A New Iron Man?! 

Fan theories that Tom Cruise is set to play Superior Iron Man, another version of Tony Stark whose genuine care for the lives of others has been completely removed. Some supporters think the glowing figure flying to and fighting Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch) in the trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness could be this other version of Tony Stark.  

“I heard that Captain Marvel might come from a different universe and be evil; I wouldn’t be surprised. But, Tom Cruise, Iron Man, I just feel like that doesn’t seem right, especially because it would be superior Iron Man. He’s not superior, right,” Freshman David Rivera said. 

New Villian and Hero Appearances and Heroes Going Bad 

In the trailer, Maximoff’s words to Strange “You break the rules; become the hero. I do it and I become the enemy… That doesn’t seem fair,” could be a sign that she is done with the hero gig and feels it has not turned out to be as rewarding and worth it as she thought and might consider becoming the main enemy of the movie. There is a scene where a version of Wanda Maximoff and Scarlet Witch face off in a broken-down version of the modern home set from Wandavision (2021). 

“…In the trailer, there were 2 Wanda’s so one of them could be evil. That was the part that shocked me the most. Kinda caught me off guard,” Rivera said. 

Maximoff’s first encounter with the only other witch in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Agatha Harkness (who first appeared in WandaVision) has opened doors for her to become the villainous Scarlet Witch her character became in the past comics. 

“(Speaking of Maximoff’s séance scene from the trailer) …The tips of her fingers are black, similar to Agatha’s (Agatha Harkness) fingers when she used dark magic,” Erik Voss said on YouTube channel “New Rockstars”. 

In the final clip of the trailer, Maximoff looks forward in visible defeat and a final camera shot zooms into her eyes, a well-known move of the director Sam Raimi. Looking into the reflection of her eyes, many fans are wondering if this is more than just a nice ending to a Marvel/Sam Raimi film trailer. 

“When the camera zooms in to her eye, there’s a brief image of two holding cells. These are ‘illuminati’ detention cells,” Voss said. “… So, I think the reason Wanda has not been able to find a reality with her sons; the reason her attempt to recreate Westview did not work, is that the illuminati are detaining Billy and Tommy here in these two cells.” 

According to American comic books published by Marvel Comics, the Illuminati are a fictional secret society and group of superheroes who joined forces and work behind the scenes of the multiverse The society is made up of a team of heroes including Mister Fantastic, Iron Man, Professor X, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, and Namor.  

In the original “Doctor Strange”, Baron Mordo made it his personal mission to get rid of the Sorcerers of the world due to his realization that a sorcerer’s main purpose is to “Twist things out of their proper shape, stealing power, perverting nature.” This causes Mordo to chase after the main sorcerer who causes issues to the multiverse: Doctor Steven Strange. 

“It pointed towards Mordo becoming the big bad, but is it too soon for that to happen? With strange consumed by the problematic multiverse, could we be about to meet a more sophisticated future villain willing to fight the madness alongside Strange, even if the sorcerer supreme is to blame? That could leave the door open for Mordo to twist things to his advantage in third film,” Matt Goddard said in “These are the best theories for Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” on wegotthiscovered.com. 

Some fans even think the weight Doctor Strange 2 could have is worth introducing a god-like supervillain and the main antagonist of the Marvel comics: Galactus. Galactus’ initial origin story was that of a space explorer named Galan from the planet Taa. When he passed near a star, he gained cosmic abilities. 

“If I were to make a theory, I would hope that they all come together and bring Galactus into the story. I would want to see that,” Rivera said.  

“What If?” Theories coming to the Big Screen 

What If Zombies spotted in the movie trailer and TV spots, powerful zombie Wanda, zombie strange, from episode 5, “What If…Zombies?!”, and reality breaking apart like in episode 4, “What if… Doctor Strange loses his heart instead of his hands?”. 

“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is clearly taking a page out of the animated series “What If…?,” which proposed hypothetical scenarios that could have taken place in the multiverse. One such scenario involved the Avengers being infected by a virus that turned them into Zombies,” Heroichollywood.com “Marvel Zombies Terrorize the Multiverse In ‘Doctor Strange in the multiverse of Madness’”. 

On episode 8 of “What If…?”, as the title states, Ultron, the meant-to-be world peace-keeping AI created by Tony Stark, achieves his goal for the destruction of humanity by creating his ‘invincible body’ that later became the hero Vision (“What If… Ultron Won?”). In the MCU universe that we know, Ultron was defeated, although in the trailer Doctor Strange was restrained by a team of futuristic robots and taken before a panel of unknown people. Comic fans assume this is the Illuminati, and the “futuristic robots” were the result of a verson of a “king” Ultron. 

“Then Mordo… detains Strange using these nifty looking handcuffs… but overall, they have this chunky, silver chrome of something more futuristic; something that might be connected to the vibrainium tech of these (Next frame) Ultron centuries who escort Doctor strange to this awesome location,” Voss said.  

Can it be done? 

It would seem impossible to revive other characters from previous marvel movies, though, they made it possible for Spiderman: no way home; bringing in Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield: a theory that was extremely wanted by the fans but seemed impossible to be done, since they have been property of other studios. 

“I feel like, with Marvel at least, like, anything is possible. I think Marvel can do anything, basically,” Rivera said. 

Marvel Studios have hit many walls trying to make a Spider-Man movie with all three legendary Spider-Men; to get them to share the screen with each other and the outcome was revolutionary. Just the thought of Marvel Studios being able to do just that gave fans even more confidence that they can pick up more characters from past Marvel movies to make a lifetime dream possible. Therefore, fans think it is a possibility to finally see classic characters such as Hugh Jackman’s Logan, Ioan Gruffudd’s Mister Fantastic, and Julian McMahon’s Victor Von Doom AKA Doctor Doom. 

“I feel like they haven’t really done anything with Doctor Doom; they made him more of a side villain, but I heard a lot of stuff and he’s really powerful, like, I want to see more of him, to be honest. So, yes, Fantastic Four,” Rivera said. 

In the 20th Century Fox film “Logan”, by James Mangold, was set in 2029, Charles Xavier is killed by X-24 which could cause bigger complications if he returns in Doctor Strange 2, depending on what year the movie takes place in.  

“Wolverine, I really hope that they bring him back because he died a really sad death. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were a different timeline or a different universe, but if he did come back, I would want his daughter to be with him; X-23 (Laura played by Dafne Keenin in James Mangold’s “Logan” in 2017). I really want her to be with him. I would be okay with (X-23 becoming the new Wolverine), because in the Logan movie, she was beast and that would honestly, if anything, be cooler,” Rivera said.