Grisly Multiverse Of Madness Concept Art Shows A Desert Of Doctor Strange Corpses
"Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" is already a pretty grisly project by the standards of a typical Disney or Marvel movie. There are reanimated corpses, a monster's eyeball getting popped out of its head like a champagne cork, and all those multiverse Illuminati members who get dispatched in increasingly gruesome fashion by the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). But if you're at all familiar with the work of director Sam Raimi, who in addition to his time directing the Tobey Maguire "Spider-Man" trilogy made his bones with R-rated gorefests like the "Evil Dead" movies and "Darkman," you know that it probably could have gotten a lot darker.
Some recently released concept art from artist Thomas du Crest backs that up, with the added wrinkle that it was probably created before Sam Raimi was brought on board, and before Scott Derrickson's exit from the project. In any case, du Crest's work shows us a fascinating glimpse at what "Multiverse of Madness" might look like in another corner of the multiverse. And with its desert of corpses of numerous multiversal Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) variants, that universe must be a frightening one indeed.
Doctor Strange, Baron Mordo, and Wong all appear in the concept art
In his ArtStation post sharing the concept art, Thomas du Crest offers very little context about the shocking images. He calls them "[e]arly explorations for the Incursion Universe," and shares that at the time they were created, "it was more of a desert filled with dead Strange variants," something that is abundantly clear from the images themselves. Also clear are the "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" characters Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Wong (Benedict Wong), and Dr. Stephen Strange himself (Benedict Cumberbatch), seemingly exploring this terrifying Incursion Universe — with no America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) in sight.
The only other detail of note in the post is the date of 2020. Scott Derrickson's exit from "Multiverse of Madness" was announced in early 2020, so it's possible that this concept art reflects what his version of the movie would have been like. But it's also possible that it was commissioned after he had already taken his leave.
Perhaps fans will learn more about the various incarnations that "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" went through on its way to its finished state, but for now this concept art is intriguing (and creepy) enough on its own.