The very first trailer that we got for Spider-Man: No Way Home indicated that we would be seeing a bit different tonality to the character of Doctor Strange. The trailer hinted at the chaos that would show up when a botched-up spell is utilized by the sorcerer himself. While both Peter Parker and Doctor Strange are equally responsible for what happened, fans didn’t take much time to point fingers at Doctor Strange. After all, it felt somewhat weird that the Sorcerer Supreme would make such a mistake. Some theories even suggested that this Doctor Strange might actually be the Evil Doctor Strange we had witnessed in Disney+’s What If…? series. But now, we’re certain that Doctor Strange in Spider-Man: No Way Home might is not the one from What If…?. Here’s why Doctor Strange cannot be evil.
Evil Doctor Strange
Disney+’s What If…? actually tells us stories that might happen in the parallel universe that might have happened due to tiny alterations that we had witnessed in the Sacred Timeline. The fourth episode, “What If Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?” gave us a whole new take on the narrative of 2016’s Doctor Strange. There is only one difference that leads to the completely different take on the character of Doctor Strange and that is the death of Christine Palmer in the episode.
This is a clear indication of the title of the episode as Christine Palmer is a major love interest of Stephen Strange and her death has a major impact on him. He follows the same path as that of the 2016 movie version and becomes the sorcerer supreme but then the end goal becomes different. When Strange gets hold of the Time Stone, he stops at nothing to bring back what he had lost and this leads to the destruction of his entire universe.
No Way Home’s Doctor Strange
When the first trailer of Spider-Man: No Way Home arrived fans started noticing some rather unusual things about the character of Doctor Strange. These were linked with the possibility that he might be Mephisto himself with an explanation being the extreme cold conditions inside the Sanctum Sanctorum. Even the carelessness which led to the Multiversal chaos was taken as a suggestion that something was wrong with Doctor Strange.
Amongst all these theories, the one that was most popular is the one that suggested that Evil Doctor Strange might have replaced Doctor Strange in this timeline. With the clear usage of the concept of the multiverse in the movie, fans were quickly into the theory of it being possible considering the animated series was canon to the movie itself. This kicked away other possible theories that suggested that Doctor Strange might have been under the influence of Wanda Maximoff.
Why Doctor Strange Cannot Be Evil
Fans of the idea that Evil Doctor Strange might be present in No Way Home seem to have forgotten one major thing about Doctor Strange from the series. This has to do with the fact of what drove Stephen Strange to end up doing the things that he did to destroy his universe. There is a major impact on Strange’s narrative in the series due to Christine Palmer’s death and bringing her back at any cost was the deal.
Another logic break is the fact that the evil Doctor Strange had somewhat redeemed herself around the end of the animated series as he helps the Watcher. He was given the task of overseeing Ultron and Killmonger’s infinite tussle over the stones as he remained imprisoned in his pocket dimension. It would make no sense for him to break the character development that he had gone through in the animated series to cause chaos in No Way Home.
The second trailer has clearly indicated that Doctor Strange will be sticking around for a long time to help out Peter in the movie as the latter battles the multiversal villains. There is also some idea about why they would be fighting each other and that is clearly because Peter tries to take hold of Strange’s magic box. We will get a fair idea about Doctor Strange’s character when Spider-Man: No Way Home comes out theaters worldwide on December 17.
It stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Tony Revolori, Martin Starr, J.B. Smoove, Marisa Tomei, J.K. Simmons, Jon Favreau, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, Rhys Ifans, Thomas Haden Church and possibly, the previous two Spider-Men.
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter for more content.
Also Watch:
