Doctor Strange 2 Theory: The Multiverse Madness Is Motivated By Infinity War

Doctor Strange’s upcoming experience with the multiverse in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness could be motivated by his actions in Avengers: Infinity War. The end of the Infinity Saga doesn’t mean the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which will continue expanding with new characters (such as the Eternals and Shang-Chi) and new stories from previously introduced heroes, among those Black Panther and Doctor Strange.

The MCU reached its peak with Avengers: Infinity War, which saw Thanos collecting all the Infinity Stones and wiping out half of all life in the universe, and Avengers: Endgame, where the surviving heroes joined forces to reverse the snap and were later joined by the rest of the MCU to defeat the Mad Titan and his armies once and for all. One character that played a very important role in this was Doctor Strange, who in Infinity War saw 14,000,605 futures thanks to the Time Stone and revealed to Iron Man that in only one of those they won the fight. Later, in Endgame, Strange reminded Iron Man of that, and so Stark made the ultimate sacrifice with the final snap.

Doctor Strange was among the characters that didn’t survive Thanos’ snap, but his revelation about the one future where they won had a big impact, and it played a big role in the Mad Titan’s defeat. Following the Battle of Earth, Doctor Strange was seen at Tony Stark’s funeral, but the effects that the initial snap and the battle had in him (and everyone else aside from Spider-Man, who closed the Infinity Saga with Spider-Man: Far From Home) are unknown. With that in mind, it could be possible that his experience with the multiverse in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be motivated by his experience with it in Infinity War – here’s how.

Doctor Strange’s Previous Experience With The Multiverse

The multiverse in the MCU has already been introduced, but there’s still a lot to learn about it. In Doctor Strange, during the scene where Stephen Strange is sent on a trip through many dimensions, the Ancient One explains that this universe is “only one of an infinite number. Worlds without end”, thus confirming the existence of a multiverse in the MCU. It was also explained that Agamotto was the first Sorcerer Supreme to detect the presence of other dimensions within the multiverse, and so dedicated his life to protecting the Earth realm from extra-dimensional threats. Although he briefly visited dimensions like the Astral and Mandelibus ones, Strange has only interacted with one: the Dark Dimension. Strange arrived there to confront Dormammu, and created a time loop that would trap them forever unless Dormammu listened to his offer.

Strange’s next on-screen experience with the multiverse happened in Avengers: Infinity War, when he took some time to explore millions of possible outcomes with the help of the Time Stone. Thanks to this, Strange realized that their battle against Thanos wasn’t going to be easy, as there was only one future where they won. Iron Man was then aware that whatever they did shouldn’t be taken lightly, and knew he had to take action to make sure that this was that one future where they defeated Thanos and company. Of course, all of these experiences with the multiverse were possible thanks to the Time Stone, but as all the Infinity Stones were returned to the exact moments they were taken from, it’s yet to be seen how Strange will travel through the multiverse without the Time Stone.

Theories About How Doctor Strange 2 Will Introduce The Multiverse

Scarlet Witch Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness Villain Theory

Now that the Time Stone is back safely with the Ancient One in a different timeline, it’s unknown how Doctor Strange 2 will bring the multiverse – but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Naturally, there are already many fan theories suggesting ways in which the multiverse can be introduced in Doctor Strange’s new “solo” adventure, and they all involve other characters. The most popular ones are all about Scarlet Witch, who has been confirmed to appear in Doctor Strange 2 and whose TV series, WandaVision, will tie-into the film.

The first one suggests Scarlet Witch will be the villain in Doctor Strange 2, based on her history in the comics. At one point, Scarlet Witch gave birth to twins, who turned out to be an illusion created by her fragmenting mind. The Avengers erased all memory of the babies, but a comment from Wasp triggered Wanda’s memories, and thus she suffered a nervous breakdown. Given her abilities to control reality, she created major chaos triggered by her emotional and mental instability. Scarlet Witch was also able to restructure reality itself, even creating an alternate timeline where she granted everyone their heart’s desires (which obviously didn’t turn out well). Now, as WandaVision has teased different scenarios where Vision is still alive and with Scarlet Witch, including one where they have twins, it’s possible that the series will show Wanda’s mind beginning to crumble after the loss of Vision, which would then lead to the multiverse madness being unleashed.

Another theory, which can serve as an extension of the previous one, explains that Scarlet Witch is already navigating through the multiverse because she either wants to bring Vision back or she’s exploring her powers – and both could go very wrong, making way to major chaos across the MCU. Strange would then be the one to fix it, without Scarlet Witch being the villain of the story but the one who triggers it.

Scarlet Witch could also team up with Doctor Strange to save the multiverse instead of sending it into chaos, and the one to kickstart the madness could be none other than Loki. The God of Mischief is coming back in his own TV series, which will also tie-into Doctor Strange 2 (though that doesn’t necessarily mean he will appear in it). As this is the Loki from 2012, meaning that it’s the villainous version of the character and not the one who betrayed Thanos to save his brother and the rest of Asgard, he will surely be up to no good, especially now that he’s in possession of the Tesseract. By escaping with it, Loki created a different timeline, so he’s already in the multiverse, which includes alternate timelines as well as different dimensions. Loki has been confirmed to involve time travel, and if he’s using the Space Stone to do so, it’s very possible it will get out of control, unleashing chaos across the multiverse.

Other theories suggest the multiverse madness has already happened, given the timelines created during Avengers: Endgame. Doctor Strange 2 would then see the title character trying to keep the chaos unfolded by it under control, going back in time across all those Endgame timelines – though, once more, the big question is how he will do that as he doesn’t have the Time Stone anymore, but Scarlet Witch could be of help.

Does Infinity War Motivate Doctor Strange’s Multiverse Madness?

Doctor Strange using the Time Stone in Avengers Infinity War

While the general assumption is that Endgame will be responsible for Doctor Strange’s multiverse madness, it could actually be motivated by the previous Avengers film. Although Endgame saw the creation of alternate timelines thanks to the time heist and the Infinity Stones, the moving force of the multiverse madness could be Strange’s experience in Infinity War, where he saw all those different futures. This was proof of how powerful and extensive the multiverse is, but it also left many questions about how those alternate futures work and the impact they can have on the rest.

Doctor Strange’s mission, then, could be to further explore how the multiverse works and the many different possibilities it has to offer, not just in terms of alternate timelines but dimensions as well, which could in turn help fix the chaos created by Scarlet Witch or Loki, though this could easily unleash some of the darkest and most dangerous parts of the multiverse without the intervention of the aforementioned characters. As mentioned above, the damage that the Battle of Earth left in Strange is unknown, so he could also be looking to either fix something or get the Time Stone back, which would require a visit to some of those alternate timelines he saw in Infinity War – or, simply, he could be curious about those futures he probably wasn't able to see at that point, as he vanished after the snap.

Plot details on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness are a mystery, so everything from the villain to what will kickstart the multiverse madness is unknown, but it’s unlikely the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame won’t have an impact on Strange’s upcoming adventure, especially after his experience with all the possible outcomes and the loss of the Time Stone.

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