It's been a long time since Doctor Strange was released in theaters, with audiences' first introduction to Benedict Cumberbatch's Stephen Strange coming back in 2016. Thankfully, the Sorcerer Supreme didn't need a barrage of solo movies to make his presence known.
Coming right off of his first appearance, Strange played a role in Thor: Ragnarok, and then went on to be a key player in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. He's been a busy man—though that tends to be the case when you're one of the most powerful players on Earth.
Strange certainly had quite an origin, with his first victory as a sorcerer coming by tricking Dormammu into submission—that, of course, is a near-endless powerful entity. From there, he continued to take on the Children of Thanos, which led to squaring off against the Mad Titan himself.
The true show of character was when Strange had to give up the thing that he was sworn to never part with: The Time Stone. After viewing millions of future timelines, the only one where the world came on top was when he broke his sacred oath so that Avengers: Endgame could play out as it did.
Needless to say, Strange has been through a lot. So how are all of those experiences going to play into the upcoming film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness?
THE MADNESS OF DOCTOR STRANGE
In an interview with SyFy, Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron dove into the story for the upcoming film's titular character.
While Waldron obviously couldn't give away any plot details, he made it clear that he was excited by "all the cool sci-fi and fantasy stuff you can do with Doctor Strange."
When approaching Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Waldron did so in the same fashion as he did Loki: by first diving into the core of the character. Waldron asked himself, after everything that Strange had been through to this point, "what effect does that have on somebody so powerful?"
"‘How can you go deeper into the character of Stephen Strange?’ This is a guy who’s been through a lot in the last several years. What effect does that have on somebody so powerful? That’s exciting. And beyond all that, he’s just a great adventurer — a great adventure hero you just like to watch kick ass."
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH'S STRANGE IMPACT
Thinking about it, there wasn't really ever a time to sit down with Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange after the events of Avengers: Endgame, or even Avengers: Infinity War for that matter. So fans truly have no idea how all of that will affect Strange, which makes perfect sense for it to be the starting point for Waldron as he worked on the hero's solo sequel.
Hopefully, Waldron gets a moment to explore how knowing Stark's future, and watching it all play out, affects Strange. While he didn't know Tony all that well, the gravity of it all is enough to weigh someone down for multiple lifetimes. Sadly, it certainly doesn't seem like Strange will be getting any breaks.
Coming straight out of WandaVision, Wanda is now far more powerful than ever before, and she's playing with forces she doesn't yet understand in the Darkhold. On top of contending with that, Strange will have to deal with the weakening barriers between universes that Wanda theoretically caused—something that, if rumor has it, will bring along a frightening and otherworldly villain.
