Rumored Doctor Strange 2 Synopsis Teases 'Unspeakable Evil'
The Doctor is in... trouble.
A new synopsis for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has appeared on both IMDb and the casting website Backstage, and in addition to filling in a plot detail or two, it just might give us an idea of the villain the Sorcerer Supreme will be facing in the sequel (via Bounding into Comics). Spoiler alert: if it is who we think it is, it'll make facing off with the dread Dormammu seem like a pleasant stroll in the park.
The synopsis indicates that Strange will still (again?) be in possession of the Eye of Agamotto-powering Time Stone, which he'll be continuing to delve into the inner workings of. But his research will be interrupted by an "old friend turned enemy" (almost certainly Chiwetel Ejiofor's Baron Mordo) who seeks to destroy every sorcerer on the planet. (You'll recall that this goal lines up well with Mordo's final line in the post-credits sequence of Doctor Strange: "Too many sorcerers.")
This adversary's meddling, then, will lead to Strange inadvertently releasing an "unspeakable evil," because of course it will. Just what is the nature of the evil we're talking about here? We have a pretty darned good idea, and we have in mind a classic Marvel baddie who will really put the Madness in the flick's title.
Could Doctor Strange 2 introduce Nightmare?
We refer to Nightmare, an interdimensional entity (that is, pretty much a deity) who is literally the embodiment of the worst dreams you and everyone else have ever had. He controls the Nightmare Realm within the Dream Dimension, and when he decides to meddle in Earthly affairs, he often does so by messing with the minds of some of the world's most powerful beings, such as Cloak and Dagger, Spider-Man, and the Hulk.
Nightmare is able to trap even the most skilled sorcerers within his own personal dimension; he's done this to Strange himself, a predicament the good Doctor was only able to escape from with assistance from the Ancient One. He's even managed to physically possess Strange; interestingly, he lured the Sorcerer Supreme into this trap by taking control of Morbius, the Living Vampire, whom we'll be seeing onscreen for the first time very shortly thanks to Sony and its Sony Universe of Marvel Characters (which is starting to look just a bit more connected to the MCU than previously thought).
In other words, Nightmare lives up to his name, and he can only be conquered by one who has completely negated their fear. If we're right about his being the villain of Doctor Strange 2, and we think we are, then Strange is going to need all the help he can get banishing the entity back to his own terrible dimension. Of course, we already know that he'll have some, in the form of the most powerful (albeit slightly unstable) character in the MCU.
How will Scarlet Witch figure into the events of Doctor Strange 2?
Yes, according to Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige, Wanda Maximoff — AKA Scarlet Witch, although she's yet to be referred to by that moniker onscreen — has recently leveled up. She would have single-handedly killed Thanos during the events of Avengers: Endgame if the Mad Titan had not redirected the efforts of his entire army toward stopping her, and the fact that she'll be co-starring in Doctor Strange 2 — which, again, is subtitled In the Multiverse of Madness — leads us to believe that her potent reality-warping powers from the comics are about to come into play, big time.
We know that the sequel will lead directly into the upcoming Disney+ WandaVision, which appears to take place at least partially in some sort of alternate or pocket dimension, considering that it features Wanda and Vision — who, the last we checked, is quite dead — living an idyllic existence in a setting highly reminiscent of a '50s sitcom. This suggests that it's during the events of Multiverse of Madness that Wanda's most extreme iteration of her powers will manifest in earnest — and since she'll then apparently feel the need to take a breather by retreating to an alternate reality with her deceased android beau, the ways in which she's required to use them will likely take a pretty serious toll.
Despite the fact that Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson has sadly departed the sequel, we're still pretty pumped for the good Doctor's next go-round. We'll be on hand to offer up all the news worth reporting on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as soon as it breaks; the flick is slated for release on May 7, 2021.