‘Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness’ - What to Know About the New Marvel Movie

As the date set for the premiere of "Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness" approaches, fans are getting more excited, making it one of the most hyped releases so far this year.

The new Marvel movie "Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness" premieres Friday, May 6. Since news of its imminent release hit the streets, there has been a lot of excitement from fans of the Marvel universe, making it one of the most anticipated movies this year.

A sequel to the first Doctor Strange movie, released in 2016 featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Stephen Strange, Marvel aims to gross between $160 million to $180 million on the opening weekend. It is expected to premiere in over four thousand North American theaters.

Some experts in all things box office have even estimated that the hype the movie is receiving now may propel the tally closer to $200 million, which is a milestone very few films have reached in one single weekend.

Outside the US, the sequel targets between $125 million and $140 million, which means the valuation can be totaled between a whopping $285 million to $340 million in global ticket sales. Not bad for a movie with a $200 million budget, excluding hefty marketing fees.

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE PLOT OF THE MULTIVERSE?

For many reasons, everyone has their eyes on the "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" movie. Still, one of the best is because it will reportedly pull together various story threads from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It was promised by the studio president Kevin Feige on the Comic-Con stage three years ago, and fans are happy that the long wait will be worth it.

A hint about what the storyline would look like was provided in "Avengers: Endgame" when the Ancient One, played by Tilda Swinton, lectured Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) on the intricacies of divergent timelines.

Overall, there have been two movie trailers, and they both confirmed that the plot will cover a breakdown of the Multiverse following Doctor Strange's actions in "Spider-man: No Way Home."

The movie brings back the former sorcerer for yet another cross-dimensional adventure, but even though it has a PG-13 rating, it is set to become Marvel's first horror movie.

It will also introduce the new superhero America Chavez, who can cross into the different worlds of the multiverse. To fully enjoy the upcoming "Doctor Strange" sequel, here are some notable tidbits about the movie.

"DOCTOR STRANGE"

Doctor Strange made his debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2016, where fans were allowed to watch him transform from gifted neurosurgeon to humble magician.

The ancient one taught him in her Nepali compound, and in her first lesson, she showed him an infinite number of universes within the multiverse.

In the end, the strange one dies in a battle with the movie's villain, Kaecilius, who allied himself with the dark dimension, and its lord, Dormammu, and Strange went on to defeat him, earning the title of Master of the New York Sanctum.

But unfortunately, he makes an enemy of Mordo, one of the sorcerers he befriended during his training, who vows to rid the world of sorcerers.

"AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR AND AVENGERS: ENDGAME"

After joining Iron Man and Spider-Man in "Infinity War," Strange is captured and taken to space where Thanos and his ilk try to get the time stone from him. The heroes eventually crash on a planet called Titan, where they get acquainted with the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Before their big fight with Thanos, Strange revealed that they only won once in a million timelines he viewed, and when they did battle, the good doctor had to give up the time stone in exchange for Iron Man's life.

After the tumultuous and heartbreaking battle of Wakanda that saw Vision murdered permanently by Thanos in his bid to acquire the mind stone, the villain snaps his fingers while wearing the infinity gauntlet, erasing half of all life in the universe, including Strange and most of the Avengers.

Years down the line, the Avengers who survived could travel through time, recover the infinity stones, and revive everyone who was wiped out of existence.

In the final battle against Thanos, Strange plays a significant role by teleporting everyone in the MCU; however, when Wanda realizes Vision is still dead, she snaps and nearly kills Thanos by herself, giving fans a taste of the great power residing within her.

WANDAVISION

Wanda poured her grief over Vision's death into turning the small town of Westview into her idea of Utopia, recreating a simulation of her lost lover to live with her. Her powers were so great that she could birth twins she named Billy and Tommy, who aged rapidly over a few days and had their powers.

Wanda doted over them and was fierce in protecting them; however, when she realized she had to free the people of Westview from her mind control, she struggled with letting her twins go because they could not exist outside her Utopia.

The experience opened her eyes to what she really was; an ancient and powerful being known as Scarlet Witch, and by the end of the movie, she had an ancient book of spells called the Darkhold. The film ended when she heard a scream from her sons, leaving fans wondering if they were still alive somewhere.

LOKI

In Loki, fans discovered that the Time Variance Authority kept the multiverse in check for ages. They pruned pesky variants to ensure there was only a single timeline until the variant of Loki, who evades capture in "Avengers: Endgame," is caught by them.

In the end, Loki's female variant named Sylvie murders the head of the metaphysical agency, thereby birthing the multiverse.

SPIDERMAN: NO WAY HOME

Here, it is revealed that Doctor Strange's disappearance during the blip means he has lost his title as sorcerer supreme, and Wong inherited it.

Behind Wong's back, Strange tries to aid Spider-Man by making the public forget he ever existed, but when Peter interrupts the spell to ask that those close to him be exempted, Strange accidentally tears a hole in the multiverse.

Some enemies of Spider-Man showed up, and so did two other variants of him. In the end, Strange could repair the rift by casting the original spell he had been trying to before Peter interrupted. However, it only made people forget his identity and not Spider-Man's existence.

WHICH CAST FROM DOCTOR STRANGE WILL BE RETURNING, AND WHO IS NEW?

Most of the cast from "Doctor Strange" reprised their roles for the sequel in true Marvel fashion: Cumberbatch is back as the good doctor, and Wong is expected to be his usual pithy self while he plays the role of Sorcerer supreme.

Rachel McAdams also returns as Dr. Christine Palmer, Strange's love interest in the first release though she will also be playing variants of Christine. Besides her, Topo Wresniwiro and Mark Anthony Brighton will maintain their roles as Mystic Arts practitioners Hamir and Daniel Drumm.

New faces will include Elizabeth Olsen, who joins the cast as Wanda Maximoff and the Scarlet Witch. Tom Hiddleston may also feature as Loki, and Patrick Stewart, whose voice was heard in the trailer, will also pop in, although fans don't know what character he plays yet.

As stated earlier, Xochitl Gomez will also play a role in the movie as the dimension jumper known as America Chavez, whose use of her abilities will madden Strange and Wong.

HOW TO WATCH DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS? IS IT ON DISNEY+?

The highly anticipated film will only be available in Cinemas from Friday the 6th; however, there are only speculations on when it will start airing on Disney+. In the past, some movies started airing on the viewing platform when they premiered in Cinemas, and fans are hoping there can be a repeat.

However, because the movie is set to debut as a theatrical exclusive, it is more likely to see a 45 to 70-day wait before the film becomes available on Disney+, which puts the release at a July 15 date.

It is believed that if the movie does exceptionally well at the cinemas, then that gap may widen to as many as 90 days as in the case of "Spider-man: No Way Home." It means fans can expect it to hit Disney+ between July 15 and August 4.