This Doctor Strange 2 Cameo Means More Than All The Rest Combined
Warning: This article contains spoilers for "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness"
While "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" was rumored to have just about every cameo you could imagine, only a handful came to fruition. Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell), Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Captain Marvel (Lashana Lynch), Black Bolt (Anson Mount), and Reed Richards (John Krasinski) all appeared briefly as members of the Illuminati before being killed by Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen).
Despite some of these cameos being revealed in trailers and TV spots before the film, Kraskini and Mount's appearances were quite the shock. The former was especially exciting given that "The Office" star was fan cast as Reed Richards many years ago. Hopeful fans weren't sure it would come to fruition, but now that it has, we can breathe a sigh of relief. Krasinski should be able to return as Reed from another universe, especially now that we know different variants of a character can look exactly the same across the multiverse.
Krasinski's cameo was probably the best of the bunch, but there was another in the film that holds much more weight than all the others combined.
Charlize Theron debuts as the powerful Clea
In the mid-credits scene of "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," a mystery character appears on the streets of New York while Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is taking a stroll. A blonde-haired beauty with some sick purple eyeliner appears and tells Stephen that he created an incursion — what happens when two universes collide. She introduces herself as Clea (Charlize Theron) and uses a gnarly blade to cut a portal open to a mystery dimension. The duo takes off through the portal to parts unknown, and Clea disappears as quickly as she arrives.
Theron's appearance is exciting enough, as it's always thrilling when a new A-lister joins the MCU out of nowhere. But the reveal that she's playing Clea is doubly exciting as this is a major player from Marvel Comics. While her history is complicated, the abridged version is that Clea is a very powerful extra-dimensional being whose uncle is Dormammu. She also marries Stephen (Christine who?), which could change the former's trajectory entirely. However, Stephen and Clea eventually separate after she becomes the ruler of the Dark Dimension. Their very twisted storyline in the comics leaves the writers for a potential third "Doctor Strange" film with plenty of source material to pull from, which might shape the MCU entirely.
Clea's cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness could dramatically shape the MCU
Clea's appearance in the mid-credits scene suggests we will definitely be seeing her again in the MCU. The end of the film also confirms that Doctor Strange will be back, so we expect a third solo flick to feature the duo traveling through the multiverse and fixing some mistakes. We probably won't see any Illuminati members again (unless John Krasinski is confirmed to play Reed Richards in our MCU's Earth-616 continuity for the upcoming Fantastic Four film), so Clea's cameo certainly stands out as the most important.
In 2021's "Death of Doctor Strange #1," our beloved Stephen dies at the hands of Kaecilius. Just before his last breath, Stephen bequeaths the Cloak of Levitation to Clea. She takes his name and receives his blessing to become the Sorcerer Supreme. Clea Strange is currently running the show in the comics in the "Strange" series, and this very well could mean Theron takes on the mantle as Sorcerer Supreme in the near MCU future. This is a trend that's been going on with some of our beloved Infinity Saga characters, so why wouldn't the Sorcerer Supreme mantle be passed on? Something would have to happen to Wong (shudder) for this to happen in the MCU, so we'll have to see what Kevin Feige and company have planned — if Clea taking over is a real thing, that is.
With Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) as the new Captain America, Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) as the new Hawkeye, and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) as our new Black Widow (basically), it would make sense for Theron to take over Benedict Cumberbatch's role.
For now, mum is the word on Theron's involvement in any future MCU films. She did cryptically tweet that the cat was out of the bag but has yet to hint that she might be showing up in more projects. Our guess? She definitely is, and she might be donning the Cloak of Levitation sooner than we think.