The new adventures of Doctor Strange from Marvel Studios has been unleashed upon film fans. Like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Loki before it, it promised an adventure across the Marvel Multiverse. This seems to be a trend in not only Marvel movies, not only comic book movies (DC’s upcoming Flash film), but cinema in general with the recent release of Everything Everywhere All At Once. For this, we’re sticking to Marvel films but as we saw in Spider-Man: No Way Home, any previously released Marvel property is fair game. So what did we find? Let’s break down all the Doctor Strange Easter Eggs you may have not noticed going on in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness.
Being that Sam Raimi is directing this one, it only seems fair to ask where Bruce Campbell is going to show up. He has been his best friend for most of his life and starred in all of Raimi’s Evil Dead films. He made memorable appearances in Raimi’s Spider-Man films. Bruce likes to proclaim that he is the only villain to defeat Spider-Man in those films. Here we of course get another great cameo from Campbell. Raimi shows that he still loves to torture his best friend.
In the 838 universe, he is a food vendor selling pizza balls (please make this a real thing). When he gets in Strange’s face about not paying for food he gets a spell that makes him punch himself in the face uncontrollably. This is of course after squirting mustard into his own face. The whole thing reminded fans of his performance in Evil Dead 2 where he fights his own possessed hand. He returns at the end to inform everyone that “It’s Over!”
We learn that monsters seem to be chasing America Chavez across multiple realities trying to steal her powers. In the main MCU reality, we see a tentacled creature going after our young hero. In the comics, the character is named Shuma-Gorath. Because of legal wrangling, the name Shuma-Gorath is a copyright of Heroic Signatures which owns the Conan properties.
The beast originally premiered in the pages of Conan before making its way into Marvel comics but is not owned by the company. They changed this character’s name to Gargantos in this film as there is a similar character to him in the comics. One hint at who has sent the monster after America is shown during its showdown with Doctor Strange. At one point mystical runes pop up protecting the creature from Strange’s magic. The runes are identical to the ones we saw in the battle between Wanda and Agatha in Wandavision. An early sign of whom the real villain is.
To help differentiate between the multiple Earths in the Marvel Multiverse, they have been given numerical designations. Long ago in the comics, we learned that the main reality most of the Marvel books were set in was designated as Earth-616. Fans had questioned if the MCU was a representation of Earth-616 or was another reality. In a guide to the multiple realities that Marvel Comics put out, it said that the MCU was actually Earth-199999. In Spider-Man: Far From Home Mysterio calls the MCU reality Earth-616.
Fans took this as a clue that Mysterio was lying about who he really was since the Earths had different designations. But it looks like that has changed. Christine from Earth-838 informs Strange that in fact the MCU is designated as Earth-616. This confirms that the comics and the movies are wholly independent of each other and not just different realities.
In the Earth-838 universe we see that this reality is protected by the Illuminati. They have created robot guards that roam their headquarters, taking care of any hostile entities. They are of course different versions of the character of Ultron that we first saw in Avengers: Age Of Ultron. Here it would seem the programming of the robot didn’t become corrupted and turn evil. This could be because it was created by someone other than Tony Stark. Someone with an even higher intellect and a more grounded moral compass than Stark possessed. The number one culprit is more than likely . . .
The leader of the Fantastic Four finally makes his MCU debut, and they even listened to fans who thought the best casting for the character would be John Krasinski. A meme has been circulating for a while that showed Krasinski and his wife Emily Blunt decked out in Fantastic Four uniforms saying they would be perfect casting for the couple. Looks like Marvel Studios agrees. Here he shows up as part of the Illuminati. A group that formed to help bring together all the super teams. They decide on what to do about the big threats in the universe and how all their respective teams will handle them. The original lineup included Professor X, Namor, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Reed Richards, and Black Bolt of the Inhumans. Fans have been waiting for the Fantastic Four to enter the MCU and this is the first small step to making that happen.
Patrick Stewart’s participation in the film wasn’t a big surprise. They let the cat out of the bag with some of the early trailers. The question was if he was playing the Xavier we have met before or was this someone new? Well turns out it is a version we had seen before. This Professor X is modeled after the version from the 90s cartoon series that Disney + is resurrecting soon. We see him in his familiar golden hover chair and as he enters the scene we even get a version of the theme song from the old cartoon.
Wanda kidnaps Wong and forces him to take her to Wundergore Mountain. Here the contents of the Darkhold (more on that in a second) have been inscribed into the walls. The location plays as a temple to the Scarlet Witch herself. In the comics, this location has a much stronger tie to the character. Wanda and her brother Pietro are actually born here. The character of Chthon who wrote the original Darkhold imbued a baby Wanda with some of his power which would come to fruition as her magical Hex powers when she grew up.
This would also allow him to control the Scarlet Witch as he tried to escape back into our reality. It would be the reason blamed for her mental breakdown and rewriting of reality in the Avengers Disassembled and House Of M storylines. She doesn’t get off the hook quite so easily in the film but could still be canon if they went back to it later on.
When Wanda breaks into the home of her alternate self that she had been targeting through her Dream Walking we can see on the TV that the boys are watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It’s interesting that after seeing the evil witch in the film poison Snow White that they would be afraid of any witches that came across their path. When Wanda enters the room they yell that she’s a witch and run and hide. A Disney/Marvel synergy Doctor Strange Easter Egg.
The Darkhold is a book of evil magic that we saw in WandaVision. It had corrupted Agatha and seems to get its claws in anyone who uses the book. We have actually seen the book before in live-action Marvel properties. The book showed up on a season of Marvel’s Agents Of SHIELD. It was sought after by many villains on the show before being taken to Hell by Robbie ‘Ghost Rider’ Reyes. But it didn’t stay there and showed up on the series The Runaways. Morgan le Fay wanted to use it to conquer the earth.
All of this before Agatha even got her hands on it. As seen in this film it was deemed too powerful and corruptive and it was destroyed in every reality. Although its influence lives on in those who have used it in the past, meaning it may not be gone forever.
During the first post-credits scene for the film we see a woman tell Doctor Strange that he has caused an incursion and must come with her to stop it from destroying realities. Strange hops into a portal with her and it seems they are off to do some reality jumping adventures. The character wasn’t given much of an introduction in the film but has a long storied connection to Strange in the comics.
She is known as Clea who is a powerful sorcerer in her own right and eventually would become the Sorcerer Supreme for a while. Clea and Strange would eventually get married and become a powerful magical team. She is a niece to the Doctor Strange villain Dormamu, but we’ll see if they keep that continuity in the films. For comic fans this is a great Doctor Strange Easter Egg.
Did you notice any other Doctor Strange Easter Eggs? Let us know in the comments.