Top 10 Things You Missed in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Although there wasn’t a full blown zombie invasion in the Dr. Strange sequel, there were still a few callbacks to the “What If..?” reality that was overrun by the walking dead. An alternate Christine Palmer mentions that she’s afraid of viruses coming from other universes. Maybe she knew that the zombie virus in “What If” started when a virus was brought from another dimension. Speaking of infections, Wanda and Stephen end up looking like their zombie selves while using dark spells. But the most brutal “What if?” reference comes when Captain Carter dies via her own shield just like the undead Steve Rogers did on the show. Hopefully, these callbacks are as close as the main universe gets to dealing with zombies.

The New York Sanctum Sanctorum is full of useful magical items that could be useful in battle. But when Strange began spending time there in this solo film, he didn’t know how everything worked. This led to a hilarious moment where he picked up a magical brazier but couldn’t harness its powers against a villain. Although Strange failed to use it, Christine finally showed how powerful the item was in “Multiverse of Madness”. She used its light to hold off the souls of the damned in a scene that reminded us a lot of Harry Potter. Although the alternate Christine isn’t a full blown witch, she could do serious damage if she got any magical artifacts Strange wasn’t using.

When the one-eyed Gargantos arrived in New York, he gave Strange and his allies one hell of a fight. Fortunately, the sorcerer didn’t have to go to the extreme lengths his comic counterpart did. A classic Dr. Strange storyline sees the one-eyed Shuma-Gorath threatening to go on a rampage. Since the creature was connected to Strange's mentor, the Ancient one, the doctor slays his own teacher to stop the threat. Including another single digit beast was a great way to pay homage to the sorcerer’s comic roots and traditional enemies. And luckily for Strange’s friends, the doctor decided to take a page out of Loki’s book and do some impromptu eye surgery to defeat the creature.

In “Multiverse of Madness”, multiple characters say a variation of Strange’s last line before he turned to dust in “Infinity War” to justify their actions. That phrase isn’t the only quote taken from a previous movie. When a Strange variant is about to sacrifice America Chavez’s life, he tries to explain himself by using a line we heard a sorcerer say in “No Way Home”. Ironically, neither sorcerer sacrifices anyone's life after saying that quote. One of the best reused lines comes from Professor X. Although his Illuminati teammates are ready to destroy Strange, the mutant leader encourages compassion with a beautiful quote. It happens to be the exact quote Professor X said to motivate his younger self in “Days of Future Past”.

After Strange returns from his universe hopping adventures, he realizes he’s picked up a third eye souvenir. In other realities, seeing an extra eyeball on the doctor means that he’s using the Eye of Agamotto. The talisman was mainly used to hold the time stone in place in the MCU. But it allows him to do powerful things in other realities. He can break up illusions, unleash a light that weakens enemies and look at past memories with the eye. The sequel sneakily includes a quiet scene where Strange and America revisit important moments from their lives. If that scene’s a sign his third eye will give him abilities the eye of Agamotto grants, Strange is about to get a lot more powerful.

Our jaws dropped when Charlize Theron debuted as the magical Clea before beckoning Strange towards the dark dimension. In the comics, Clea originally lived there with her uncle Dormammu. But her life starts to change for the better after Strange makes a deal with her twisted family member. Clea eventually spends time outside of the Dark Dimension, falls for the doctor and eventually takes over as the Sorcerer supreme. Although Strange can’t give her that title in the MCU, he did seem willing to give love a try again by the end of the movie. And we also know he’s very familiar with Dormammu. If he and Clea fall for each other in the MCU, would she invite her uncle to the wedding?

Speaking of famous cameos, Bruce Campbell showed up in an alternate dimension and quickly proved to be a jerk to the main heroes. His obnoxious actions majorly referenced his roles in Sam Raimi’s Spider-man films. Campbell notably annoyed or inconvenienced the heroic wallcrawler just as much as he bothered Strange. Outside of Spider-man, the actor worked with Raimi throughout the “Evil Dead” franchise. In “Evil Dead II”, Campbell’s character Ash notably has to deal with a possessed hand. “Multiverse of Madness” pokes fun at that plot point when Campbell’s character is forced to hit himself with his own hand. Thankfully, the end credits showed he didn’t have to replace his hand with a chainsaw to get it to stop this time around.

Once we got over the shock of seeing a live action Captain Carter serve on the illuminati with heroes like Anson Mount’s Black Bolt, we learned a shocking truth. The team decided to eliminate a version of Dr. Strange after the sorcerer caused an extremely deadly Incursion event. This plot point was an ironic twist on a pivotal comic moment. When the Illuminati prepare to go to extreme lengths to stop an Incursion, Captain America tries to stop them. But they get to him first by asking Strange to erase Rogers’ memories. It seems like no matter what reality they’re in, the Illuminati are willing to turn on fellow heroes if they think it’s for a greater good.

Scarlet Witch and an alternate Wanda Maximoff confront each other while Snow White plays in the background. The cartoon has major parallels to Scarlet Witch’s story. The classic fairy tale sees the Evil Queen use a magic item to discover Snow White is fairer than the antagonist. In order to be content again, the villain tries to eliminate the protagonist. During “Multiverse of Madness' ', the Scarlet Witch uses the magical darkhold to find universes where her children are alive. She’s willing to eliminate her variants to be with them. Both the Evil Queen and Scarlet Witch seem to meet their ends after stones fall on top of them. While the Snow White parallels are clever, we hope Wanda survives and gets a chance at redemption.


Before we reveal our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

An Alternate Christine Palmer Confirms One of Mysterio’s Lies Was True
It Turns Out He Was Right to Call the MCU Earth-616



Wong & Strange Hold Gargantos Down With Familiar Magical Chains
A Version of the Sorcerer Used a Similar Spell Against Ultron in “What If…?”



Wanda Continues Her Feud With Ultron
She Dismantles Illuminati Ultron Bots Years After She Broke the Big Bad Bot



Strange Doesn’t Like Fan Selfies As Much as Other Avengers
The Sorcerer Rejects Pictures Three Years After Hulk Agreed to Take Photos in “Endgame”




Disney’s Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Makes Gets Another MCU Shoutout
Wanda’s Boys Watch the Classic Character on TV After He Was an Easter Egg in “Loki”

If the warnings of a future live-action Incursion are true, this may be the end of the MCU we know Back in 2015, multiple comic Marvel universes collided together during an Incursion event. Characters from different worlds lived together until The Richards family gained the power to fix everything. In the process, heroes who originally lived in alternate worlds landed in the main Marvel universe. If the MCU follows this storyline, they’ll need to introduce a new Mr. Fantastic that’s hopefully still played by John Krasinski. And they could end Incursion by bringing characters like the animated Miles Morales into the MCU. An Incursion event would be devastating. But it would allow characters from alternate Marvel movie Universes to help reshape a new MCU.