‘Doctor Strange 2’ may fix one of ‘WandaVision’s biggest failures

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is, for now, a thriller.

Everyone knows that Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff will play a giant operate inside the extraordinarily anticipated superhero sequel and that it’ll select up the place Spider-Man: No Method Dwelling leaves off, nevertheless in every other case, the film’s plot stays under wraps.

That options the character of its villain, whose identification has however to be confirmed or revealed by anyone involved. In any case, that veil of secrecy hasn’t stopped rumors from circulating on-line about Multiverse of Madness, with comics characters like Shuma-Gorath rising as skilled contenders for the operate of the film’s primary antagonist.

Nevertheless one different notable Marvel comics villain, a minimal of as far as we’re capable of inform, would make a whole lot of sense as a result of the Doctor Uncommon sequel’s main antagonist.

The Precept — A great deal of noise has been made in newest months about Doctor Uncommon inside the Multiverse of Madness being the closest thing to a horror film Marvel has made. The hiring of Evil Ineffective and Spider-Man filmmaker Sam Raimi as a result of the film’s director has added some validity to those claims, nevertheless questions keep about how the film’s plot will justify its darker, scarier tone.

Inside the comics, Doctor Uncommon (Benedict Cumberbatch) has confronted a great deal of scary, otherworldly villains; if there was anyone Marvel Cinematic Universe hero whose solo film would possibly merely exist contained in the horror type, it’d be Uncommon. And it’s arduous to think about a comics villain who’d be a extra good choice for the film’s antagonist than the Lord of Wishes himself, Nightmare.

A New Nightmare — Nightmare is strictly what you suppose: the very personification and orchestrator of peoples’ harmful targets. A conceptual entity capable of assuming bodily sort, he resides largely inside the Nightmare Realm nevertheless has tried a variety of events to attempt to lengthen his administration into the prime universe and all through the Ten Realms. He’s a malevolent trickster, who delights in torturing people with their very worst fears.

He’s moreover, notably, had a variety of run-ins with Doctor Uncommon inside the comics. As a mystical being, he’s a villain few characters are better-equipped to struggle than Uncommon, which is why the two have confronted off repeatedly. It’s moreover value noting that Nightmare was killed at one degree inside the comics by none other than the God of Mischief, Loki, who’s rumored to have a role of some type in Doctor Uncommon inside the Multiverse of Madness.

Even with out that potential connection, Nightmare merely seems like the correct villain for a film like Multiverse of Madness. After all, if that film is leaning arduous into the horror type, few villains would possibly help it inject moments of pure terror and fear than the literal creator of nightmares.

The character’s existence as a conceptual being moreover makes him a great villain for a film anticipated to alter actuality in in all probability horrifying strategies. Few characters are so capable of preying on the fears of someone like Wanda Maximoff as Nightmare. His manipulative persona and supernatural, reality-bending powers even made him one in every of many comics characters that followers theorized earlier this 12 months was going to be the secret villain of Marvel’s WandaVision.

That, in truth, didn’t end up coming to cross, nevertheless that doesn’t suggest Nightmare gained’t ever appear on-screen inside the MCU.

The Inverse Analysis — In some methods, the inclusion of a character like Nightmare in Doctor Uncommon inside the Multiverse of Madness seems like a no brainer. That talked about, there’s nonetheless fairly a bit that we don’t know in regards to the sequel.

It’s totally potential that Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff will emerge as the film’s primary villain. Coming off WandaVision’s post-credits scene, that seems like knowledgeable danger. It’d even be the plain route that Marvel would possibly take with the film at this degree, and if there’s one issue we’ve found in regards to the studio over time, it’s that it strives to stay away from doing one thing obvious.

All of which is to say that, not solely would Nightmare match correctly contained in the film’s supposedly horror tone, nevertheless he’d moreover carry a surprising and sudden presence to the film — one that will help elevate it into even weirder, scarier territory.

Doctor Uncommon inside the Multiverse of Madness is about to hit theaters on March 25, 2022.