The first official trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has arrived – and, as we expected, it looks utterly bonkers.
Released by Marvel Studios on December 22 – and what a lovely, early holiday gift it is, too – Doctor Strange 2's first teaser shows off plenty of multiversal action, Avengers reunions, new character introductions, and the return of a fan-favorite individual from Marvel's What If...? animated anthology series.
Check out the trailer, which is the next movie in Marvel's Phase 4 slate that's set to be released, below:
Marvel fans who have already seen Spider-Man: No Way Home, the latest Marvel movie to hit theaters, will have seen this teaser before. It was one of No Way Home's post-credits scenes, which isn't surprising, given that No Way Home was a multiversal movie in the tone of Doctor Strange 2.
Still, this is the first time that other MCU fanatics will have seen what's in store for Benedict Cumberbatch's Sorcerer Supreme. And it seems that he's going to have a lot on his plate when the Multiverse of Madness arrives midway through 2022.
The first Doctor Strange 2 teaser reveals that Strange, as expected, seeks the aid of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) after multiple Marvel universes begin to collide. It appears that this is an offshoot of the spell that Doctor Strange casts during No Way Home's climax, which was supposed to stop characters from other Marvel universes from bleeding over into the MCU.
Strange's spell, though, doesn't appear to have worked that well. It's either that or, as the film's synopsis suggests, he unleashes an unspeakable evil after an old foe returns and tampers with his experiments on the Time Stone. Judging by the trailer, that foe appears to be Chiwetel Ejiofor's Baron Mordo.
But their reunion should be the least of Strange's worries. The trailer also sees him taking Xochitl Gomez's America Chavez – a time-traveling superhero – under his wing, battling a tentacled monster in New York (some fans think it's Shuma Gorath, while others claim it's Gargantos, whose appearance was teased in a leaked jigsaw puzzle) and traveling to numerous realms of the multiverse.
Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness arrives only in theaters May 6. pic.twitter.com/aVODSzSkpIDecember 22, 2021
The biggest surprise, though, is reserved for the trailer's final few seconds. That's right, Doctor Strange will come face to face with Strange Supreme – the evil incarnation of the character who viewers will recognize from Marvel's What If...? TV show.
It seems that Strange Supreme may be the "unspeakable evil" that Strange and Mordo will unleash if they battle early on the film. After all, Mordo is traveling the world and stealing other sorcerers' powers if he doesn't deem them worthy of them. Given that Doctor Strange himself could be one such sorcerer, it isn't surprising that Mordo returns to deprive him of his magical abilities.
But we digress. Strange Supreme is, well, supremely powerful – as What If...? showed, he's chock-full of other sorcerers' powers, so he'll prove to be tough to stop if he has ambitions of conquering the multiverse. It'll take more than Strange, Wanda, America Chavez and company to stop him if that's the case.
We could be completely wrong on this, of course. There are plenty of rumors and speculation about what will happen, and who may show up, in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. What we do know is that the next Marvel film will be the most surreal and potentially horrifying yet. So we'd better strap in for a mindbending adventure.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness lands exclusively in theaters on May 6, 2022.
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