The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been incredible with the introduction of the many superheroes, but when it comes to villains, things have been more of a miss than a little hit. Aside from Thanos, and perhaps even Ultron, few of the MCU villains have posed real, detrimental threats that could end things as we know it. Even fan favourite villains, including Loki and Killmonger, were lauded mainly due to the mere charm of the actors and the characterisation of said characters, not because they were big scary villains.
Well, it looks like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will change that because while it’s not exactly clear who the antagonist or antagonists of this sequel are, the trailers have presented several different options, all of which are not just intriguing, but incredibly powerful. Some of them can even change the direction of future MCU storytelling.
That said, here are 10 potential villains in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Chthon
The Darkhold is an ancient book that features dark magic spells and unspeakable power, and was first revealed in Disney+ WandaVision. With it getting a bigger role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Chthon could emerge as the big bad villain.
Chton is an elder god and the creator of the Darkhold. He has mystical powers and is the reason why Wanda has magical abilities in the first place. In the comics, he gave Wanda powers when she was just an infant so that he could one day reenter this world and use Wanda’s body as a vessel for chaos magic.
The MCU could very well be headed in the same direction, especially since WandaVision has revealed that Wanda possessed powers as a child. With Wanda currently in possession of the Darkhold, she is highly exposed to Chthon’s influence, and could easily be possessed by him.
Gargantos
As we know, there are plenty of dark entities and monsters in the Multiverse. The first Doctor Strange movie saw our titular hero fight Dormammu, a demon of his own realm and the keeper of the Dark Dimension, intent on spreading his corrupt magic across the multiverse.
The trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness confirmed that Strange will be fighting off another creature, identified to be Gargantos, who is somewhat different but similar to Suma Gorath in the What If…? series.
An ancient force of chaos, Gargantos is the ruler of innumerable dimensions and traditionally one of Strange’s most dangerous villains in the comics. With Gargantos seemingly coming not only after Strange but also America Chavez as well (as seen in the trailer), this monster could play a major big bad.
Kang the Conqueror
If you’re thinking there’s no way Kang the Conqueror could be the main villain, wait till you hear of this theory of variants.
Kang the Conqueror has been heavily speculated to be the next MCU antagonist after the fall of Thanos. Disney+’s Loki series introduced a variant of Kang, named He Who Remains, who is in charge of the Time Variance Authority and keeps the Sacred Timeline in order, therefore stopping the multiverse from expanding and preventing other variants of Kang from conquering it.
The finale however saw He Who Remains killed by Sylvie. This callous act of hers caused the expansion of the multiverse. It’s possible that the ramifications of Sylvie’s actions will be addressed in the movie, which deals with variants and alternate realities – perhaps it allowed Kang the Conqueror to continue his evil plans? And like any smart conqueror, you don’t get your hands dirty – you get others to do it for you.
Karl Mordo
In the first movie, Karl Mordo was a friend turned well, not friend, as both Strange and Mordo are two stubborn men who don’t always see eye to eye (of Agamotto). In the comics, Mordo was a mentor of Strange before leaving the Masters of the Mystic Arts altogether. He tried to kill the Ancient One after growing jealous of Strange becoming a star pupil, which led him to pursue the black arts and other forbidden forms of magic in order to achieve power. He’s been a long-time antagonist of Strange, but the movies thus far have angled him as a rather supportive character, with his own agenda.
In the trailer, we see Mordo return as he attempts to capture Strange with the intent to make him pay for his crimes of messing with the multiverse. Although it seems like Mordo’s character arc in the MCU movies may not be identical to how it was in the comics, the friends-to-enemies relationship can definitely be expected.
Mephisto
Mephisto has been a villain that fans have been wanting to see come to life. Every single mention of a new MCU property will see someone joke that Marvel’s resident demon king is the one pulling the strings. Before Agatha Harkness became the sole villain of WandaVision, numerous theories were pointing to Mephisto as the main mastermind. Desires to see him became even stronger when Wanda’s children Tommy and Billy were introduced in the series. This is especially since comic books fans know that Wanda had used shards of Mephisto’s soul to bring them to life.
With Wanda hearing the voice of her children while studying the Darkhold, and Tommy and Billy appearing in the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailer too, will we finally see Mephisto corrupt Wanda through her desire to bring her children back and be the main villain of the movie?
Perhaps.
Nightmare
A Fear Lord and a demon from the dimension Everinnye like Dweller-in-Darkness, Nightmare controls the Nightmare Realm within the Dream Dimension. He is an ally of Shuma Gorath – who we’ve established is the octopus-like, tentacled monster Gargantos in the trailer – and is traditionally an enemy of Doctor Strange.
In his first conflict with Doctor Strange, Nightmare and the hero battled each other in the haunted dreams of a corrupt businessman. When Strange entered his dreams, Nightmare attempted to trap him there, leaving his physical body undefended while the men, afraid that the secret of his crimes had been found out, would try to kill Strange. Strange only managed to escape Nightmare’s dimension with the help of the Ancient One.
One of the newer trailers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, ‘Dream’, opens with Strange referencing dreams whilst Wanda spoke about nightmares. We’re not sure if that’s a coincidence but it could very well be a big hint that Nightmare is the movie’s villain – we know how sneaky Marvel can be!
Some fans have even associated the look of Zombie Strange with the infamous villain, so the case of Nightmare being the movie’s main villain is slowly building.
Sinister Strange
Fans lost their minds when Sinister Strange appeared in the first teaser trailer for the upcoming sequel. This dark version of Stephen looks a lot like another evil version of the good Doctor, Doctor Strange Supreme from What If…?. In the animated series, events played out differently where instead of losing his hands in the accident, Strange lost the love of his life – Christine Palmer. Devastated and filled with grief, Doctor Strange Supreme broke the rules of the universe and attempted to bring her back to life.
In the end, Doctor Strange Supreme ended up transforming into a highly anomalous version of himself and makes his entire universe collapse. Sinister Strange looks evil for sure, and we suspect that the Darkhold might play a larger role in the origins of this version, but the point is, we want to see Prime Stephen Strange attempt to put a stop to Sinister Strange before he collapses the multiverse.
Prime Doctor Strange
Ever heard of the saying “You are your worst enemy?” – this could very well be the case. Stephen is incredibly arrogant and has made some pretty terrible and dangerous choices (as seen by his very questionable mind-erasing spell in Spider-Man: No Way Home). The unravelling of reality is the consequence of Stephen’s actions – even Mordo comments that Stephen himself is a threat to reality in the trailer.
Sure, he may not be a straight-up villain per se, since he is the titular hero of the movie, but we’re not cancelling out the fact that sometimes you have to look in the mirror and admit that maybe the problem, is you.
Wanda Maximoff
Wanda Maximoff has been at the top of the list as the movie’s main villain for many, many, many valid reasons. Wanda has had a very dark history in the comics and has played the villain one too many times – oftentimes, driven by her own dark desires to reunite with her children or because she was manipulated by other entities like Mephisto and Chthon to name a few.
The events in the Avengers movies and WandaVision has left Wanda in a completely mentally vulnerable and fragile state. Pair that with her constant exposure to the Darkhold, the tarnishing of her superhero status due to her actions in Westview and the stress of attempting to save the multiverse could very well push Wanda completely off the edge.
Also, the trailer shows that there are two versions of the same character. One could be the Scarlet Witch from the main MCU, while the other is Wanda Maximoff, who after the events of WandaVision in her reality, took a different path.
Zombies
The zombie-infested world in What If…? was one of the most terrifying universes explored in the show. The zombified version of Wanda and Strange appeared in the episode, and in the movie’s trailer too, so we could see our heroes fight off zombie versions of themselves in the movie.
Bonus: All of the above
Hear us out, okay. Just like how Spider-Man: No Way Home saw three Spideys fight off four villains, we could possibly see our heroes Strange, Wanda, Wong and America Chavez fight all these characters in one movie too.
After all, the multiverse is a BIG place filled not with just plenty of villains like Nightmare and Gargantos, but also evil variants like Sinister Strange and an evil Scarlet Witch to name a few.
Even creator Sam Raimi has hinted that the movie may even have more than one main villain, of which could include our fellow heroes as well.
“Well, there’s iterations of our characters throughout the multiverse. So, if I were to say Strange… I’m not really supposed to answer this question, but I might be saying altered Strange. Same with Wanda and Mordo. But I would say, at different times, all of the above,” said Raimi.
Perhaps, we’ll only find out who the real villain is when Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness premieres on 4 May 2022.
Don’t judge a book by its cover, for behind all this makeup, is a geek just like you. To simply put it, superheroes, Star Wars, Harry Potter and all things gore and creepy makes this girly girl swoon.
Natalie
Trinity Sun
