Doctor Strange 2’s X-Men Reveal Finally Justifies The MCU’s Multiverse

The Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailer introduces the X-Men to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, giving the Multiverse its most significant purpose yet. The Doctor Strange 2 trailer from Super Bowl LVI featured several MCU surprises. Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) seemingly confronts Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), Zombie Doctor Strange and other variants appear, America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) shows off her powers, and Cumberbatch’s Stephen Strange stands trial for messing with the Multiverse. During this trial, a “Mystery Voice” seemingly belonging to Patrick Stewart says, “We should tell him the truth.” The moment apparently places the X-Men in the MCU.

Marvel has owned the X-Men for years now without properly introducing the characters. In 2019, Disney finally completed its acquisition of Fox entertainment assets, which included the rights to X-Men and the Fantastic Four. Since the purchase, rumors have swirled about how Marvel would bring mutants into the MCU. WandaVision teased the X-Men introduction with Evan Peters’ Pietro Maximoff, but the appearance ultimately turned out to be a lie. Evan Peters was simply playing a brainwashed civilian named Ralph Bohner.

The Doctor Strange 2 trailer finally appears to bring the X-Men and Patrick Stewart’s Professor X into the MCU, giving the Multiverse its purpose. Marvel introduced the Multiverse to the MCU through several Disney+ shows, including Marvel’s What If…? and Loki. Then Spider-Man: No Way Home took things further by including Tobey Maguire’s and Andrew Garfield’s versions of Peter Parker. However, the X-Men have always been an essential part of Marvel’s comics, and rights issues kept them out of the films in any official capacity. So bringing the X-Men into the MCU is clearly the most important job for Marvel’s Multiverse.

Doctor Strange 2 is setting up the future of the MCU. By introducing Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, Marvel confirms the presence of mutants in its films and shows. Bringing mutants into the MCU’s Multiverse has enormous implications. Marvel can now include other iconic X-Men characters, including Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool. Future movies could also reveal mutants have been around the entire time, influencing the stories from behind the scenes. With the Multiverse in play, Marvel also doesn’t have to stick to the storylines in Fox’s X-Men movies, which weren’t always the most successful, as shown with box office flops such as Dark Phoenix and New Mutants. Instead, Marvel can forge its own path, bringing back characters from Fox’s films or creating its own variant mutants for the MCU.

There’s more to the X-Men reveal than the Doctor Strange 2 trailer lets on. Marvel’s trailers are notorious for including false scenes and misleading moments. For instance, one moment in the No Way Home trailer included Wong (Benedict Wong) forbidding Doctor Strange from performing a spell. And that never happens in the final film. Bringing X-Men into the MCU is too big of a moment to include in a trailer at face value, hinting there’s more going on. Thus, Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness trailer is the definition of strange.

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Bill Bradley
(524 Articles Published)

Bill is an experienced reporter who’s covered entertainment and fandom since 2014. He’s done everything from unearthing the discarded Game of Thrones pilot script in a library in Texas to finding out why Steve left Blue’s Clues. He also enjoys eating Taco Bell and drinking chocolate milk.

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