Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness had no shortage of deaths, although a new piece of art teased that Wong was almost included in that group during his last MCU movie appearance.
Doctor Strange 2 brought one of the highest death counts from any MCU movie in recent memory, especially when looking back on the scene featuring the brutal murders of five Illuminati members. Since the film premiered in May 2022, the cast and crew have opened up about how shocking these moments were, putting Doctor Strange 2 in its own class of violence and horror thanks to Sam Raimi's direction.
Before the Scarlet Witch met her own supposed end in the sequel's climactic battle, she unleashed pure horror across a couple of different universes, killing off Reed Richards, Captain Carter, and numerous others in her rampage.
And now, thanks to a new look into the Multiversal sequel, fans have insight into another death that Wanda Maximoff almost added to her list as she sought to accomplish her personal mission.
Doctor Strange 2 Almost Had Wong Die
As shared by Twitter user @scarletnews, a new piece of concept art revealed darker fates for both Wong and Baron Mordo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The art was drawn by concept artist Rob Bliss.
Two of the images show Benedict Wong's hero far worse off for wear, with his head literally chopped in half as his brains fall out of his skull. There's also a chance that this version of Wong is the one known as Defender Wong from Earth-838, who was eventually left on the cutting room floor as the runtime was cut down.
Defender Wong was also shown in previous concept art for Doctor Strange 2, walking down the street with Doctor Strange and America Chavez as he shed some light on his world for the visitors.
Additionally, another image from Rob Bliss showed the decapitated head of Baron Karl Mordo, whose own death earlier in the movie was cut. This scene would have opened up the blockbuster as Earth 616's Mordo tracked down the Scarlet Witch in her Westview home from WandaVision, with Wanda Maximoff killing him and later showing his head to Doctor Strange.
The caption for the images teased both deaths being from an earlier draft of Doctor Strange 2's script that was much more brutal:
"New 'Multiverse of Madness' early concept art by Rob Bliss reveals alternate fates for Wong and Mordo, likely at the hands of the Scarlet Witch! In an earlier draft of the movie, Wanda was set to behead Mordo and show his decapitated head to Dr. Strange."
Wong Avoids the Ax in Doctor Strange 2
Nearly a dozen Marvel characters met their end one way or another in Doctor Strange 2, although Wong managed to avoid that group as he fought the Scarlet Witch. While the version of Wong that died in the concept art was most likely his Earth-838 Variant that didn’t make the final cut, it still shows how much violence and brutality Marvel was considering with this adventure.
With the MCU’s first 2022 movie only coming in at a little more than two hours long, Marvel Studios did everything it could to trim down the details to only what was deemed absolutely necessary. If this hadn’t been the case, Defender Wong may have gotten a chance to take the spotlight the way Defender Strange did in the opening scene, adding more depth to Earth-838 as prime Strange and America Chavez made their escape from Wanda.
Thankfully, every version of Wong managed to escape death in his latest movie, which became his third of four appearances in the live-action MCU over the course of Phase 4.
Moving forward, Benedict Wong's Sorcerer Supreme is rumored to be in line for a leading role in a Strange Academy Disney+ series that's been discussed in recent weeks, putting him front and center as he leads a new group of heroes into the MCU. Hopefully, he'll be able to keep himself alive for the foreseeable future the way he did in Doctor Strange 2, even with more dangerous threats looming.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now streaming on Disney+.
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