Despite going all in on Doctor Strange early in the Multiverse Saga, Marvel Studios ultimately sidelined the character for years, leaving their major bet on him unfulfilled. Marvel Studios spent much of Phase 4 aggressively positioning Doctor Strange as the next big anchor of the MCU in the Multiverse Saga, giving him major roles across What If...?, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. His last appearance even included a high-stakes post-credits cliffhanger that directly tied him to the saga's core threat of incursions.
The setup for Doctor Strange's largely significant role in the Multiverse Saga was massive. Strange's spell in Spider-Man: No Way Home not only changed Peter Parker's life forever, but it literally broke the Multiverse barriers wide open, as it almost allowed individuals who knew Peter's identity as Spider-Man from other realities to enter Earth-616.
While the No Way Home issue involving the Multiversal breach was sealed (for now), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness raised the stakes for the Multiverse with Stephen Strange at the center and the active catalyst for the incursions.
The MCU sequel literally positioned Strange as the most dangerous person in the Multiverse because his Variants had repeatedly proven themselves to be the greatest threat to existence itself.
The Illuminati from Earth-838 declared that their version of Doctor Strange nearly ended their reality, and the MCU's Strange's reckless dreamwalking and tampering with the Darkhold further amplified that pattern, which ultimately culminated in a post-credits scene where Clea pulls him into the Dark Dimension and tells him that he needs to fix an incursion he directly caused.
His arc from Spider-Man: No Way Home to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness transformed Strange into the hero whose actions actively destabilized reality, meaning the Multiverse Saga should have been his story to drive.
However, Marvel Studios fumbled by not keeping Strange as a central figure in the MCU post Multiverse of Madness, leaving Benedict Cumberbatch's Marvel character sidelined in Phase 5 and the first chunk of Phase 6.
There was no Doctor Strange cameo, no update about Clea and Strange's incursion situation, and zero connective tissues in The Marvels, Deadpool & Wolverine, Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Despite that, in November 2025, Cumberbatch gave a reassuring update about Doctor Strange's MCU future, telling fans, "He's coming. At some point. Yeah, you definitely will [see him again]."
While Doctor Strange will likely appear in Avengers: Doomsday to correct Marvel Studios' mistake, the damage has been done. Marvel had the perfect protagonist for the saga they were selling, gave him a compelling setup, but they chose to sideline him.
This is one of the clearest examples of the post-Endgame MCU struggling with long-term planning and follow-through. It is unknown whether the pivot from Kang the Conqueror to Doctor Doom refocused this saga's endgame, leaving Strange as collateral damage in the overarching narrative they are trying to tell.
How the Multiverse Saga Can Still Redeem Doctor Strange
The Multiverse Saga can still redeem Doctor Strange, and it will be up to how Marvel will portray the character in the two-part culmination of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Given that Doomsday is already confirmed to tackle the extent of the incursions, there is no better way to deal with them than by incorporating Doctor Strange and Clea into the story somehow.
Doomsday could finally showcase what happened after the post-credits scene of Multiverse of Madness, revealing the ramifications of his decision to go with Clea, such as lost time on Earth, and how his third eye forever changed him.
With Cumberbatch's Strange being confirmed for Avengers: Secret Wars, the movie could finally give him a chance to become the ultimate savior of the Multiverse, helping the heroes destabilize Doctor Doom's Battleworld from within.
Cumberbatch even shared that Strange is "in a lot" of Secret Wars, confirming that he has a major role in the crossover movie.
Rumors have swirled that Strange could temporarily ally himself with Doom, viewing it as a necessary evil in the fight to save the Multiverse. This could force him into tough choices in the movie, leading to a genuine redemption arc where he ultimately defeats Doom and helps forge a new reality, similar to how Tony Stark outsmarted Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.
