Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness took a terrifying journey through infinite possibilities. But that trip didn’t feature nearly as many Variants as we expected. So which characters in the MCU did we learn have at least one counterpart in another dimension? And which other Marvel movies and TV shows got in on the fun, too? Here’s every Variant that appeared in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Defender Strange
Not every Doctor Strange is as heroic as the MCU’s main superhero. The movie hammered home that lesson immediately when America Chavez learned Defender Strange would not protect her. The ponytailed master of the mystic arts was willing to kill her to ensure her powers didn’t fall into the wrong hands. The film’s first Variant didn’t succeed in absorbing her powers, nor did he survive very long.
But his body stuck around for more fun. While Dreamwalking, Main Strange used Defender Strange’s corpse as a meat puppet to battle the Scarlet Witch at Mount Wundagore.
Earth-838 Strange/Supreme Strange
We only met the world of the Illuminati’s facial-hair free Doctor Strange via flashback. Earth-838’s sorcerer had lost himself in the Darkhold. His toying with forbidden magic created an incursion, which resulted in that Strange destroying an entire other universe. Black Bolt killed that Strange, whose official name of Supreme Strange we know from a previously announced Funko Pop. Like the movie’s clean shaven Strange it’s the only collectible that features a version of the character without a goatee.
Sinister Strange
What’s the only thing worse than accidentally destroying another universe? Destroying your own, which is exactly what Sinister Strange did. The long-goateed sorcerer’s use of the Darkhold corrupted him and caused his universe to collapse in on itself. He died in battle with his Earth-616 counterpart. But the memory of Sinister Strange’s creepy third eye—which the film implied resulted from using forbidden spells of the Darkhold—is still around. The MCU’s Main Strange now carries that same affliction on his own forehead.
Earth-838 Baron Mordo
The film only featured one version of Baron Mordo, but it wasn’t the original seen in the first Doctor Strange movie. It was the Variant of the sorcerer from the world of the Illuminati. That long-haired Mordo serves as his universe’s Sorcerer Supreme, as he never turned his back on the order the way his Main counterpart did. But both versions of the character in the MCU have something in common: they hate the Main Doctor Strange.
Captain Marvel Maria Rambeau
Maria Rambeau, Carol Danvers’ friend, fellow pilot, and mother to Monica, is dead in the MCU’s primary universe. But her Variant on Earth-838 is not only still alive, she became Captain Marvel instead of Carol. Maria’s position on the Illuminati shows just how important she is on her world, but her story might not be over.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness didn’t exactly give her a convincing death. A stone statue doesn’t seem like it would be enough to kill any version of Captain Marvel.
Captain Carter
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness‘s version of Captain Carter is actually the third Peggy Carter to join the MCU. On Disney+’s animated series What If…? we saw how another Peggy Variant became her universe’s First Avenger. Main MCU Peggy passed away at a very old age in Captain America: Civil War. Earth-838’s Captain Carter was much younger when Wanda sliced the superhero in half with her own shield. But the animated Variant of Captain Carter, also still of fighting age, lives on. And there are likely more of her out in the multiverse.
Wanda Mom of Earth-838
Technically we saw multiple Wanda Variants in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. When Main Wanda used the Darkhold to look at other worlds, she saw numerous versions of herself and her kids. But the film only properly introduced one other Wanda Variant. That was the loving Wanda Mom of Earth-838. The Scarlet Witch inhabited that Wanda’s body via Dreamwalking, and the two only formally met when America Chavez opened a portal between their respective universes.
Earth-838 Christine Palmer
The original Dr. Christine Palmer from the first Doctor Strange movie appeared briefly in Multiverse of Madness. She got married early in the film, but we never saw her again. It was instead her red-haired Variant from the Illuminati world who played a major role in the film. The multiverse expert worked with Main Strange to help save America Chavez. The two of them went their separate ways rather than risk any more universe-destroying incursions. No matter the world, it seems as though Stephen Strange and Christine Palmer are not meant to end up together. But the multiverse is infinite, and more Variants of each are out there. Some of them must surely be together.
Blackagar Boltagon, King of the Inhumans
It only lasted eight critically-panned episodes, but technically ABC’s 2017 series Inhumans is canonically a part of the MCU. That means Anson Mount’s Blackagar Bolton from Multiverse of Madness is a Variant of the character he played on the show. This version, with his lightning bolt adorned mask, is far more like his comic book counterpart than his Inhumans‘ version.
Non-MCU Marvel Variants
Charles Xavier and Reed Richards have never before appeared in an MCU movie or series. But Spider-Man: No Way Home established that non-Disney Marvel movies are now part of the MCU’s Multiverse. That means the Illumanti’s Professor X (once again played by Patrick Stewart) and Mister Fantastic (played by John Krasinski for the first time) are Variants to their big screen counterparts seen in past Fox films.
Now we just need to meet their main MCU counterparts. That’s when things will really get mad in the multiverse.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
