Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness launched the franchise head-first into the deepest corners of the comic book realm. Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange, Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch, and Xochitl Gomez' America Chavez were just a few of the characters who explored these vast depths. With this exploration, however, came a few new faces, including one that has some extensive history with Strange himself.
Warning - This article contains spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
In Marvel Comics, Clea is a prominent sorceress and eventual love interest and wife to Stephen Strange. She also has close familial ties with Dormammu, one of the primary antagonists of 2016's Doctor Strange.
In the MCU aka Universe-616, Clea is portrayed by actress Charlize Theron, appearing to help Doctor Strange fix a universal incursion he's caused (Multiverse of Madness explains an "incursion" as two universes within the wider Multiverse colliding).
Clea was rumored to appear in the Doctor Strange sequel as far back as February 2020, and now, Theron has provided some up-close looks at the MCU's new sorceress in a few social media posts.
Charlize Theron: the MCU's Next Sorceress
On Twitter, actress Charlize Theron posted a close-up image of the makeup done on her for her post-credits appearance as sorceress Clea in Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
The image, as seen below, highlights Clea's comic book purple aura. Theron captioned it simply: "Meet Clea:"
Theron's Clea showed up in the mid-credits portion of Multiverse of Madness, seemingly to seek help from Cumberbatch's Strange with a new "incursion." Theron posted a still from this scene in an Instagram post:
The close-up of Clea's makeup arguably perfectly matches the costume Theron dons during her MCU debut, with purple dominant throughout:
Cumberbatch's Strange Has Met His New MCU Match
If there's one thing Benedict Cumberbatch's Stephen Strange learned in Doctor Strange 2, it's that he and Rachel McAdams' Christine Palmer are simply never meant to be in any universe. However, he may not woe over that realization for long.
Clea will no doubt be a major player, at least in the Doctor Strange franchise, moving forward in the MCU. In the comics, not only do her powers stem heavily from the Dark Dimension of which she rules over, but she also eventually becomes the Sorcerer Supreme herself.
While the MCU has never followed the comics exactly, Marvel Studios is bound to draw some comparisons from the page to the screen as per usual, particularly for a character as game-changing as Clea.
Plus, with Doctor Strange now seemingly facing repercussions from his brief usage of the Darkhold, Charlize Theron's sorceress has the potential to become an ally or enemy, either helping him through this debacle or pulling the not-so-theoretical cloak out from under him.
Viewers are likely to see Theron's Clea in the next Doctor Strange installment or possibly a franchise-spanning team-up a-la Avengers-style.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is playing in theaters now.
