We recently learned, finally and officially, that Doctor Strange 2 is happening. The movie is titled Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and, beyond that, not a whole lot has been revealed, beyond the fact that Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch will be along for the ride. But that title alone has been just enough to fuel some speculation about what we might see, and a popular fan theory has already popped up suggesting Stephen Strange is going to take a visit to Sam Raimi's live-action Spider-Man universe.
The theory surfaced over on Reddit courtesy of a user who goes by the name loutermit. As these things go, it's pretty simple. Basically, because this movie will be dealing with a vast, unending multiverse, Doctor Strange can, in theory, go just about anywhere. And there's an Easter egg in Spider-Man 2 that possibly suggests he could be taking a trip to the universe occupied by Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker. The theory reads as follows.
"In 'Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness', Strange will take a brief detour to the Sam Raimi Spider-Man universe. This is why Jameson says the name 'Dr. Strange' is 'taken' in Spider-Man 2."
As Marvel fans may recall, in Spider-Man 2, shortly after Otto Octavious first goes haywire and becomes Doctor Octopus, J. Jonah Jameson (J.K. Simmons) is trying to come up with a name for the new villain. One of his trusty employees suggests Doctor Strange. To which Jameson responds positively, but then begrudgingly says that the name is already taken. At the time, this was certainly just meant to be an Easter egg nodding to Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's other famed comic book creation. Yet, in the modern context, it could be retconned to mean something else entirely.
Warning: spoilers in this paragraph for those who haven't seen Spider-Man: Far From Home. It's also well worth mentioning, given this theory, that incredible cameo in Far From Home. J.K. Simmons reprised his role as J. Jonah Jameson, albeit in a very different way. This time as a YouTube conspiracy theorist, similar to Alex Jones. That would add another layer to revisiting the Raimiverse.
It's possible that director Scott Derrickson could slip in a few crowd-pleasing moments such as this. On the other hand, he's got a story to tell and probably won't spend the whole time visiting familiar locations from other universes. Derrickson said during Marvel's San Diego Comic-Con presentation that this will be the studio's first scary movie, which will lean into horror elements from the comics. Nightmare is going to be the villain, but it hasn't been revealed who will be playing him just yet.
The animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse game people all sorts of ideas about crazy crossovers. In most cases, they seem far-fetched. Yet, in this movie, it seems like anything could be possible. It may be our best chance ever at revisiting the live-action Spider-Man universe that started it all. Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness is set to arrive in theaters on May 7, 2021. This news first surfaced over on Reddit.