Doctor Strange 2 Rewatch Guide: Essential MCU Movies & Shows To Watch
Here are all the key movies and TV episodes viewers will want to be familiar with ahead of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The biggest movie in the MCU's Phase 4 to date, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness promises to redefine the nature of the MCU itself. Its protagonist, Stephen Strange, is about to launch himself on a journey across the dimensions — coming face-to-face with terrifying new enemies and powerful allies.
The MCU's multiverse lies at the heart of Phase 4, granting Marvel Studios creative opportunities to reimagine their greatest heroes and villains. At first, the impact of the multiverse was remote. Although it was introduced in Loki, that story was outside of the timestream, meaning the heroes had no idea that reality itself had just been transformed. But it has steadily encroached ever-closer to the so-called "Sacred Timeline," with Doctor Strange himself causing multiversal chaos when one of his spells backfired in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness features both Benedict Cumberbatch's Stephen Strange and Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch, meaning viewers will want to be familiar with key moments from both their lives. Meanwhile, Marvel has deliberately promoted several of the variants involved in the timeline, meaning it's possible to identify key episodes of Marvel's What If...? that will need to be checked out, too. Here are all the essential MCU movies and TV shows viewers will need to rewatch to fully understand this film.
Viewed in chronological order, Avengers: Age of Ultron is the first movie on this list. This is because it serves as Scarlet Witch's origin story, explaining how she gained her powers — as she believed it to be the case, anyway —and establishing the theme of tragedy that defines the character. Avengers: Age of Ultron is also important because it introduces Ultron and the android army he creates; variants of Ultron drones appear to return in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, working for the interdimensional Illuminati.
The first wave of MCU properties was wary of embracing magic and the supernatural, largely because Marvel feared these concepts would be an uncomfortable fit for a science-based shared cinematic universe. All that changed with the release of 2016's Doctor Strange, which outlines the MCU's version of magic — and ties it to the multiverse. Doctor Strange serves as both an origin story for Stephen Strange and a primer on the supernatural, so it's essential viewing ahead of its sequel.
Avengers: Infinity War is a key moment in Doctor Strange's MCU arc, forcing the Master of the Mystic Arts to work alongside other heroes in a desperate attempt to stop Thanos from wiping out half the life in the universe. Strange's knowledge of sorcery has noticeably expanded since his debut, and Strange battles against Thanos in a spectacular scene. In the end, it is Strange who provides the key to defeating Thanos when he uses the Time Stone to see the only timeline in which the heroes win — and resolves to do anything to ensure that timeline comes to pass.
Doctor Strange's plans come to a head in Avengers: Endgame, in which the heroes successfully defeat Thanos — but at a terrible cost. The climax of the MCU's Phase 3, Avengers: Endgame radically changes Doctor Strange's status quo. The Masters of the Mystic Arts join the assembled Avengers in the final battle against Thanos and his armies, meaning the existence of magic and sorcery becomes public knowledge; key members of the group even go on to attend Iron Man's funeral. More disturbingly, though, Avengers: Endgame sees Thanos destroy the Time Stone. The Time Stone was Doctor Strange's greatest weapon; for centuries the Sorcerers Supreme had used it to identify potential threats to reality and figure out the best course of action. The Masters of the Mystic Arts must now adapt to a whole new way of working.
Starring Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany, WandaVision is required viewing to understand Scarlet Witch's arc. The final two episodes, 8 and 9, are the most important, because they essentially retcon Wanda Maximoff's origin story, transforming her into the Scarlet Witch. Unfortunately, they set Scarlet Witch on a dark path, with Agatha Harkness revealing there are prophecies of her contained within the forbidden book of dark magic called the Darkhold. The series ends with Scarlet Witch claiming the Darkhold and learning magic from the book's pages, and this may very well be a bad idea because in the comics the Darkhold has a corrupting influence on anyone who turns its pages.
Some viewers may be surprised to see Loki absent from this list, as that particular series creates the multiverse, but its story is set outside the various timelines, whereas Doctor Strange's stories take place within it. Instead of Loki, then, viewers would be wise to head to Marvel's animated TV series What If...? to get a good sense of how the MCU's multiverse plays out from the inside. Two characters from Marvel's What If...? have been confirmed to appear in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, meaning four episodes are especially important:
What If...? episode 1, "What If... Captain Carter Were The First Avenger?" This story serves to set up the show's entire premise, and it introduces a variant of Peggy Carter who becomes a super-soldier instead of Steve Rogers. Marketing for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has featured several nods to Captain Carter, meaning viewers will need to know this story.
What If...? episode 4, "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead Of His Hands?" Featuring a variant of Doctor Strange, this story looks set to play directly into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This is easily the best episode of the entire series, a dark and emotional tale that shows the true potential of the multiverse, and it will be exciting to see this variant of Strange interact with the MCU version.
What If...? episodes 8 and 9, a two-part conclusion that's likely to be important. These two episodes introduce both Captain Carter and Strange Supreme to the multiverse, setting them up as part of the first iteration of a team described as the "Guardians of the Multiverse." This may well be the first incarnation of the Illuminati.
Finally, viewers will want to check out Spider-Man: No Way Home. The triumphant climax of Tom Holland's first Spider-Man trilogy, this movie sees Peter Parker head to Doctor Strange for help — and this leads to Doctor Strange's magic damaging the fabric of the multiverse itself. Unfortunately, Doctor Strange likely never learned caution from this experience, because at the end of the movie he performs a memory spell that affects his own memories as well. That means he might well make the same kind of mistakes in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.