Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: What's Next For The Film's Major Players?

With the arrival of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on Disney Plus, many fans are rewatching the film. While some watch just for enjoyment, many have other goals in mind on repeat viewings, such as going through scenes with a fine-tooth comb to pick up Easter eggs they may have missed out on the first time around, or gathering new evidence for their latest theory.

Multiverse of Madness has a particularly packed cast for by solo film standards, including MCU veterans such as Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen as Doctor Strange and the Scarlet Witch, as well as newcomer Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez. The has film introduced characters and plot points that will be important building blocks for the MCU moviung forward. So, what's next for the main characters in Multiverse of Madness?

Doctor Stephen Strange

During the climax of Multiverse of Madness, the film's lead character, Doctor Strange, is forced to use the Darkhold of another universe to dreamwalk into the corpse of his alternate self, Defender Strange, and rescue America Chavez from the Scarlet Witch. At first, Strange seems to have avoided the adverse affects that come with Darkhold use, but in the film's closing moments, he collapses, screaming in the street, as a third eye, similar to that possessed by Sinister Strange, opens in the centre of his forehead.

In the film's mid-credits sequence, Strange is confronted by a new character, Clea, played by Charlize Theron. Clea informs Strange that he has caused an Incursion, and now he must help her fix it. Strange agrees, and the pair disappear through a portal to the Dark Dimension. While this could be the set up for a third Doctor Strange film, some fans believe that the incursion in question could lead to an adaptation of the 'Secret Wars' comic storyline. In that storyline, an Incursion paves the way for numerous Marvel heroes to be kidnapped snd forced to fight each other in an interdimensional realm known as Battleworld.

Wanda Maximoff, The Scarlet Witch

Due to be corrupted by the Darkhold, Wanda Maximoff spends most of Multiverse of Madness as the villain, pursuing America Chavez in a desperate attempt to steal her power and find a universe where she can be with her children. However, faced with a terrified Tommy and Billy at the end of the film, Wanda manages to shake the Darkhold's influence, realising the horror of what she has become. To protect others from the influence of the evil tome, Wanda destroys the Darkhold in every universe, including the copy carved into the walls of the Temple on Mount Wundagore. While Strange assumes that Wanda was killed in the Temple's collapse, this seems unlikely to be the case. Wanda is able to teleport, and many fans have noted a tell-tale scarlet flash in the final moments of the scene depicting Wundagore's demise.

Comic-savvy fans have noted that the film borrows elements from both 'Avengers Disassembled' (Wanda's slaughter of the Illuminati), and 'House of M' (Wanda's desire for a world where she is happy with her children), stories which represent Wanda's biggest villain turns in the comics. This could be a clever move, as the deaths of the Illuminati allow Wanda to deal with the guilt of a 'Disassembled' scenario without needing to kill off any Avengers from the core MCU, while her Multiverse-wide destruction of the Darkhold is a power move on the level of the iconic 'No more Mutants' spell in the comics.

This merging of stories fast-tracked Wanda's plunge to rock bottom, which will allow future MCU projects to begin working on her redemption arc. Whether this begins in the long-rumoured Scarlet Witch solo project, or elsewhere, is unknown at this stage.

America Chavez

America Chavez, played by newcomer Xochitl Gomez, spends her MCU debut as the living MacGuffin of the story, with the Scarlet Witch pursuing the girl for her multiverse-hopping power while Doctor Strange fights to protect her. For most of Multiverse of Madness, America lacks the ability to control her powers, only able to activate them when she is afraid. However, towards the end of the film, bolstered by Strange's belief in her, America is able to take control, sending Wanda back to her alternate self's home in Universe-838, where she is forced to confront what she has become. She ends the film being trained in Sorcery at Kamar-Taj.

Before Covid related delays led to a reshuffle of the MCU's Phase 4 release slate, America Chavez's second appearance would have come in Spider-Man: No Way Home. In this earlier version of the film, America, not Ned, would have been responsible for the alternate Spider-Men arriving in the MCU. Concept art of America's appearance exists, but the idea had to be scrapped once it was decided that Multiverse of Madness would be hitting theatres after No Way Home.

Now, America Chavez's MCU future is a little less clear. There has been some speculation that the character may have a Disney Plus spin-off of her own in the works. Otherwise, it seems highly likely that she will appear as one of the MCU's Young Avengers when the team eventually forms.

Wong

After brief appearances in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Spider-Man: No Way Home, Multiverse of Madness gives fans a bigger look at Wong in action as the Sorceror Supreme. Wong spearheads the defence of Kamar-Taj during the Scarlet Witch's attack, but things very quickly go wrong when America accidentally spirits Strange away on a multiversal excursion mid-battle. Wong ends up as Wanda's captive, forced to take her to the Darkhold Temple on Mount Wundagore. At the end of the film, he returns to his duties at Kamar-Taj, having taken on America Chavez as a student.

Wong's appearances across Phase 4 for have made him one of the MCU's most prominent recurring characters. He is next expected to appear in the upcoming Disney Plus series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.

Tommy and Billy Maximoff

As mentioned earlier, the main goal of the Darkhold-corrupted Scarlet Witch is to travel to a universe where she can be with her twin sons Billy and Tommy. When Strange tries to argue that the boys never really existed, Wanda shuts him down by revealling they are alive and well in every other universe. The Tommy and Billy of Universe-838 feature prominently in the film. Seeing the horror of what she has become in the eyes of her children helps Wanda realise the extent of the Darkhold's corruption, driving her decision to destroy it.

The walls of the Darkhold Temple feature a carving depicting Billy in his superhero costume as Wiccan, proving that Wanda's children are part of the MCU's Scarlet Witch prophecies, and that they do exist, or will again. Recent rumours suggest that a Young Avengers series is in development for Disney Plus, and will adapt the ‘Children’s Crusade’ Storyline. In the comics, this storyline focuses on the team seeking the missing Scarlet Witch under the belief that team members Wiccan and Speed are their reincarnated children. If the rumours are true, this series may be where we see Tommy and Billy next.

Christine Palmer

While the main MCU’s Christine Palmer is featured early in Multiverse of Madness in scenes set at her wedding, the film mostly deals with the character’s universe-838 counterpart. A researcher at the Baxter building, 838 Christine is forced to flee with Strange and America after Wanda slaughters the Illuminati, before she and Strange become trapped in Sinister Strange’s universe. Later, she must protect Doctor Strange’s body from the souls of the damned while he dream-walks into Defender Strange’s corpse to save America.

Clea is expected to take Christine’s place as Doctor Strange’s main love interest, however, that does not mean this is the last we’ve seen of the character. Christine may continue to appear as a supporting character in future Doctor Strange films, or possibly play a role in upcoming seasons of What If..?

The Illuminati

The Illuminati are a group of heroes formed to protect Universe-838, and be the ones to make difficult decisions when problems arise. The group consists of Reed Richards, Black Bolt, Captain Carter, Baron Mordo, a variant Maria Rambeau who became Captain Marvel, and Professor X.

While all of the Illuminati members were killed by Wanda, we are likely to see variants of the characters in other MCU related projects. Captain Carter is already confirmed to reappear in What If..? Season two (though probably not the 838 version), and fans now suspect that Maria Rambeau’s Captain Marvel could also feature in an episode of that series. Reed will appear in the planned Fantastic Four film, while a version of Professor X will appear in the animated reboot series X-Men ‘97, now expected to be counted as the wider Marvel multiverse. Black Bolt may get another chance at life in a rumoured reworking of the Inhumans TV series for Disney Plus.

Finally, we have Mordo, the only Illuminati member to have survived the events of Multiverse of Madness. The main MCU version of Mordo was last seen in Doctor Strange, departing Kamar-Taj with the goal of cutting down the number of Sorcerors in the world. While an early draft of Multiverse of Madness would have had the original Mordo killed in an ill-advised confrontation with the Scarlet Witch, this was cut from the final film, leaving us to assume that MCU Mordo is alive, likely to return at a later date.

It is rare that anything happens in the MCU without a plan, so it's certain that the building blocks placed in Multiverse of Madness will give us some great stories in the future.