Fans are just a few weeks away from Marvel Studios' next film, Eternals. The epic is set to introduce a god-like group of individuals who have been on Earth for 7,000 years. Also on the docket for introductions? Kit Harington's Dane Whiteman.
From the trailers, Whitman looks like the everyday man—he certainly doesn't seem to have any powers like his comic counterpart, at least, not yet. As a normal citizen, one can't help but wonder just what the public knows about the superheroes viewers have been following for over a decade.
As seen in films like Spider-Man: Far From Home, there's certainly some knowledge of the various individuals and what happened at the Avengers Compound in Avengers: Endgame. WandaVision even directly referenced Wanda's near execution of Thanos, an odd detail for someone not on the battlefield to know.
Now, Marvel Studios revealed a new teaser for Eternals, and in it, Dane Whitman mentions that he knows who Doctor Strange is.
Dane Whitman Knows of Doctor Strange
Marvel Studios released a brand-new teaser for Eternals, which included an interesting new scene.
In the scene, Kit Harington's Dane Whitman is talking to Gemma Chan's Sersi, and he asks her if she is "a wizard, like Doctor Strange?"
What's notable about this is that the character knows about the good doctor. This is interesting because, from what the audience has seen, Stephen Strange hasn't really done much in the public eye. Maybe something has changed since audiences last saw him?
As for the context of the scene, based on Dane's voice and Sersi's reply to the question, this is likely around the time that the two first meet—or at least, the first time she has to use her powers around him.
The teaser can be seen in its entirety below:
Doctor Strange is a Popular Hero
Stephen Strange's Sorcerer Supreme has now been mentioned in six Phase 4 projects, with at least two more to come in the next year. The doctor's presence in the MCU strengthens, and it's pretty clear that Marvel is banking on Benedict Cumberbatch to be a key connective tissue between projects.
It's an easy sell after all, since Doctor Strange's whole job is to protect the world's reality from anything and everything—which usually encompasses most conflicts. He also has his good pal Wong to fill in for him when he's not available.
This Strange reference will surely not be the last connection to the wider MCU that Eternals contains. While it's slight, the fun nod is still a piece of world-building. It's easy to imagine that after Thanos' victory, the entire world got a full-on master's class about the many heroes working behind the scenes.
The real question is when will fans see Dane Whitman become one of them?
Eternals will be hitting theaters worldwide on November 5, 2021.
