Marvel releases the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailer officially, revealing the returns of Evil Doctor Strange and Mordo. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the follow up to Scott Derrickson's 2016 movie, Doctor Strange, which introduced Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange. The character has since appeared in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and the recently released Spider-Man: No Way Home. The sequel is directed by Sam Raimi and set to hit theaters in May 2022.
Though little is known about the plot of Multiverse of Madness, the MCU movie was announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, where Marvel Studios additionally confirmed Doctor Strange would be joined by Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). Also confirmed to appear in the movie are the MCU's current Sorcerer Supreme Wong (Benedict Wong), Dr. Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and newcomer America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez). The Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailer was originally tied to the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, to which it was attached as the post-credits scene. But now, it's officially available online.
Marvel Studios has released the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness movie trailer. The footage teases that Multiverse of Madness will deal directly with the fallout from the spells Doctor Strange cast in Spider-Man: No Way Home, particularly the one that tampered with space and time, having an impact on the multiverse. The teaser also shows the return of Scarlet Witch, with Strange asking her for help with the multiverse. Meanwhile, it also shows a first look at the return of Mordo, who left the Masters of the Mystic Arts at the end of the first film, and confirms an appearance of Evil Strange aka Strange Supreme, seemingly the same character introduced in Marvel's What If...? animated series. Check out the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness movie trailer below.
It's unclear from the trailer whether the main villain of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is meant to be Evil Strange or Mordo. In the footage, Mordo tells Stephen that "the greatest threat to our universe is you," but the trailer cuts to Evil Strange, indicating Mordo may be talking about Evil Strange only - or all versions of Stephen Strange across the multiverse. In What If...? Evil Strange became all-powerful and ended up destroying his universe trying to save his Christine Palmer, whose death was a fixed point in the timeline that couldn't be changed. However, he was redeemed somewhat in the finale when he helped save the multiverse and was put in charge of keeping watch over Killmonger/Zola.
As such, it's unclear of Evil Strange truly is the villain of Multiverse of Madness, or if Mordo's vehement belief in bringing balance to the universe by tracking down rogue sorcerers and stealing their abilities makes him the greater threat to Doctor Strange. Though Mordo apologizes to Stephen in the trailer, there's also a brief glimpse of Mordo fighting Doctor Strange while the latter is in some kind of handcuff device. Perhaps both Mordo and Evil Strange are the villains of Multiverse of Madness, or Marvel has another trick up their sleeve - like making Scarlet Witch the villain. More will be revealed when additional footage for the film is released. For now, the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailer has plenty of reveals to give an early idea of what to expect from Raimi's sequel.
Source: Marvel