Warning: SPOILERS for Marvel's What If...? episode 4, "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead Of His Hands?"

Marvel's What If...? episode 4 tacitly debunked the fan theory that Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) will be evil in Spider-Man: No Way Home. In "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead Of His Hands," an alt-universe version of the Sorcerer Supreme went mad with power as he tried to reverse the death of his love, Dr. Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams). Not even an alternate version of Doctor Strange sent by the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) could stop the insane Sorcerer Supreme from collapsing his timeline.

Doctor Strange will be Peter Parker's (Tom Holland) new mentor (of sorts) in Spider-Man: No Way Home, taking the traditional place of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). Parker turns to the Sorcerer Supreme for magical help in resolving his dilemma that the world now knows he's Spider-Man, thanks to J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) and Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) publicly revealing Peter's secret identity in Spider-Man: Far From Home. But Doctor Strange's magic accidentally opens up the Multiverse, which means Tom Holland's Spidey encountering the deadly foes of his predecessors, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, like the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), and Electro (Jamie Foxx). However, fans are also suspicious of Doctor Strange himself thanks to his unusual behavior in Spider-Man: No Way Home's trailer, and the theory persists that Doctor Strange is evil and the movie's secret villain.

Related: The MCU Just Better Explained Doctor Strange's No Way Home Mistake

However, the fact that What If...? episode 4 showcased an evil Doctor Strange likely means that the Sorcerer Supreme won't be evil in Spider-Man: No Way Home in spite of appearances. This is because What If...? is purposely avoiding alt-universe scenarios that will be seen in upcoming Marvel movies. What If...?'s head writer A.C. Bradley and director Bryan Andrews pitched several ideas for the animated series but a few were rejected because of their similarities to MCU movies in Phase 4. For instance, What If...?'s creative team wanted to do an episode about Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) becoming Thor, but that's the plot of Thor: Love and Thunder. Bradley also had an idea for a Guardians of the Galaxy episode that was scrapped because it was too close to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. There was also a rejected pitch about old man Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Professor Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) teaming up, but Avengers: Endgame did it already in live-action.

What if episode 4 Doctor Strange Evil doctor strange

By this logic, if Doctor Strange is going to be evil in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Marvel wouldn't allow an evil Doctor Strange to be the subject of an entire What If...? episode. What If...? would have essentially taken the wind out of the sails of an evil Doctor Strange twist in No Way Home three months before the hotly-anticipated third MCU Spider-Man movie premieres. However, the Multiverse itself is fair game since that's the entire basis of What If...? Spider-Man: Far From Home teased the Multiverse exists and Loki further explored variations to the Sacred Timeline, but No Way Home will introduce alt-realities in the MCU movies before Doctor Strange and the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) become fully embroiled in it in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.

What If...? has done an excellent job of exploring realities and concepts that can't and won't be done in the mainline MCU, like Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) becoming a super soldier, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) becoming Star-Lord, and the Avengers being murdered by Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) before they could assemble. It's also now clear that What If...?'s mandate is to present scenarios that purposely won't be part of the mainline MCU. While Marvel could still swerve fans' expectations and present an evil live-action Doctor Strange in some fashion, it's safe to say that the Sorcerer Supreme won't be a power-mad maniac in Spider-Man: No Way Home that he was in What If...? episode 4.

Next: Doctor Strange Just Explained How Multiple Spider-Men Can Appear In No Way Home

Marvel's What If...? streams Wednesdays on Disney+.

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