Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will act as a continuation of Spider-Man: No Way Home, according to director Sam Raimi, with the movie reaching out into the multiverse rather than having it come to us. Speaking with Fandango, Raimi explained how Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness would build upon the foundations laid down by Spider-Man: No Way Home, delving deeper into the mysteries of the multiverse more than ever before.
"I guess I would say that ... Spider-Man [No Way Home] broke open [the idea that] characters from the multiverse could visit our universe. But this is the first time that characters from our universe will go out into the multiverse and experience other universes. So, it's going to be a continuation, but that, I think, is one of the biggest appeals. Finding other realities, and how they rhyme with our own, or how they are completely the opposite, or variations thereof. I think therein lies the interest of this picture."
While Spider-Man: No Way Home revealed that previous franchises such as Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man exist alongside the MCU, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness plans to somehow take things even further, showing us all manner of alternate worlds and characters. So far, we have only been teased with what’s to come, including zombies and other horrors. Who knows what other surprises Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has in store?
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Will Introduce Variants of Stephen Strange & Wanda Maximoff
Of course, someone has to live in these different universes, and Sam Raimi has revealed that we will see a whole host of variants in the sequel, including variations of Doctor Strange and The Scarlet Witch. While Spider-Man: No Way Home had different actors play different Spider-Men, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be very different, with the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen playing alternate versions of their respective characters.
"[Multiverse of Madness] is a journey into the Multiverse, so you do see different iterations of Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange, and even Lizzie Olsen's character of Wanda Maximoff. So, the actors have to play that. It's a great challenge for them and great fun to direct them playing these altered versions of themselves."
It has been revealed that Strange will come face-to-face with the likes of such variant versions as Defender Strange and Strange Supreme, but there is likely to be many more in the finished film. A recent trailer meanwhile teases a variant of Wanda who our version comes across while trying to reunite with her children.
Audiences will soon enter the multiverse when Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is released in the United States on May 6, 2022, as part of Phase Four of the MCU. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Rachel McAdams, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness finds Strange and his allies traveling into the multiverse to face a mysterious new adversary.