All hell, and the multiverse, has broken loose, and Doctor Strange is trying to fix everything in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and while he does manage to save the day, there are unanswered questions when it comes to the 28th film in the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
And no, the questions go beyond the simple one of, why hasn’t any Marvel Studios movie or Disney+ streaming project reference the fact that Tiamut the Communicator, a massive Celestial, is now a stone structure in the Indian Ocean? Surely his emergence before being turned to stone by Sersi would have affected the Earth’s physical shape but no. Silence.
If you’ve enjoyed the tale of Marvel Team-Up between Doctor Strange and a whole host of Marvel Comics characters, and have questions, we’ll try to explain them to you. Oh, and it goes without saying, SPOILERS AHEAD.
**SPOILERS AHEAD!!!! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK**
#1. What is Wundagore Mountain? And why is the Darkhold Castle there? And why hasn’t anyone located it thus far?
You would think that a castle on top of a mountain would have been discovered in the 21st century, but maybe no one can see it. Like Tiamut. Anyway, here’s what we know about Wundagore Mountain and the Darkhold Castle as shown in the film. The mountain is located in Eastern Europe, and on it sits the Darkhold Castle, before it was destroyed by the Scarlet Witch.
In Marvel Comics, Wundagore Mountain has significant history and ties to Wanda Maximoff. Now, Wanda, along with her brother Pietro, have had different origin stories in the comics but as children, Wanda and Pietro lived on Wundagore Mountain in Eastern Europe, believing themselves born as mutants to a Romani couple, the Maximoffs.
The mountain itself also has a rich history with the supernatural, as it is home to the Darque Hold, a chamber among the caverns within the mountain. It was there that one of the Elder Gods and the first dark magician, Chthon, wrote the Darkhold by inscribing all his arcane knowledge in a book made from indestructible parchment. In the comics, Chthon was also summoned and imprisoned within Wundagore Mountain, by the sorceress Morgan Le Fay. The movie names Chthon, but also introduces Darkhold Castle.
In fact, when fans saw Wanda Maximoff hide away in a cabin at the foot of a mountain at the end of Wandavision, it was assumed that the cabin was located at Wundagore Mountain, even though in the MCU, Wanda grew up in Sokovia, in Central-Southeastern Europe. Maybe Sokovia borders Wundagore Mountain?
One thing to note is that the name Scarlet Witch is recognised to either be a saviour or destroyer, and her image is etched on the walls of the castle, and interestingly, the image of the Scarlet Witch matches that of her comic book look.
#2. Where is The Vision?
The movie focuses on Wanda and her children, and we are taken across realities but for some reason, The Vision does not appear in any of them. We understand that his role might be a small one, but be it the original red and green version, or the current all-white one, The Vision is still Wanda’s husband, and father to Billy and Tommy, so if we see a variant of Wanda, Tommy and Billy, why isn’t The Vision in the picture as well?
#3. Is Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch still alive?
At the end of the film, the Darkhold Castle collapses on itself, seemingly crushing Wanda, who has realised the error of her ways and has chosen to stop her wild machinations. But that doesn’t erase her evil deeds, of killing several heroes in the process but even as we see the castle come down on her, is she truly dead?
It would be a loss because Elizabeth Olsen gave an amazing portrayal here, and we want to see more. In the comics, Scarlet Witch has swung back and forth between good and evil, and it’s been rare to see a popular character embrace both aspects, and the MCU needs someone like this.
#4. So is the Marvel Cinematic Universe designated Earth-616 or Earth-1999999?
To deal with multiple realities and alternate Earths, Marvel Comics has designated the comic book universe as Earth 616, also known as the prime Marvel Universe. Other realities are given their own number designation, and early on in the MCU, which covers the shared fictional universe seen in the films and television shows, it was designated Earth-1999999. But this is just an internal designation, and more recently, Marvel Studios have come to refer to the MCU as Earth 616 as well.
In a way, it does make sense as every version would see themselves as the Prime version. But in the film, Christine Palmer (with the red hair) identifies Doctor Stephen Strange from the main MCU universe as coming from Earth-616. Meanwhile, the Earth she is on has been designated Earth-838. Now, this clearly shows that these numbers don’t carry any significance on their own but it is interesting to note that this marks the second time that the Earth-616 designation has been referenced in the MCU.
The first was by Mysterio/Quentin Beck in Spider-Man: Far From Home, when he tried to convince everyone that he was from another universe and somehow landed on Earth-616 in the MCU. But as it turns out, he was a conman who is from this universe but it begs the question, how does he know the MCU is Earth-616? If that was the only reference, that would be fine as it can be regarded as fan service, but now, another movie has repeated the same thing, that the MCU is Earth-616, so how did Mysterio know, and is the MCU Earth-616 in-universe, and Earth-1999999 in our reality?
#5. Are they really The Illuminati, or just another superhero group like the Avengers, but with a different but familiar name?
Rumours of the Illuminati making an appearance in the film have been ongoing for a long time, so it was great to see the powerful group of superheroes finally make their live-action debut, except that the Illuminati of Earth-838 behave more like the Avengers.
In the Marvel Comics, The Illuminati is a collective or secret society of superheroes who band together to decide the role of humanity in the grand scheme of things. They are not a group like say, the Avengers or Defenders, but are more of a government of heroes, each representing a segment of mankind, so that each group, be it mutants, man, Atlanteans, etc, have a say.
In the comics, Reed Richards, as world’s leading scientist, represents the scientific community, while Black Bolt represents the Inhumans, an experimented-upon strain of humanity who now possess extraordinary abilities. Meanwhile, Professor Charles Xavier is leader of the X-Men and represents the mutant community, while the Sorcerer Supreme (originally Doctor Stephen Strange, and now, Karl Mordo in the film) speaks for the mystical and non-scientific elements.
So who are the rest? Captain Marvel can perhaps speak for the space-faring community, but what does Captain Carter represent? In the comics, The Illuminati are not publicly known, so for them to have a headquarters and high chairs/thrones in a chamber seems out of place, and the presence of humans in the facility indicate that The Illuminati of Earth-838 are known, and their actions seem more of a group of superheroes banding under a different name, of The Illuminati instead of The Avengers, to fight off evil, rather than as a government of superheroes.
#6. Is Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic just a cameo by John Krasinski, or is he being cast in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, as part of the MCU?
We know that Marvel Studios is planning a Fantastic Four movie, and Spider-Man director, Jon Watts, was tapped to direct, but he bowed out early in April 2022, citing creative differences. Now, fans have been clamouring for John Krasinski, along with his real-life wife, Emily Blunt, to be cast as the founding members of the Fantastic Four – Reed Richards and Susan Storm. Blunt was originally cast as Black Widow for Iron Man 2, but had to bow out due to scheduling conflicts, and this particular fan casting seems perfect for the duo.
Now, Susan Richards (she married Reed later) didn’t appear in the film, but since the movie deals with alternate versions of familiar faces, can the reverse be true, that there is a Reed Richards in the MCU, and this cameo is an introduction of John Krasinksi in the role? We love the idea, and in the film, Christine Palmer of Earth-838 does name drop the Baxter Foundation, which fans know, is an organisation linked to the Fantastic Four.
What’s even more interesting is that the Fantastic Four movie is now in need of a director, and do you know who’s an acclaimed director? John Krasinski, who directed his wife, Emily Blunt, in A Quiet Place and its hit sequel.
#7. Who is Reed Richards of Earth-838?
The introduction of Reed Richards in the film was a moment loved by audiences, which shows how much adulation the Fantastic Four receives from fans. What is curious though, is the way he appears. A blue square travels across the screen and reveals Reed Richards, like a magician’s metal hoop across the height of a person.
What’s interesting is that the blue portal acts and behaves like a Time Platform, a time travel device created by Dr. Doom, the arch-nemesis of Reed Richards. The portal, which is square in shape and green or white in colour in the comics, travels across the height of an individual, and transports the person to another time.
Now, the Fantastic Four also deploy a transportation portal, known as a Transmat Portal, to travel instantaneously from one place to another, and that, while not square in shape, is blue in colour. It could be that the producers decide to tap on more fan service, to give Reed Richards a proper surprise entrance, and combined the Time Platform and Transmat Portal into one visual for the fans.
Or, it could be that in this universe, the Fantastic Four defeated Dr. Doom and Reed took hold of all of Doom’s technology, including the Time Platform.
And here’s the wildest one yet. We’ll see more of John Krasinski as Reed Richards in the MCU, but as the one from Earth-838, and not MCU. Hear us out.
In the comics, time travel villain, Kang, is actually Nathaniel Richards, a descendent of Reed Richards and Dr. Doom. Now we know that the MCU is setting up Kang as the big bad, and a version of Kang, He Who Remains, appeared in Disney+’s Loki. It was referenced in that show that Nathaniel Richards is aware of the multiverse and subsequently, variants of his character initiated a Multiversal War, an all-out conflict across the Multiverse.
Variants of Nathaniel Richards decided to conquer other parallel worlds, and faced retaliation by other variants of Richards. The conflict ended with He Who Remains, who created the Time Variance Authority to regulate the multiverse and maintain the Sacred Timeline.
The links between Reed and Nathaniel Richards cannot be overlooked, and both characters have been introduced in MCU shows that are connected to the multiverse, so there is more to this story. While Reed Richards of Earth-838 was defeated by Scarlet Witch, being torn apart doesn’t mean an elastic man is effectively dead, since he can literally pull himself together.
If he has a Time Platform, and is aware of the multiverse, he can possibly reverse engineer the way America Chavez creates portals to another universe (which she did to escape the Scarlet Witch, and the building is shown to have sensors, which can analyse how she created the portals). He might not know that the Scarlet Witch of the MCU has perished, and works to pursue her across the multiverse, since she did kill members of The Illuminati. Who knows what happens after that? After all, Reed Richards is the smartest man in any universe.
#8. How many copies of the Darkhold are there? And why is there only one copy of the Book of Vishanti?
In the MCU, the Darkhold is a book containing dark spells, and it has a corruptible influence upon those who set eyes on it. It explains, partially, why Scarlet Witch went all crazy. It was also mentioned that the antithesis of the Darkhold is the Book of the Vishanti, which contains the most powerful white magic and counterspells.
We’ve also seen that there are many versions of the Darkhold, but there is only one Book of the Vishanti across the multiverse. How does that work though? But then, we hear Sorcerer Supreme Wong explain that the Darkhold is a copy, and that the original writings are in the Darkhold Castle. So it could be that each of these Darkhold books are all copies, with one in each universe, all based on the etchings found in the Darkhold Castle.
So does this mean that there is only one Darkhold Castle just like there is only one Book of the Vishanti? It seems likely, as all copies of the Darkhold were destroyed, including the Darkhold Castle. It wouldn’t make sense to destroy all the copies of the book, but leave the castle in that universe standing, to allow for someone to make another book.
#9. Anson Mount returns as Black Bolt, so is Marvel’s Inhumans canon?
Even though Marvel created MCU-linked TV shows before Disney+ entered the picture, their significance and status in the grand scheme of things have remained dubious, due to the behind the scenes drama that has occurred. This film directly referenced the events of Disney+’s Wandavision, but so far, the connective tissue between movies and TV shows has been limited.
Sure, Charlie Cox reprised his role as Matt Murdock in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Vincent D’Onofrio reprised his role as the Kingpin in Disney+’s Hawkeye, and both characters were first introduced in Netflix’s Daredevil. James D’Arcy also reprised his role as Edwin Jarvis from TV’s Agent Carter in Avengers: Endgame, and now, we have Anson Mount play a variant of Black Bolt aka Blackagar Boltagon, from the critically lambasted Marvel’s Inhumans TV series.
All these appearances can be tied to settling fan expectations since audiences loved the actors in those roles, but by not directly referencing the shows, it gives Marvel Studios a way out in disregarding the earlier TV shows.
Will we see Anson Mount reprise his role as Black Bolt? We would love to, considering he has been building plenty of geek cache, playing Captain Christopher Pike in Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
#10. Why is Doctor Strange still wearing the Eye of Agamotto?
In the first film, the Eye of Agamotto amulet was the receptacle for the Time Stone. All Sorcerer Supremes wear it, and it was passed down from the Ancient One to Doctor Strange. Granted, Doctor Strange disappeared for five years, so when Wong ascended to the role of Sorcerer Supreme, there wasn’t an Eye of Agamotto to be passed on to him.
But now that Doctor Strange is back, why is he still wearing it, and not passing it to the new Sorcerer Supreme? If it had the Time Stone, the new Sorcerer Supreme would have it, and since Wong is the new one, he should get it.
There is actually another answer to the question – with the Time Stone destroyed, why is Doctor Strange still wearing it? Sure, it might be magical, but the Sanctum Sanctorum is home to dozens of powerful artefacts, so what makes the Eye of Agamotto so special, that Doctor Strange would still need to wear it all the time, if he should even still be wearing it in the first place.
Bonus: What’s with Benedict Cumberbatch’s fake wig at the start of the movie?
Chalk this up as something that stood out and we cannot unsee. From the moment he wakes up from his nightmare, and up until he departs the wedding reception, there were plenty of close-ups of Benedict Cumberbatch, and it is extremely obvious that he’s wearing a wig – a perfectly coifed headpiece that looks so unnatural, it needs to be put out of its misery. Maybe that’s the real reason why Christine Palmer doesn’t want to marry the good Doctor.
Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?
Natalie
Si Jia
