Here’s everything we know about Doctor Strange 2 so far

With its Phase 4 slate all billed, Marvel will be breaking plenty of ground with its next batch of movies. But according to director Scott Derrickson, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be the first horror movie in the MCU.

Even though we have to wait until May 2021 to see Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, some recent info courtsey of director Scott Derrickson has us more excited than ever for the future of the MCU. The sequel was officially annouced a couple weeks ago at San Diego Comic-Con, along with the revelation that it would be Marvel’s first-ever true horror film.

But what exactly does that mean? There isn’t a ton of information to go off of just yet, but the title, a key villain, and Derrickson’s past projects all hint at what we can expect from Doctor Strange 2.

So… about that whole “multiverse” thing

The most attention-grabbing part of the film’s title is obviously the “multiverse of madness,” but is there even a multiverse in the MCU? Though we got a taste of the multiverse last december with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, that movie technically isn’t part of the MCU. Up until now, the only taste of the multiverse we’ve gotten in the MCU was from the (supposedly) interdimensional Quentin Beck in Spider-Man: Far From Home — but if you’ve seen the film, you know that his explanation of the multiverse isn’t exactly legit.

That means that, unless another Phase 4 project gets there first, Doctor Strange 2 will be the first true Marvel movie to explore the concept of a multiverse in-depth. As for how the multiverse will tie in with the horror elements, there are already some theories floating around that Marvel may be setting up a universe where the Avengers aren’t the good guys.

If Doctor Strange is going to be dimension-hopping, it’s not completley out of the question that he could visit a universe where the heroes we all know and love are evil. Or, if we put stock in an old interview with Derrickson, Strange might even be visiting the Nightmare Realm.

But wait… what’s that?

Who exactly is Nightmare, and why is everyone talking about him?

Scott Derrickson, has expresed a keen interest in the Doctor Strange villain Nightmare, and it seems as if the pieces are falling into place for the comic baddie to finally make his debut in the MCU. Though reports vary on whether or not Nightmare is a diety or simply a conceptual entity, one thing that’s for sure is that he has a terrifying set of powers that fit in with the new horror direction that Doctor Strange seems to be taking.

Nightmare is a demon with the ability to capture a person’s astral form and bring it to his own nightmare realm, and that ability could spell big trouble for Doctor Strange — not to mention big scares for us as an audience.

Many Marvel fans are predicting that, given the genre and the premise of the movie, Nightmare will be the villain of Doctor Strange 2. If that’s true, it would give Derrickson the chance to flex his horror muscles with some truly terrifying nightmare sequences.

Remember when Scott Derrickson directed all those horror movies?

Though you may be familiar with him due to his work in the MCU, Scott Derrickson has his roots in a different genre. The powers that be at Marvel seem to have everything meticulously planned out, so we’re sure it’s not coincidence that the director behind Marvel’s first ever horror movie is a veteran of the horror genre himself.

He brought us some prety mind-bending scenes in Doctor Strange, but before he was sending Benedict Cumberbatch on trippy astral journeys, he was scaring the living daylights out of audiences with films like Sinister, Poltergeist, and Hellraiser: Inferno. So, we’re pretty excited (and scared) to see where he takes Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Are you excited to see a Marvel horror movie? What are your theories about the multiverse in Doctor Strange 2? Sound off in the comments below.