Is Avengers: Doomsday Hiding A Crucial Character In Plain Sight?
Where exactly is the Sorcerer Supreme?
After 38 films and 18 television shows across nearly two decades, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has come a long way from just setting up the original six Avengers. Despite still being a couple hundred C- and D-list characters short of the source material, moments like the triumphant conclusion of Avengers: Endgame wouldn’t be possible without the MCU building out a massive collection of heroes with their own niches. There’s a thrill to seeing Black Panther interact with the Fantastic Four, or seeing Frank Castle begrudgingly forced to work with Spider-Man, because they occupy such distinct spaces in a world that somehow still feels coherent when they collide.
Of course, the downside of the MCU’s sheer abundance of characters is that not all of them can show up in every project. It’s highly unlikely that Daredevil will show up in Avengers: Doomsday, but not as unlikely as a Hail Mary appearance by the title characters of Eternals — for the most part, the decision-making behind which characters appear in which big crossover events makes sense. But so far, there’s one character who’s been suspiciously absent from the marketing for Doomsday. Is there any chance that Doctor Strange, a character crucial to the 2015 comic book storyline the film is based on, actually won’t be in the movie, or is his role being cleverly hidden?
Having played such a crucial role in Infinity War, it feels ridiculous to think Doctor Strange wouldn’t make himself available for a threat as big as Doom.
The Sheriff of Agamotto, Explained
To understand why it’s so strange that Doctor Strange seems to be missing from Avengers: Doomsday, you have to understand his complex comic book relationship with Doctor Doom. The 1989 graphic novel Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment (written by Roger Stern and illustrated by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola) first linked the two by having Doom compete in an interdimensional tournament for the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme, finishing just behind Strange. However, a condition of the challenge was that the winner was required to help the runner-up with a single favor, so Doom and Strange ventured into Hell itself to rescue Doom’s mother’s soul from the demon Mephisto, an adventure that fundamentally changed the way the Sorcerer Supreme saw the longtime villain.
Over two decades later, Jonathan Hickman’s three-year run on New Avengers saw the culmination of that relationship, revealing in issue #31 that Doctor Strange had secretly been helping Doom in his plan to save the Multiverse from the extradimensional incursions threatening reality itself. Because of Doom’s willpower, his mastery over both science and magic, and Strange’s own pragmatism, the Sorcerer Supreme ultimately helped Victor Von Doom steal the godlike powers of the Beyonders. Strange chose to let Doom rewrite reality in his image instead of allowing the Beyonders to destroy the entire Multiverse.
Triumph and Torment is crucial to not just understanding the relationship between Strange and Doom, but also understanding Doom as a character.
Doctor Doom rewarded Strange by making him the Sheriff of Agamotto, the second-in-command over the salvaged composite reality known as Battleworld. Strange clung to his position fiercely and tolerated Doom’s egotistical rule out of a desire to protect what he believed was the last vestiges of reality, but upon discovering that a group of heroes and villains from both the 616 and Ultimate Universes had survived the Multiverse’s destruction, he eventually betrayed Doom and sacrificed himself to buy Reed Richards the necessary time to steal Doom’s powers. Doctor Strange has long been a character willing to believe the ends justify the means, and his actions in the Secret Wars storyline are the most extreme in a long line of difficult decisions he's been forced to make for the good of reality.
Where Is The MCU’s Doctor Strange?
While Benedict Cumberbatch’s depiction of Stephen Strange has never done anything as morally dubious as working with Doctor Doom, his gambit in Avengers: Infinity War revealed the pragmatic decision-maker within him. Considering he was the second MCU character (after Loki) to interact with the Multiverse, it would be a massive missed opportunity to not give him a significant role in the film, especially since he’s fully aware of the danger of multiversal incursions thanks to Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. The fact that Marvel hasn’t confirmed his involvement doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t be there, and there’s a chance he could be filling a role closer to his comic book counterpart than anyone realizes.
A version of Doctor Strange has already been responsible for one incursion across the Multiverse.
One of the smaller but more persistent mysteries surrounding Doomsday is the presence of the Latverian witches accompanying Doom, each dressed in a different colored robe. Because the witches are clearly female, there’s been significant speculation over whether any of them are Scarlet Witch or Sylvie, but could Doctor Strange be the one responsible for bringing them all together to aid Doom? If Doom is trying to steal Loki’s newfound place as the Keeper of Time, he’ll need a lot of magic to pull it off. And who would know the Multiverse's most powerful sorcerers better than Doctor Strange?
Stephen Strange is usually at the scene of Marvel’s major crossover events because he’s one of the most powerful characters around, something the MCU has already displayed with him going toe-to-toe with Thanos in Infinity War. Whether he’s working alongside Doctor Doom or fighting against him, it would be a bewildering decision to keep the Sorcerer Supreme away from such a massive existential threat.
