A new piece of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness concept art shows Dead Strange conjuring "the spirits of the damned." After his first solo MCU outing with 2016's Doctor Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch's titular sorcerer became a mainstay in the MCU, appearing in two Avengers films and Spider-Man: No Way Home. In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Strange and newcomer America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) face off against Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) when she begins to ruthlessly attempt to reunite with her two children from another dimension.
The sequel earned mostly positive reviews from both audiences and critics with director Sam Raimi receiving particular praise. Apart from Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man trilogy, Raimi is best known for directing horror films like The Evil Dead, and the horror influences on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness are hard to miss. One inventive sequence towards the end of the film even features Strange possessing his own corpse from another universe in order to do battle with Wanda and prevent Chavez's death. In addition to Cumberbatch, Gomez, and Olsen, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness features performances from Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Hayley Atwell, Patrick Stewart, and John Krasinski, among others.
A new piece of concept art from Ian Joyner on Instagram provides a new look at Dead Strange conjuring evil spirits. The concept art features the gnarly wounds on Strange's face as seen in the final film and the spirits of the damned are also depicted in terrifying detail. Check out Joyner's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness concept art below:
Click here to see the original post.
Although the horror approach didn't resonate with all Marvel fans, Raimi's unique flair made Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness a considerable outlier in terms of the typical MCU flair. Doctor Strange using the Darkhold to possess his own corpse from another dimension and then conjuring the spirits of the damned makes for an inventive and surprising finale that was scarier than the action-packed climaxes of films like Spider-Man: No Way Home or Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. As is revealed in the final moments of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, however, Strange's use of the Darkhold carries consequences, and the character grows a third eye in the middle of his forehead.
Joyner's concept art makes clear that the filmmakers behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness were interested in exploring the darker side of magic this time around. Fans looking to check out the impressive sequence and compare it to Joyner's concept art are in luck, with the Doctor Strange sequel now available to stream on Disney+. Introducing the ability to possess dead bodies and bring forth the spirits of the damned also opens up interesting possibilities for any potential sequel to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, with Strange potentially dealing with the fallout from tapping into so much dark magic.
Source: Ian Joyner
