Spider-Man: Far From Home Set Up Major Problems For Doctor Strange 2

Spider-Man: Far From Home caused major problems for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The Infinity Saga has come to an end, with Spider-Man: Far From Home essentially serving as an extended epilogue.

The film served as important setup for Phase 4, establishing the emotional consequences of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. One of Spider-Man: Far From Home's post-credits scenes transformed Spider-Man's status quo, with Mysterio's agents revealing his secret identity to the world and blaming him for Quentin Beck's death; another revealed Nick Fury and Maria Hill are setting up some sort of cosmic organization, probably a group called SWORD who protect Earth from extraterrestrial threats in the comics, and are confirmed to appear in the Disney+ WandaVision series.

One other detail, however, went largely unnoticed; Spider-Man: Far From Home also subtly sets up major problems for Doctor Strange 2. The main antagonist, Mysterio, was attempting to persuade the world he was actually a supervillain; as such, Mysterio created a fake costume that was reminiscent of well-known heroes. According to producer Eric Carroll, the costume was specifically a "cross between Iron Man and Dr. Strange." This implies a major change in Doctor Strange's own status quo, because presumably he's now publicly known after battling the Black Order on the streets of New York and participating in the third-act war against Thanos and his armies in Avengers: Endgame.

This detail from Spider-Man: Far From Home significant implications for the MCU going forward. In Doctor Strange, the Masters of the Mystic Arts were treated as a sort of urban legend, and Strange himself only learned about them when he stumbled upon someone they'd helped. Even the Asgardians didn't seem to know they existed, because when Thor encountered Doctor Strange in the post-credits scene, he was surprised. "So, Earth has wizards now, huh," he observed. Now, though, they're apparently public knowledge - which means everyone knows magic is real.

No doubt many will be fascinated at the idea of using magic, and there will be countless people searching to find a way to Kamar-Taj. The ranks of the Masters of the Mystic Arts will be growing at an unprecedented rate; but what will happen to those who are rejected, or who find other sources of magic? There will be other tomes like the Book of Cagliostro out there, books that collect dark magic with the potential to tear reality itself apart. Indeed, in the comics, the Book of Cagliostro contained notes sources from a forbidden book called the Darkhold. This is the source of some of the darkest magic of all, with pages from the Darkhold unleashing the curses of vampirism and lycanthropy, and responsible for horrors such as the legend of Sleepy Hollow. The Masters of the Mystic Arts will constantly be reacting to new threats, new enemies, and potential end-of-the-world scenarios unwittingly unleashed by novices who have no idea what they're doing.

Making matters worse, the Masters of the Mystic Arts have lost the Time Stone, their most potent weapon. They had previously used the Time Stone to peer into the future and identify potential threats, allowing them to be proactive; what's more, in Avengers: Infinity War Strange showed just how useful the Time Stone was in terms of putting together a surefire strategy. Now the Masters of the Mystic Arts will be flying blind for the first time in centuries in Doctor Strange 2, just at the moment when the world is most at risk.

More: Doctor Strange 2 Can Reuse Infinity War's Scrapped Iron Man Suit Swap Scene