Here’s everything you need to know from that post credits scene from “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
Now that “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” has been out in theaters for a few days, it’s time to talk about that post credits scene and maybe just a little bit about those cameos from earlier in the movie as well.
Needless to say SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS.
So first things first, let’s talk about the Illuminati that gets introduced midway through the film when Doctor Strange is carried to an alternate universe — identified as Earth-838 — by America Chavez.
The Illuminati in the film is comprised of members — Reed Richards (John Krasinski), Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell), Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Black Bolt (Anson Mount), Maria Rambeau/Captain Marvel (Lashana Lynch) and Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) — and they are tasked with keeping a watchful eye over the multiverse to ensure incursions don’t happen.
If you didn’t see “The Eternals,” an incursion is basically when one world crossover to another and they crash into each other, essentially destroying both worlds.
In the comics, the Illuminati originally consisted of Professor Xavier, Black Bolt, Iron Man, Reed Richards, Doctor Strange and Namor the Sub-Mariner. Much like the comic book version, these people were brought together to help make important decisions where the superpowered community was involved. Eventually in this version of the Illuminati, the members actually end up each holding onto an Infinity stone after Thanos was defeated and the Infinity Gauntlet was broken apart.
During a different storyline when incursions started happening, the Illuminati revealed that they each had one of the Infinity gems before combining them again to form the all powerful gauntlet, which Captain American ended up wielding to push away the other world before it could crash into Earth. Sadly, the power used to force that plant out of the incursion shattered each of the Infinity stones, which forced the Illuminati to come up with other strategies to stop future incursions.
Why is that all relevant?
Well it certainly seems to be the direction this phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is heading, especially after introducing this version of the Illuminati — despite the fact that they all perished after tangling with Wanda Maximoff in by far one of the most hardcore scenes in the history of these particular films.
It also stands to reason that John Krasinski will be sticking around to portray Reed Richards in the upcoming “Fantastic Four” movie, which is a bit of fan casting that was absolutely perfect. Look for another version of the Illuminati to pop up at some point or some version similar to that because it’s unlikely we’ve seen the last of these incursion events.
POST CREDIT SCENE
After tangling with Wanda and convincing her to stop trying to cross over between universes in order to be reunited with her children, Doctor Strange returns home to New York after he personally interacted with the Darkhold to stop her. The Darkhold is spell book of sorts that contains all of the dark arts for mysticism in the Marvel Universe.
In the aftermath of that event, Doctor Strange reveals that he’s developed a third eye, which was a similar condition developed by a different Strange from an alternate universe who had been corrupted from use of the Darkhold.
Now does this mean that Doctor Strange has also been corrupted since he’s now sporting a third eye as well? Not necessarily because in the comics the third eye is represented by the Eye of Agamotto, which was a device built by the first ever Sorceror Supreme that he used to hold the time stone.
Doctor Strange eventually gave the time stone to Thanos, who then destroyed the Eye of Agamotto. The time stone was later destroyed by The Avengers after seeking out Thanos and killing him.
In the new film, Doctor Strange had reconstructed the Eye of Agamotto even though the time stone no longer exists. The comics have previously depicted the Eye of Agamotto actually transforming into a third eye on the user when it’s being employed for tasks such as telepathy, playing back past events or finding and showing the truth.
The movie doesn’t make it clear if Doctor Strange has just learned how to use the Eye of Agamotto to transform himself to use that third eye or if that’s connected to his corruption thanks to the Darkhold. The latter seems more likely given the storyline from the film but we won’t know more on that until the next “Doctor Strange” sequel — or at least until he appears in other Marvel films.
In the post-credits scene, Doctor Strange is walking along when he’s greeted by a woman with long white hair and an all purple outfit played by Charlize Theron.
“You caused an incursion and we’re going to fix it … unless you’re afraid?”
After telling him that news, the woman tears a hole in reality, opening a portal to a different dimension and she jumps through it along with Doctor Strange and that’s how the film ends.
So who is this woman?
Well her name is Clea and she is from the Dark Dimension — another alternate reality — and she’s actually the niece of Dormammu, the disembodied villain pulling the strings from the first Doctor Strange movie. In that film, Strange uses the time stone to lock Dormammu in an eternal loop that eventually forces him to submit.
In the comics, Clea is trained by her mother and Dormammu as a powerful sorcerer in the Dark Dimension. When Doctor Strange travels to the Dark Dimension after learning that Dormammu is planning an invasion of Earth, he meets Clea for the first time who is immediately enamored with him.
Strange eventually defeats Dormammu, who then imprisons Clea for her treachery after she attempted to help the sorcerer in his battle with her uncle. Strange and Clea continue to cross paths in dozens of various storylines until Dormammu is finally vanquished and she ends up as the ruler over the entire Dark Dimension.
Clea also falls in love with Strange and they end up getting married, which might be the romantic storyline coming soon for these two characters in the MCU, especially after Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) was having her wedding during the sequel.
In the most recent storyline from the comics, Stephen Strange actually dies and Clea takes over for him as the new Sorcerer Supreme over Earth while also adopting his last name. Clea and Strange were often star crossed lovers through the comics, brought together and torn apart through all sorts of twists and turns. Most avid readers consider Clea to be Strange’s one true love not to mention a powerful counterpart to his magic, which stands to reason why she’s being introduced into the MCU right now.
Of course it doesn’t hurt to get an Oscar winner like Theron on board in the MCU either!
There’s no telling when Clea might pop up again — as of now there’s not another “Doctor Strange” film officially happening, although the credits teased that he will be back and that all but solidifies a sequel will get the greenlight down the road.
Marvel is really leaning into these cosmic storylines along with the incursion events with these latest films so it’s probably not a bad idea to do some further reading in the comics if you’re interested in what’s coming soon.
Jonathan Hickman’s “Avengers” run is an important starting point to better understand the Illuminati as well as the incursion events. That story ran from “Avengers” issues No. 35 through No. 44. Hickman’s entire run on “Avengers” is probably worth reading, although you could go back even further to when writer Brian Michael Bendis actually introduced the Illuminati for the first time in the comics.
The Illuminati also popped up in the Secret Invasion storyline when Earth’s mightiest heroes started learning that the shape-shifting Skrulls had not only invaded the planet but many of them had taken over the form of heroes and villains well established throughout history. There is a “Secret Invasion” series coming to Disney+ so that’s another one to look for as well.
Make sure to check out инетерс
As far as cosmic stories, there is none bigger than “The Infinity Gauntlet,” which has obviously already been covered, but it’s also really worth your time to explore the modern version of “Secret Wars” from 2015, which was also written by Hickman
That story serves as the direct conclusion to the incursion plot from the “Avengers” comics. In this mega-event, the incursions have collapsed the universe down to two worlds, which eventually collide together and they create one called ‘Battleworld,” which is essentially divided up amongst heroes and villains you’ll recognized by name or reputation.
It’s entirely possible that’s where these incursion stories are headed but then again we also know that another massive villain is lurking in the shadows in the form of Kang the Conqueror, who was introduced in the “Loki” series and it seems highly likely that he’ll play a major part in whatever story or event is coming next.
