With multiple universes being explored in Doctor Strange in The Multiverse Of Madness, the audiences were bound to see many variants of several characters. This was, in fact, one of the most anticipated things about the movie for the fans. When it comes to the variants of the titular character, the movie delivers.
The viewers meet multiple variants of Doctor Strange and all of them were interesting in their own right. Some of the best moments of the movie involve these variants of Stephen Strange. One thing the movie excellently conveys is that Doctor Strange goes dark at some point in his life in every universe, except the universe fans know. Regular Doctor Strange that MCU fans have seen and grown to love in several movies is the only variant of Stephen Strange who has resisted the dark urges every time and remained good.
Supreme Strange
Supreme Strange is the variant of Doctor Strange from Earth-838. When the regular Stephen arrives in this universe, fans learn that Doctor Strange in this universe is dead and he is celebrated as a hero for dying while fighting Thanos. Supreme Strange was the Sorcerer Supreme of the universe and he is replaced by Mordo after his demise.
Audiences don't get to see much of him and they learn everything about him from the members of the Illuminati. He is only shown in the past when Black Bolt (a surprise cameo in the movie) killed him because he became a threat due to being consumed by the Darkhold. It is safe to say that he was extremely powerful and he could have caused immense chaos if given the chance. However, he was also not completely evil because he realized how dangerous he is and he himself allowed the Illuminati council to kill him.
Defender Strange
Interestingly, the first Doctor Strange that viewers get to see in Multiverse of Madness is not the regular Doctor Strange, but the Defender Strange. He is called that because he is a member of a group of superheroes called the Defenders. Fans are already aware of the group because there is a Marvel show titled The Defenders, which includes superheroes such as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and more.
Defender Strange is seen protecting America Chavez from monsters sent by Wanda Maximoff. Si At first, he seems to be a good person, doing his best to protect America. However, when he realizes that he can't defeat the creature, he tries to steal America's power so it doesn't get into the wrong hands, knowing that it would kill her. Thus, even though he was doing it for the greater good, he lost his morality. Defender Strange ultimately died a brutal death before he could kill America. Fans thought that his story ended there but his corpse ended up becoming an asset later on.
Sinister Strange
Sinister Strange is the evilest variant of Doctor Strange the viewers come across in the film. To get to a universe where he could be with Christine, he gave in to the Darkhold and let it consume him completely. This led him to destroy his own universe where everything is dead except him. Because of the Darkhold's power, he could open his third eye.
The character demonstrated the dark potential of the Darkhold and how bad it can get. He reminded fans a lot of the Strange Supreme in What If...?, who was also a Doctor Strange variant and who ended up destroying his universe because he wanted to prevent Christine's death. However, while Strange Supreme tried to atone for his mistakes by the end, Sinister Strange remained evil until he died.
Undead Strange
Undead Strange is one of the coolest characters to come out of the Doctor Strange sequel. He is also known as Zombie Strange in the fandom because he looked and acted like a zombie. He is the corpse of Defender Strange, possessed by the regular Stephen Strange. Stephen dreamwalked into him using the Darkhold from the Book of the Damned, which is one of the most shocking moments in Multiverse of Madness.
Fans have loved him because he was nothing like anything they have seen in the live-action MCU films. One of the most iconic scenes was when the dark souls were trying to pull him deeper into the Darkhold, but Stephen resisted and used them to create Dead Strange's cloak. Then he releases them towards Wanda to distract her from taking America's power and killing her. Dead Strange was certainly a unique and interesting concept that MCU fans will not forget for a long time.
Doctor Strange
Fans were introduced to this Stephen Strange in Doctor Strange and since then, he has appeared in numerous films in the MCU. The character has become immensely important in Phase-4 of MCU and many think of him as the new leader. Of all the variants of Doctor Strange, there is no doubt that regular Stephen Strange is the best among all, primarily, because he is the one that didn't let go of his morality and goodness until the end even after using Darkhold's powers.
Also, this Doctor Strange has the best quotes in Multiverse of Madness, which made the movie all the more enjoyable. Even though the story should have been more focused on him since it was his film, he still stole the fans' hearts. A very big twist came with his arc at the end of the movie when audiences saw him opening his third eye, which is something that only Sinister Strange was seen doing. So, it will be exciting to see what his future holds after coming in contact with the Darkhold.