Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness set up Stephen Strange to be a key player in the Multiverse Saga. Speaking at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed that Phases 4-6 of the MCU are officially titled "The Multiverse Saga." Marvel is building up towards an epic confrontation with Kang the Conqueror in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, but the climax will be a multiversal catastrophe in Avengers: Secret Wars.
Doctor Strange is clearly being positioned for a major role in the Multiverse Saga. He took what can best be described as a multiversal road trip in Doctor Strange 2, and he learned the greatest threat posed by interdimensional travel. Should a traveler from one dimension leave too great a "footprint" on another, they risk causing an event called an incursion in which multiple timelines are mutually destroyed. Strange returned to Earth-616 transformed by his experiences, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' post-credits scene saw him head out into the multiverse to try to prevent an incursion he had apparently caused.
Avengers: Secret Wars is inspired by a multiversal comic book story by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic. In the build-up to Secret Wars, Strange committed himself to saving the multiverse. He left Earth-616, traveling into the multiverse and joining a group called the Black Priests who were going to extreme lengths to prevent incursions running out of control. They had discovered all these incursions originated from alternate Earths, and began destroying Earths in order to save their native universes. Strange, viewing this as a radical form of surgery, became the greatest champion of the Black Priests - known as the Eye.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Set Up Doctor Strange's Secret Wars Arc
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness clearly set Stephen Strange up for something akin to his arc in the build-up to the Secret Wars comic book event. Strange continually presented himself as a surgeon rather than a superhero, willing and able to do what was necessary to preserve all that is. Granted, the film's third act saw Strange rebel against this logic, trusting America Chavez to make the right choices rather than killing her so Scarlet Witch could not claim her power, but that went against his every instinct. It's easy to imagine a scenario where Strange reverted to type, to the kind of logic he followed when he worked with the Black Priests in the comics, and he began considering himself a surgeon again. Doctor Strange 2 then sent him off into the multiverse to fight incursions, giving Doctor Strange a third eye to potentially explain a new title. With Secret Wars now confirmed on the horizon, none of this looks coincidental.
The setup is clear, but this naturally raises questions of exactly where and how Strange's story will continue in the MCU. There's no obvious place for him in Phase 5, but in truth that would be wise. It would mean Strange has more time in the multiverse, growing and changing, becoming the Eye. He could then return in Phase 6 - either in one of the eight unannounced MCU films and TV shows, or in 2025's Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, perhaps as the leader of a resistance movement against the Kang variants. Assuming the multiversal war is entirely caused by Kangs, then Strange and his allies could be taking similar steps, destroying Earths so variants of Kang were erased. Operating from realms like the Dark Dimension, places outside the flow of time, they would be able to take such action without risking causing incursions. Assuming Marvel loosely follow the comics, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness really has set up Strange to be a key player - but, as in the comics, he's destined to fail. The incursions will indeed run out of control, culminating in Avengers: Secret Wars, with all Strange's sacrifices failing to save the day.
