Image via Marvel
1.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness debuted in theaters on May 6, and it is officially a smash hit. In its opening weekend alone, it made $450 million worldwide. It’s all the more impressive because this is not Captain America or The Incredible Hulk or even Iron Man. This is Doctor Strange, a superhero who—prior to the MCU films—was beloved by comic readers, but lacked the mainstream pervasiveness that would guarantee box office success.
The Doctor Strange films, along with the Guardians of the Galaxy films and the Shang-Chi film, prove Disney and Marvel’s reach and power. They can make their audience care about these lesser-known characters, with no pre-existing knowledge required. The MCU’s self-sustaining ecosystem—its movies, TV shows, and various associated media—is enough to support these stories from the ground up. This new movie demands, more than any other MCU movie aside from Infinity War or Endgame, that you watch the prior movies and TV shows—especially WandaVision—to derive full enjoyment, and Complex has you covered.
If you are one of the rare few people who have yet to watch Doctor Strange 2, beware—there are major spoilers ahead. Here are 33 references and Easter eggs in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness that you might have missed, including those mid and end credits scenes.
2.Watch Callback
Stephen still has his watch from the prior Strange film; it is the only thing that he kept from his prior life as a neurosurgeon. We see, via flashback, how he got the watch; it was gifted to him by his ex Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) on one of their dates. At the end of the film, he replaces the cracked glass on its face, which symbolically shows that he’s made peace with his past and the loss of his romantic relationship with Christine.
3.Dr. Nicodemus West
When Stephen attends Christine's wedding, he sits next Dr. Nicodemus West. You might remember him from the first Strange film. Stephen humiliated him by saving his patient, whom Nic incorrectly determined was brain dead. Nic is also the same doctor who attempted (and failed) to save Stephen's hands following his car accident.
4.Shuma-Gorath or Gargantos?
The massive, tentacled monster that wrecks Manhattan resembles Shuma-Gorath, an interdimensional demon and well-known Strange nemesis from the comics. But the film credits refer to this creature as Gargantos, a different squid monster. What gives? The online speculation is that Marvel would have to pay an outside party for the rights to use the original name, and they weren’t willing to. Cutting costs on a $200 million film seems a bit counterintuitive, but alright.
5.Meet America Chavez
America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) is the key to the entire film. She can jump between the different universes, which makes her a target for evil witches who want her power. The comics version of America Chavez debuted in 2011, and she shares MCU America’s ability to pass through the multiverse via star-shaped holes. She is LGBTQ+ in both continuities; you can see a Pride pin on the upper-righthand corner of her jacket.
6.
In his sit-down with America, Stephen recalls his multiverse experience with Spider-Man. Despite wiping everyone’s memory (including his own) about Spider-Man’s true identity in No Way Home, he still retains some residual memories of the web-slinger.
7.Bow To The Sorcerer Supreme
A recurring theme in No Way Home and Multiverse of Madness is that Stephen doesn't respect Wong as the Sorcerer Supreme. Stephen only lost the gig because Thanos snapped him out of existence. But by the end of the movie, Stephen bows to his friend, showing him proper respect. It's a huge leap for the character, who has a compulsive need to be the smartest, most capable guy in the room.
8.'WandaVision' Musical Cue
When Stephen decides to meet up with Wanda to discuss the “witchcraft” of the multiverse, we hear the WandaVision theme playing in the background, which foreshadows Wanda as the villain of the movie. Claiming the Darkhold from Agatha Harkness in WandaVision’s season finale had some negative personality side effects on Wanda.
9.
When we see Wanda, she’s doing the same thing she was doing at the end of WandaVision, she’s putting her two “kids” to bed. Clearly, she still hasn’t found her way since the Westview incident. She may have reconciled the loss of Vision, but not of her future children.
10.Happy Mother’s Day!
It is a dark, deliberate joke that this movie debuted on Mother’s Day weekend. Wanda Maximoff is a protective, loving mother who never got to be a mother. Instead, she must be content knowing that some version of herself, in some universe, is getting the happy ending she desired.
11.Master Hamir
One of the people defending Kamar-Taj is Master Hamir, who also appeared in the first Strange movie. Stephen confused him with the Ancient One when they first met.
12.Green Minotaur
The green minotaur who defends Kamar-Taj is named Rintrah. In the comics, Rintrah is an extra-dimensional being who trains to be a Master of the Mystic Arts. He is Stephen’s close ally.
13.Mind Control Witchcraft
The Scarlet Witch mind controls one of the sorcerers to drop the shield on Kamar-Taj. The camera angle and her hand movements are identical to the ones she used in Age of Ultron, where she made her villainous debut and bewitched Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and others.
14.
America and Stephen pass through multiple universes on their way to Earth-838. It goes by quickly, but you can make out the Living Tribunal from the Disney Plus show Loki.
15.Return of Mordo
Based on his prior history with Mordo in the first Strange movie, Stephen expects a fight when he runs into an alternate Mordo in front of the Sanctum Sanctorum. Mordo eventually betrays Stephen to The Illuminati, but he initially surprises Stephen by embracing him instead of throwing the first punch.
16.
In the comics, the Baxter Foundation is where Reed Richards and Ben Grimm both studied after being marked as child science prodigies early in life. In the movie, it’s where Earth-838 Christine works and conducts research on the multiverse.
17.Numbered Universes
Every universe has a numerical distinction. The “main” universe, where most of the events of the MCU occur, is Earth-616. This is also the designation of the “main” universe in the comics. This implies that the film universes and the comic universes are completely separate from one another.
18.The Illuminati
Stephen faces judgment by The Illuminati in Earth-838. In the comics, The Illuminati are a shadow group of superheroes–leaders of their respective factions—that work behind the scenes to further their collective interests. The Illuminati was conceived by Tony Stark / Iron Man, and like most of Stark’s ideas, it goes off the rails despite the best intentions of its participants. Zero accountability and near limitless power can create as many problems as it solves.
19.Captain Britain
Hayley Atwell returns in the new movie as Peggy Carter, who operates under the moniker Captain Britain. The first episode of the Disney Plus series What If…? deals with this possible alternate reality, where Peggy is given the Super Soldier serum instead of Steve Rogers.
Spoiler alert: Scarlet Witch kills her by cutting her in half with her own shield.
20.
Played by Anson Mount, Black Bolt is the royal leader of the Inhumans, a race of supernatural beings. The Inhumans had their own television series in 2017, but it only lasted for eight episodes; Marvel pulled the plug after low commercial and critical performance. Mount is reprising his role from that series.
Scarlet Witch kills Black Bolt by sealing his mouth, causing his sonic scream to reverberate internally and destroy his head.
21.Captain Marvel
In Earth-838, Captain Marvel is Carol Danvers’ close friend Maria Rambeau, played by Lashana Lynch. In Earth-616, Maria is dead, and her daughter, Captain Monica Rambeau, is a main character in the Disney Plus series WandaVision.
Scarlet Witch kills Captain Marvel by dropping a mountain of rubble on top of her.
22.
Reed Richards (John Krasinski), also known as Mister Fantastic, is the leader of the Fantastic Four. He has the iconic ‘4’ on his chest, implying that somewhere in Earth-838, there is also an Invisible Woman, a Human Torch, and a Thing running around. A Fantastic Four film is currently in development, and it is expected to conclude the MCU’s Phase 4.
Scarlet Witch kills Reed Richards by splitting him into strands like Polly-O mozzarella string cheese.
23.Professor X
Patrick Stewart reprises his role as Professor Charles Xavier, the telepathic leader of the mutant superhero group The X-Men. He arrives in his signature yellow hover device from the 1992 animated series, there’s also a brief musical cue from the animated series’ opening theme. He repeats a line that first showed up in X-Men: Days of Future’s Past: “Just because someone stumbles and loses their way doesn’t mean they’re lost forever.”
Scarlet Witch kills Professor X when he tries to invade her mind by psychically snapping his neck.
24.
Before he dies, Professor X tries to free Wanda’s repressed consciousness from under rubble. This symbolizes her trauma at Sokovia, where as a child, Wanda lost both her parents in a military strike.
25.Team of Ultrons
In Earth-838, it appears that Ultron is not the unmitigated disaster that it was in Earth-616. A team of Ultrons runs security for the Illuminati and brings Stephen before the council to be judged.
26.
In the MCU, Mount Wundagore is where the demon Chthon wrote the Darkhold, and it is also the location of the original copy, which Wanda needs after her copy is destroyed by Sara Wolfe. Mount Wundagore is also a nexus of dark magic in the comics, and coincidentally, it’s where Wanda’s and Pietro’s mother gave birth to them.
27.Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
When we first meet Wanda’s “sons,” they are watching an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon called Sky Scrappers. Oswald was Walt Disney’s first creation, but when he lost the rights to Oswald, he created Mickey Mouse, and the rest is history.
When we see them again near the end of the movie, they’re watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, which is Disney’s first feature-length animated film.
28.Delta 88
In the collapsing reality at the end of the movie, you can see a floating 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88. This is Sam Raimi’s car, and he finds a way to sneak it into every one of his films.
29.
We learn that MCU Stephen had a sister who died by drowning in a frozen lake when he was young, which explains a lot about his overbearing need to control everything in his life. The comics version of Donna dies in a similar fashion and inspires Stephen to take up medicine.
30.Bach and Wagner Battle
The two musical compositions that ‘do battle’ during the climactic Strange vs. Strange fight are “Symphony No. 5 in C Minor” by Ludwig Van Beethoven, and “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” by Johann Sebastian Bach.
31.Relic Callback
In the first Strange movie, Stephen grabs a relic called the Brazier of Bom’Galiath during his fight against Kaecilius, and he threatens his opponent with it. Kaecilius, however, correctly deduces that Stephen doesn’t know how to use it. In the new movie, Christine does know how to use the relic, and she wards off the damned spirits that attack Stephen while he is dream-walking.
32.
The third eye that Dr. Strange gains at the end of the movie is likely a physical representation of the Eye of Agamotto, the gold relic around his neck. The relic no longer houses the Time Stone, but it is still imbued with magic. In Hindu traditions, the “third eye” is a symbolic representation of perceptiveness, enlightenment, and higher consciousness.
33.Mid-Credits Scene
During the mid-credits scene, a woman played by Charlize Theron emerges from the Dark Dimension, and she asks for Stephen’s help in preventing an Incursion. Based on the comics, this woman is Clea, daughter of Dormammu–the main villain of the first Strange movie. In the comics, Clea and Stephen eventually become lovers.
The use of the word “Incursion”—the crashing together of two parallel universes—leads many Marvel fans to believe that the next big, MCU crossover event will be an adaptation of the Secret Wars storyline, where the heroes and villains of different Marvel continuities clashed for supremacy and survival after multiple incursions destroyed their universes. In the MCU, it’s easy to imagine how a relationship between Earth-616 and Earth-838 could turn out bad, and then worse, and how the heroes of both Earths would need to combine forces for the greater good.
34.End Credits Scene
And lastly, the end credits scene features Pizza Poppa, played by Sam Raimi mainstay and Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell. Midway through the movie, Stephen bewitches this man to punch himself in the face repeatedly. He finally stops punching himself during the end credits scene. Pizza Poppa is extremely thankful, and he yells, “It’s over!” while staring into the camera. It’s the kind of fourth wall break that Deadpool would be proud of.