New Doctor Strange Trailer Teases the Return of… [SPOILER]

In recent weeks, a particular rumour has been swirling around the MCU’s upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, directed by Sam Raimi (the original Spider-Man trilogy, The Evil Dead trilogy).

Ever since Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) essentially ripped down the walls of the multiverse in Marvel’s most recent film, Spider-Man: No Way Home, bringing characters from both of Sony’s previous Spidey series into the MCU proper, including both of their versions of Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, respectively), people have been wondering what other Marvel properties could possibly be brought into the fold, and a recent one that seemed almost too good to be true was the idea of Patrick Stewart making his grand return as Professor Xavier.

For years, it seemed like the Marvel characters whose film rights were owned by other companies, such as Sony with Spidey, and in this case, X-Men with FOX, would never be able to join their MCU compatriots in the same film. Recently, however, things such as Disney’s deal with Sony and then them acquiring FOX has made it seem more possible. There was still the question of how they could weave them into the main MCU story without disregarding their previous narratives. The solution is, of course, the multiverse, making it officially part of the text that events from other series actually happened in other universes from which those characters can now cross over into the ‘main’ world of the MCU without losing those backstories.

Marvel dipped their toes into these waters with its Disney+ series, WandaVision, when it had teased the inclusion of Evan Peters’ Quicksilver in the MCU (even though it ultimately turned out that his character was a fake), and then even further with their animated What If? series. No Way Home, however, finally busted those walls wide open, which brings us to the new Multiverse of Madness trailer, which includes a scene where a captured Doctor Strange is brought in front of shadowy, mysterious group, and is then addressed by familiar, bald-headed figure from behind with an even more familiar voice, namely Patrick Stewart.

Although the trailer doesn’t confirm that this is indeed Charles Xavier, it seems unlikely that it could be anyone else. The speculation is that this group is the Illuminati, who from the comics, were basically a superhero equivalent to the UN, made up of various delegates from different parts of Marvel’s fictional universe, such as Iron Man, T’Challa, Reed Richards of Fantastic Four, Stephen Strange himself, and…Charles Xavier. The last time we saw Professor X was when he passed away in Logan in 2017, but despite that, Patrick Stewart has since voiced eagerness to return to the role, and this is a perfect opportunity, given the multiverse concept allows him to play an alternate version of the character who didn’t die.

And luckily, we don’t have very long to wait to find out the full details of this return. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opens in cinemas on 6 May 2022.

Featured Image Credit: The Indian Express

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