t listen, and the paradox destroyed his whole universe.
This version of Doctor Strange is a tragic example of how far a hero can fall, but he did end up getting a small form of redemption down the line. Currently, he’s overseeing the imprisonment of alternate versions of Dr. Zola and Erik Killmonger as they fight over a set of Infinity Stones, but that doesn’t prevent him from making an appearance in live-action. Adding to the hype was the first Multiverse of Madness teaser that featured a version of Strange that looked a lot like Strange Supreme. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing him return one day.
More Where That Came From
Given the nature of the upcoming film, there are plenty of other players to be talk about. There’s Wong, Steven’s friend, mentor, and babysitter. The odds are that he’s going to have to spend a good part of the movie scolding/cleaning up Stephen’s mess. Mordo, Stephen’s other former mentor who went rogue at the end of Doctor Strange over Stephen’s risky actions. That man will have a field day believing that he was right in the film. In addition, there will likely be alternate variants of most of the main cast that will appear in the film. All told, Multiverse of Madness promises to be an absolute mind-bender of a film. The floodgates have been opened, MCU, and nothing can close them now!
