While it made half the amount of the MCU’s top-grossing solo movies, like Black Panther and Captain Marvel, 2016’s Doctor Strange was a palpable box office hit. Benedict Cumberbatch made the Sorcerer Supreme a globally recognized icon, and audiences were excited to see more of his trippy, mind-boggling adventures.
Marvel has announced a second Doctor Strange film for a 2021 release. Strange’s pivotal roles in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame will go a long way towards drumming up interest in the sequel. So, here are 5 Things That Have Been Confirmed For Doctor Strange 2 (And 5 Fan Theories).
Confirmed: It’s called Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Almost every MCU sequel has come with a colon, followed by the film’s subtitle. Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Infinity War, Thor: Ragnarok – until now, the MCU’s titling formula has been taken from the comic book medium. But that’s about to change with some interesting new titles.
The upcoming Shang-Chi movie will be called Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. And the Doctor Strange sequel will be called Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. As the title suggests, the film’s plot will explore the existence of the multiverse that was first teased in the original Doctor Strange film.
Fan theory: Wong will get a bigger role
In 2016’s Doctor Strange, Benedict Wong was given a supporting role as Wong, the sworn protector of the Sanctum Sanctorum who initially rejected Stephen Strange as a potential Master of the Mystic Arts. By the end of the movie, as Strange proved himself to be a hero and saved Wong’s life, the two had become best friends.
Their bond grew throughout the past two Avengers movies, and throughout that time, Wong has only gotten more popular among Marvel’s fan base. Marvel has always been good at listening to its fans and giving them more of what they like, so Wong could have a bigger role in the Doctor Strange sequel.
Confirmed: Wanda Maximoff will appear alongside Stephen Strange
When Marvel Studios first announced Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness at this summer’s Comic-Con, it came with the news that Wanda Maximoff would be appearing alongside Stephen Strange in a supporting role in the film. It makes sense that the two will be teaming up, as they’re the MCU’s magical characters.
Wanda’s Disney+ series WandaVision will be hitting the Mouse House’s streaming service a couple of weeks before the Doctor Strange sequel, and it will reportedly lead directly into it. The series will center around Wanda’s relationship with Vision, as well as how she gets her alter ego Scarlet Witch.
Fan theory: Wanda will screw up the multiverse
Since the Doctor Strange sequel will take place after WandaVision, it stands to reason that Wanda will be the reason for the multiverse-related chaos that the Sorcerer Supreme is tasked with containing. In WandaVision, Vision will somehow reappear following his death in Avengers: Infinity War.
This could follow a similar plot to “House of M,” in which Scarlet Witch was so heartbroken following the death of her children that she warped reality to bring them back and it had dire cosmic consequences. If she does the same with Vision, she could create the titular “madness” across the multiverse, necessitating the intervention of Stephen Strange.
Confirmed: It’s due to be released on May 7, 2021
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be hitting theaters on May 7, 2021. The year will see the MCU release four movies for the first time: this one, Thor: Love and Thunder, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and an as-yet-untitled sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home.
In its release window, the Doctor Strange sequel will face competition from The Matrix 4, John Wick: Chapter 4 (two Keanu Reeves-starring sequels curiously releasing on the same day), Jurassic World 3, and Fast & Furious 10, which promises to be the final film in the franchise. So, it’s got some pretty stiff competition.
Fan theory: Stephen Strange will face consequences for giving up the Time Stone
Stephen Strange was sworn to protect the Time Stone with his life. However, when Thanos was about to kill Tony Stark, the Sorcerer Supreme stopped him and exchanged his life for the Time Stone.
Having seen 14 million futures, Strange knew that Thanos was always going to succeed and that Tony needed to be alive to invent a time machine, retrieve the six Infinity Stones, and eventually give his life to ensure that the world would never face the threat of Thanos and his armies again. It all worked out for the best, but Strange might still face consequences for breaking his oath.
Confirmed: Scott Derrickson is back in the director’s chair
Scott Derrickson’s inspired direction is what elevated the first Doctor Strange movie from generic superhero origin story to engaging VFX-fest. He established the character of Stephen Strange and his relationships with Wong, Christine Palmer, the Ancient One, the Masters of the Mystic Arts, and the Cloak of Levitation brilliantly in the first movie.
So, it wasn’t a difficult decision for Marvel to bring him back to helm the sequel. And now that the character’s pesky origins are out of the way, Derrickson is free to dive into some of the weirder territories he wasn’t able to explore in the first movie.
Fan theory: We’ll see a bunch of parallel universes
As long as Marvel is taking up deep into the multiverse with the sequel to Doctor Strange, fans are hoping they’ll go really wild with it. We could see a bunch of parallel realities within the Marvel universe. One that a lot of fans are hoping to see is the Marvel Zombies universe.
This was teased in Spider-Man: Far From Home when one of Mysterio’s illusions involved an undead Iron Man rising from his grave and attacking Spidey. It will also reportedly be one of the possibilities explored in the upcoming anthology series What If...?, which will be premiering on Disney+.
Confirmed: It’ll be the MCU’s first horror film
Marvel has described Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as the MCU’s first horror movie. Kevin Feige likes to say that every film in the franchise is a different genre – Ant-Man is a heist movie, Captain Marvel is a ‘90s action movie, Black Widow will be a spy thriller etc. – and this will be its first foray into the horror genre.
This should be right up director Scott Derrickson’s alley, as he got his start helming horror films like Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Whether the horror elements mean the film will deviate from the MCU’s standard PG-13 rating and into more daring R-rated territory remains to be seen, but it’ll probably still carry a PG-13 rating.
Fan theory: Nightmare will be the villain
Scott Derrickson reportedly wanted to introduce the iconic villain Nightmare in the first Doctor Strange movie, but there wasn’t room for him in the movie that was obligated to tell the Sorcerer Supreme’s origin story. Derrickson was fascinated by the idea that our nightmares actually take place in an alternate dimension.
This, paired with the fact that the Doctor Strange sequel will apparently be a horror movie, has got some fans speculating that Nightmare will be the film’s primary villain. There are plenty of terrific villains to choose from in the Doctor Strange oeuvre, but Nightmare seems to suit this story.