Spoiler Alert: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness brought quite a bit to the table: new characters, new authority figures, and more questions than ever about where the Marvel Cinematic Universe is headed. The film follows Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) as he tries to prevent the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) from kidnapping America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) and stealing away the power that allows her to jump between dimensions. Her reason? She wants to see Billy (Julian Hilliard) and Tommy (Jett Klyne), her children introduced in WandaVision.

From connections to What If...? to the introduction of some key X-Men characters, the film gave Marvel fans plenty of Easter eggs and cameos, but there were still others that could've, or should've, been included. Sit back and keep your distance from that glowing dark book as we share the cameos that should've happened.

Shang-Chi Should Have Walked Through the Portal

shang-chi
Marvel Studios

There was an optimal moment to include Shang-Chi, probably more so than any other MCU character. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings end with Shaun (Simu Liu) and Katy (Awkwafina) being whisked away by Wong. The mid-credits scene shows the three of them, alongside Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), trying to determine the origin of the rings, believing they are a beacon. For what, they don't know.

When Scarlet Witch plans to come to Kamar-Taj with the intent to take America, Wong, Strange, and the rest of their students and sorcerers prepare for the impending battle. Sorcerers from all over the world come. When this scene happened, we fully expected to see Shang-Chi walk out of a portal. After knowing how he and Wong had been working together, we thought Shang-Chi would come to help defend Kamar-Taj. He didn't need to be super involved, but it was an easy way to include a surprise cameo that would've made sense in the film.

Spider-Man(s) is a Missed Opportunity

Spider-Man: No Way Home Tom Holland as Spider-Man and Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange
Sony Pictures

There was a missed opportunity to not only include the other Spider-Mans but to imply that it wasn't Earth-616's Doctor Strange that cast the nearly-deadly spell in Spider-Man: No Way Home. There's a wonderful scene where Doctor Strange and America move through several universes, including one made of paint, before landing again. This would've been the perfect opportunity to include a brief cameo of one of the other Spider-Mans, especially after their introduction in No Way Home. Of course, this opportunity wasn't limited to Spider-Man, but that is the character that might've made the most sense, especially as the previous MCU film.

Additionally, when Strange comes before the Illuminati on Earth-838, he's told that their Doctor Strange was dream-walking and caused an incursion that destroyed another universe. As a result, he met the same fate as the universe. The Doctor Stranges of every universe seem to be strikingly similar in their actions, particularly with the Book of the Damned. That said, the film had the opportunity to blame Doctor Strange's spell-casting in No Way Home -- and his entire character since fans felt he wasn't acting like himself -- on another universe's Doctor Strange dream-walking.

Related: Doctor Strange 2: Every Cameo in Multiverse of Madness

That isn't to say dream-walking didn't happen. It's unclear if the person impacted by the dream-walking remembers what happens when their body is taken over. When Earth-838's Wanda came out of the dream-walking sequence, she immediately was worried about her children. It wasn't obvious if she knew what her body had been used for. Ultimately, it's not super clear how dream-walking impacts the victim in the scenario. Maybe 616 Doctor Strange would remember what he did if another version of himself dream-walked.

The TVA Should Have Been Concerned

Loki
Marvel Studios

With all the moving between universes that happens in the film and the introduction of new people to Earth-616, was the TVA not concerned about any branches that could impact the timeline? If anything had gone wrong, another universe could be destroyed. Is that not something that could impact the timeline? Was the TVA expecting everything that happened in the film to happen? Or were they unconcerned because the branch would take care of itself?

Related: Multiverse of Madness Writer Addresses Difference Between The Illuminati and The Avengers

This could also pose questions about how the multiverse and the timeline are connected. If they aren't inherently connected, then the TVA may not care about all the universe hopping going on. However, it seems as though universe hopping that brings new people in, like America since she's the only one of herself, could impact the timeline in a way that would catch the TVA's attention. An end-credits scene, including the TVA investigating what was going on, would've been more interesting than the one included.

Vision Is Crucial to Wanda’s Story

Vision
Marvel Studios

With Scarlet Witch trying to see her children, why wasn't she trying to see Vision (Paul Bettany)? Is there not another Earth where Vision survived? It feels like, even if Wanda had come to terms with Vision's death (which, WandaVision would suggest otherwise), her want to be in a universe where her children exist would extend to Vision as well. There were plenty of opportunities for Vision to appear, from flashbacks to dreams to the same sequence other Spider-Mans could've appeared in. Multiverse of Madness feels like it tells Wanda's story more than Doctor Strange's at times, and Vision is an integral part of it.

While these are just a few options, there is a whole franchise of characters that could've appeared. Who were you hoping would make a cameo in Doctor Strange's second film?