Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness | Trivia

A list of trivia related to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

References to Marvel Comics

• When the Illuminati confront Scarlet Witch, Mister Fantastic attempts to talk her down by relating to having a wife and kids of his own. In the comics, Richards marries his teammate Susan Storm/Invisible Woman and the two go on to have two children, Franklin and Valeria Richards.
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the second Marvel Cinematic Universe film to reference Reality Numbers after Spider-Man: Far From Home, identifying the Illuminati's home reality as Earth-838. Unlike the references to Earth-616 and Earth-833 in the earlier film, Earth-838 is not a previously known Number.
  • Earth-199999 is once again referred to in dialogue as Earth-616.
• Wanda's grief caused by the loss of her imaginary children and destruction of Vision borrow elements from the 2004 storyline "Avengers Disassembled" where regaining the memories of these children (from the previous "West Coast Avengers" series) resulted in Wanda going insane and turning against her friends which in that version Doctor Strange defeated Wanda by putting her in a coma after the damage she did against her former teammates.
• The concept of Wanda attacking and killing Professor X in the film reflects her original role in the comics where initially she was an X-Men character as well as Magneto's daughter prior to this being retconned in the 2015 Uncanny Avengers series and was also originally an X-Men villain as she and her brother Pietro were originally members of Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in her original introduction in the X-Men #4 in January 1964.
• The Christine Palmer of Earth-838 mentions that she works for the Baxter Foundation as a Multiverse analyst. In the Ultimate universe, the Baxter Foundation was the organization that funded the Fantastic Four's fateful expedition to the N-Zone, the Ultimate version of the Negative Zone.

References to the Marvel Cinematic Universe

• The film makes reference to the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Originally, Multiverse of Madness was to take place before No Way Home, but after the film was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, aspects of both films plot had to be rewritten for continuity purposes.
  • The initial trailer for Multiverse of Madness was included after the credits of No Way Home.
  • Defender Strange says the line "In the grand calculus of the Multiverse, your sacrifice is worth.." before being stabbed by the Ribboned Creature. This is the same line that 616 Doctor Strange said to Peter Parker when referring to the multiversal trespassers that had entered their universe on accident.
• As Scarlet Witch dreams of her Earth-838 self, starting with a reprise of the opening theme from the second episode of WandaVision, during the scene where she tucks her sons into bed, some shots are actually CGI-altered takes from the "The Series Finale".
• The Illuminati of Earth-838 make use of Ultron Sentries as staff, performing menial labor and guarding their headquarters from incoming attacks, similar to the intended use and purpose of the Iron Legion. The Sentries are also voiced by Ross Marquand, who took over the role of Ultron from James Spader in What If...?
• This is the first Marvel Studios production to acknowledge Inhumans' lore. A alternate version of Black Bolt (portrayed once again by Anson Mount), appears as one of the members of the Illuminati. The Terrigen Mist is also mentioned after its introduction in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D..
• Black Bolt has the same two fingers signature that Black Bolt had in Inhumans when he communicated through sign language.
• The lore of the Darkhold is expanded, and it is revealed the Book of the Damned seen in WandaVision is a copy of the original scriptures.
• When Scarlet Witch engages in battle with Captain Carter, the latter repeats Steve Rogers' famous catchphrase: "I can do this all day.", which he says in Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Endgame.
• Scarlet Witch dispatches Captain Carter using Carter's own shield to split her in half. Likewise, a variant of Bucky Barnes had previously done the same to a zombified Captain America.
• The Book of Vishanti is introduced after the Vishanti were first mentioned in What If...?, likewise, Captain Carter and Sinister Strange are inspired by the Captain Carter and Strange Supreme from the animated show.

References to 20th Century Fox's Marvel properties

• The character of Professor X makes his first on-screen appearance since the 2019 television series Legion. He is portrayed once again by Patrick Stewart, who last portrayed the character in the 2017 film Logan.
  • This version of the character is inspired by the version of Charles Xavier seen in the 20th Century Fox films and the version of the character seen in X-Men: The Animated Series.
  • As a reference to the Fox franchise, Xavier tells Doctor Strange "Just because someone stumbles and loses their way, doesn't mean they are lost forever." This line was previously spoken by a variant of Xavier to a younger version of himself in the 2014 film X-Men: Days of Future Past.
  • As a reference to the animated version of the character, Xavier wears a green suit and utilizes a golden hoverchair. He is introduced with a musical cue of the cartoon's opening theme song which was used in X-Men: The Animated Series.
• The character of Reed Richard/Mister Fantastic makes his first on-screen appearance since the 2015 film Fantastic Four, ahead of his appearance in the upcoming MCU The Fantastic Four: First Steps reboot. He is now portrayed by John Krasinski, who was previously the subject of widespread fan casting for the MCU version of the character.

References to the Evil Dead films

• When Doctor Strange and America Chavez are first flung through the Multiverse, a taxi with an advertisement for Grindhouse Releasing, the company which remastered and rereleased The Evil Dead in 2019, can briefly be seen.
• Bruce Campbell appears in a minor role as Pizza Poppa in Earth-838. After hassling America Chavez over food she took without paying for, Doctor Strange casts a spell that causes his right hand to attack him. This is in reference to a similar occurrence in Evil Dead II, where Campbell's character is attacked by his right hand after it becomes demonically possessed. Similarly, in the post-credits scene, once Pizza Poppa regains control of his hand he begins laughing manically, he turns and looks directly into the camera, much as Campbell's character did in said film.
• When Doctor Strange and Christine Palmer enter Sinister Strange's universe, an 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale can be seen among the cars floating in the road. This is the same car owned by Ash Williams, Campbell's character, in the Evil Dead series. This vehicle has reappeared throughout Raimi's filmography, most notably in Spider-Man.
• When Defender Strange's corpse is possessed by Doctor Strange, his appearance closely resembles that of the Deadites in the Evil Dead films.

Behind the Scenes

• Before she was replaced by Michael Waldron, Jade Bartlett was initially hired to write the film.
• There were widespread rumors that Tom Cruise would appear in the film as a variant of Iron Man known as Superior Iron Man from the comics. Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron said that he was intrigued by the rumors and did approach Kevin Feige about including Cruise in the film, but he informed him that it was impossible due to his commitments to the next two Mission: Impossible films.
• Similarly, Deadpool was also rumored for a cameo appearance in the film and was supposed to appear on a billboard with Cable but dropped as the writers felt that he wouldn't fit into the film's story.
• Daniel Craig was originally cast as either Balder the Brave or Mister Fantastic but he dropped out due to an uptick in COVID-19 cases and did not want to contract the disease while on set in London.
• In an early draft of Multiverse of Madness, the Wasp (possibly Janet or Hope) was a member of the Illuminati.
• At Illuminati Headquarters can be see a statue of Xena. Xena: Warrior Princess is a TV series developed by Sam Raimi and R. J. Stewart in 1995.