Did Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness reveal Strange’s real role in saving the multiverse right at the end? Here’s what it could be.
Doctor Strange might do more harm than good to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s multiverse, based on his actions throughout Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and one detail in the movie’s mid-credits scene, which might have revealed his real role in saving the multiverse. After the chaotic events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the MCU continued exploring the dangers of the multiverse in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and the events of the latter will be key in the upcoming multiversal wars in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars thanks to Doctor Strange’s current role in the MCU.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saw the title sorcerer traveling through different universes as he did his best to keep America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) safe as she was being chased by a dark force that wanted to take her power to travel through the multiverse. Said dark force turned out to be Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), who triggered an even bigger multiversal problem when she started using the Darkhold to travel through the multiverse and control her variants. Strange’s actions through the multiverse positioned him as a key player in the upcoming multiverse crossover at the end of the Multiverse Saga, but one detail in Doctor Strange 2’s mid-credits scene might reveal his real role in saving the multiverse and thus explains why he has to be in the Dark Dimension for that.
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Why Doctor Strange Needs To Be In The Dark Dimension
Doctor Strange’s multiversal travels in his second solo movie triggered incursions, which happen as a result of prolonged multiversal travel and cause one or more universes to be entirely destroyed. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness showed the aftermath of two incursions caused by some of Strange’s variants – one in a universe where Strange traveled the multiverse through dreamwalking to find a way to stop Thanos and another in a universe where Strange dreamwalked across the multiverse to kill versions of himself – and by the end of the movie, Strange’s travels triggered a new incursion that he will have to stop.
There was another important reveal at the end of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, just as everything seemed to have gone back to normal following the destruction of all copies of the Darkhold and America Chavez returning to her universe. As a result of his use of the Darkhold to dreamwalk into the corpse of one of his variants, Strange developed a third eye, just like his variant Sinister Strange did, showing that he has been corrupted by the Darkhold. However, this wasn’t the only big reveal at the end of Doctor Strange 2, as the mid-credits scene introduced Clea (Charlize Theron), who arrived at Earth to warn Strange about the incursion he had caused and tell him he must help fix it, and so he followed her into the Dark Dimension.
Clea taking Strange to the Dark Dimension made sense as she’s actually Dormammu’s niece and she was born in the Dark Dimension, but taking Strange into this specific dimension might lead to something entirely different from Clea and Strange teaming up against Dormammu. The Dark Dimension is an amalgamation of itself and other dimensions Dormammu has conquered and absorbed into it, and because of this, time doesn’t exist in it in the same way it does in the regular universe, as seen in Doctor Strange when Strange arrived to bargain with Dormammu. Now, Strange wouldn’t be able to fix the incursion while in his own universe in a similar way as a surgeon (which he is, after all) can’t perform surgery on themselves, because he can’t repair this mess while he’s inside time – but if he goes to a realm outside time, like the Dark Dimension, he has a bigger chance of repairing it.
Doctor Strange’s “Surgery” Could Destroy Entire Universes
While operating in the Dark Dimension to fix the incursion he caused can be the solution to his multiversal mess, Doctor Strange can also end up destroying entire universes through this “surgery”. In the build-up to the Secret Wars event in Marvel Comics back in 2015, the Illuminati (who were introduced in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, though from another universe) learned the only way to prevent an incursion was to destroy one of the universes involved, and with Secret Wars coming up at the end of the Multiverse Saga/Phase 6, Strange could go on a similar route and limit the scale of incursions by destroying universes from the Dark Dimension, thus helping set up the events of Avengers: Secret Wars.
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The 2015 Secret Wars storyline saw the destruction of the Marvel Universe and various alternate universes, with each one’s respective Earth merging and creating Battleworld, a planet divided into different territories where a “pocket universe” made of a specific storyline or universe resides – for example, there were the Deadlands (containing Marvel Zombies), New Xandar (Annihilation Wave), and Perfection (Ultron Sentinels). This Battleworld was created by Doctor Doom after he and Doctor Strange went to the Beyonders to stop the incursion of their reality and save the multiverse, with Doom taking the Beyonders’ power and incorporating the remnants of the realities destroyed by the incursions to create Battleworld. The MCU’s Strange could have a different role in Avengers: Secret Wars and instead of contributing to saving the multiverse through the creation of Battleworld, his destruction of universes could be key in triggering the main conflict
Is Doctor Strange Really A Hero At All?
Doctor Strange’s journey in the MCU so far has mirrored that of Iron Man in terms of both being selfish and arrogant men who had to go through a near-death experience in order to change their mindset and perspective of everything, thus forcing them to confront their egos and inner demons – however, Strange has had a harder time getting over his ego. This has led Strange to make some questionable decisions, such as helping Peter Parker at the beginning of Spider-Man: No Way Home even though Wong told him not to do it, and while he has shown to have a good heart and good intentions, Strange has caused more trouble than the ones he has solved. However, this doesn’t mean Doctor Strange can’t become a hero, but it might take an even bigger and more dangerous event to finally make him realize what being a hero really is about.
