Marvel shared a new trailer and poster for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and both are loaded with very exciting details. Of course, Marvel has been known to throw red herrings into their trailers in the past so a lot of what we see in this new marketing for the upcoming film may just be there to intentionally throw us off, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot to take away.
We’ll start with the trailer, which opens up with a dream sequence that Strange explains he dreams every night. In that sequence we see a new character, America Chavez. Played by Xochitl Gomez, this member of the Young Avengers will make her debut in the upcoming film. We first see her being restrained and held in front of some sort of monster. Based on some other shots from the trailer, we can assume this is not actually from Strange’s dream.
Strange explains that after he wakes up from that recurring dream, “the nightmare begins.” There has been a lot of speculation that the villain known as Nightmare might be involved in this film and this line is only going to fuel that theory.
We then see Strange speaking with Wong who tells him “you opened the doorway between universes and we don’t know who or what will walk through it.” This calls back to Spider-Man: No Way Home which will be the catalyst for this film.
We then get a glimpse od Wanda Maximoff, who we have known for sometime would be involved in this movie. Strange asks her what she knows about the multiverse and she tells him Vision told her it was dangerous. Strange informs her he was right.
During Wanda’s response, we also see a few shots what appears to be Kamar-Taj under attack. Several sorcerers prepare for the attack, including Rintrah, the big green bull character who stands above the rest. Strange and Wong are in attendance for this attack.
We get our first look at Mordo in this trailer and he is sporting some new hair. He informs Strange that his “desecration of reality will not go unpunished” as we see him being put in some kind of cuffs. There seems to be an interesting dynamic happening with Mordo in this trailer that leaves us wondering whether his is a friend or foe.
Now, things get really interesting. Strange, now cuffed, is led through some kind of facility by what appears to be Ultron-like drones. They lead him past some strange statues and up a flight of stairs.
He eventually makes his way into a large room where he looks up at several chairs, two of them occupied. A third silhouette enters the room and makes its way to another one of the chairs. There is no way to tell for sure who these shadows belong to, but they certainly take on some familiar shapes.
As you can see in the image above, the person still making their way to a chair appears to have some kind of swords strapped to their back. This has led many to believe that this may be Blade. The seated figure on the right appears to be wearing a hood, leading many to think it may be Doctor Doom. The final figure, seated on the left is perhaps the most interesting.
Based on the form-fitting suit this mystery person appears to be wearing, as well as the apparent white spot on the left of their chest, has a lot of fans assuming this is Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. This is possible, as the Fantastic Four will be joining the MCU soon, but this is also very likely in a completely different universe and might not be the version of the character we see in the MCU going forward.
However, this grouping of characters is very reminiscent of a group in Marvel Comics known as the Illuminati. The group consists of Iron Man, Reed Richards, Charles Xavier, Namor, Black Bolt and Doctor Strange and serves as a sort of superhero council that meets in secret and decides how they should go about handling potentially Earth-threatning situations. Obviously, there are some different characters in play here but there could be some crossover with the Cabal, which is a villainous equivalent of this group and includes Doctor Doom.
The idea of this being Marvel’s Illuminati is furthered by the rumor of Tom Cruise potentially playing an alternate universe version of Tony Stark and the mysterious voice we hear at this moment of the trailer, which sounds a lot like Patrick Stewart saying “we should tell him the truth.” At that moment, Strange comes face to face with what appears to be a bald character in the same room. The trailer would obviously lead you to believe this is him meeting Charles Xavier for the first time, but a more likely scenario would be that this is actually another version of the Ancient One, based on Strange’s reaction.
Strange and Chavez then fall through various dimensions, one of which is inhabited by dinosaurs. This could be our first look at the Savage Land, a hidden portion of Antarctica where dinosaurs still exist in the Marvel Universe. Just before the trailer transitions into another shot, we get a very brief glimpse of Strange falling into an animated universe. Could a portion of this movie actually be animated!? We’ll come back to that a little later.
We later see another mystery character, glowing with seemingly the same abilities of Captain Marvel, attack Wanda. It appears this fight is happening in that same facility we saw Strange in earlier. It’s possible this is a variant of Captain Marvel but there is also some speculation regarding this possibly being the aforementioned Tony Stark variant, who in this universe would be the Superior Iron Man.
We get a couple more looks at America Chavez, who appears to be a very important character in this film, at least based on her presence in this trailer.
Chavez warns Strange for a projectile being hurled at them by Shuma Gorath, an other-dimensional creature who appears to be attacking New York. Who knows what universe we’re in at this moment though.
A conversation between Wanda and Strange is heard during this sequence, in which Wanda says “you break the rules and become a hero. I do it and I become the enemy. That doesn’t seem fair.” She has a very good point there. As she says this we see her coming face to face with herself in what looks like her home back in Westview as seen in WandaVision. I have a bad feeling about what Wanda is about to go through and what she might become.
We then get a glimpse of an apparent fight between Mordo and Strange as the former swings some kind of weapon at the latter. However, he connects with those cuffs we saw on Strange earlier and appears to free him. I still don’t know what to make of Mordo. Though, if the film sticks to the comics, he can’t be trusted.
We see Wanda again, apparently back in that facility but this time there is blood on her face. She is using her magic as the camera quickly zooms into her eye where we see a reflection of two cells, one of which appears to be occupied. In the TV spot that teased the release of this trailer online, we see Chavez in a cell just like this. Wanda appears to be rescuing Strange and Chavez from this possible Illuminati facility.
We then see Strange doing some kind of dark magic as black shadow creatures surround him in a scene that looks like it’s right out of a horror movie.
And finally, we end on a shot of a dark and twisted Strange who appears to have been combined with those same shadow creatures. It’s possible this is the Strange Supreme who we’ve seen both in this trailer and in the previous one after first meeting him in Marvel’s What If…? It’s also possible that this twisted version of Strange could become the MCU’s version of the aforementioned Nightmare.
The trailer then comes to a close after the title card reminds us that the film will come to theaters on May 6th.
That’s not the end of the details we got for this movie however as the film’s poster still has some interesting visuals to offer.
At first glance, the poster features Strange shattering some glass, symbolizing him breaking down the doorway to the multiverse. The shards of glass feature the reflections of some of the characters featured in the film, like Chavez, Wanda, Mordo, Christine Palmer and of course Strange. However, if you look closer you’ll see multiple reflections of some of these characters again symbolizing the presence of multiple versions of these characters across the multiverse.
That’s still not all though as there are a few very interesting little details hidden in these shards of glass. The first can be found in the top right of the poster. We can see the reflection of a small white star that could be a part of the costume of Captain America. Which version of Cap this belongs to remains to be seen and there are a lot of possibilities there, given that we’ve had three just in the universe with which we are already familiar. However, it is also very possible this is just a reference to Chavez, who wears the white star on her back.
The next interesting reflection can be found in the bottom right and features the unmistakable shield of Captain Carter. The variant of Peggy Carter, who we met in Marvel’s What If…?, could very well make an appearance in this film. And if that is the case, could she do so in that animated universe we got a brief glimpse of earlier?
And finally, the one that is sure to have fans in a tizzy for some time. In the top left of the poster, you can catch a glimpse of a very dull reflection of a figure in a red costume with large black and white eyes.
It is very possible this is Spider-Man, being that the character was instrumental in Strange opening up the multiverse in the first place. However, the shape of the eyes does seem just a bit off and might be more reminiscent of another Marvel character with a similar color scheme…
That’s right. There may just be a Deadpool reflection hidden in the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness poster. Yes, this may seem a bit farfetched and yes it would make a lot of sense for that to be Spider-Man instead, but there is evidence that points to Deadpool being present as well.
Strange is jumping through different universes in this film. Who’s to say he doesn’t eventually find his way to Deadpool’s? It’s even more possible if you truly believe that is Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier Strange meets in that facility in the trailer. If this film is taking characters from one Fox-owned franchise (potentially more if Reed and Doom are in there as well) why not another one? Deadpool is in the plans for Marvel's future and this is certainly one way to introduce him, if with nothing more than a brief cameo.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness comes to theaters on May 6th.