After watching all of the twists and turns that Sam Raimi's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness had to offer, the film also gifted fans with a rather intriguing mid-credit scene. From this point there will be unavoidable spoilers, so if you don't want to know what happens until after you've seen the film, then we suggest you come back to this post at a later date.
You have been warned, so spoilers in 3, 2, 1...
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The mid-credit scene for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness may have left some fans with some questions as it introduced a mystery woman dressed in purple and wielding some sort of blade as she approaches Benedict Cumberbatch's 3 eyed Doctor Stephen Strange (as a result of him using The Darkhold to dream walk) to tell him that he has caused an "incursion". The word incursion is referred to numerous times throughout the length of the film. It is clear (pun intended) that the actress that portrays the role of the mysterious woman in the mid-credit scene is indeed Charlize Theron.
Just Who Is This Mystery Woman?
Many Marvel fans were able to decipher the clues leading to the identity of this new character was pretty quickly. Charlize Theron took to her Twitter account literally 10 hours ago to officially introduce her new character to the MCU with the simple caption "Meet Clea".
This does indeed make the character's live action debut an official addition to the film franchise, but not all are familiar with Clea.
So who is she and why is she relevant to Doctor Strange? We will do our best to answer that exact question for you!
If you are a fan of the Doctor Strange graphic novels from Marvel Comics, it's highly likely that you will already be aware of exactly who Clea is. But for those of you that may not be, here is a brief history of her character and her connection to Stephen Strange.
If you have watched the 2016 Doctor Strange film, you will remember that the titular character was sent by The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) to the Dark Dimension to defeat the villainous presence Dormmamu. This was where Strange's infamous phrase "Dormmamu, I've come to bargain" originated. But why bring up this particular antagonist? Clea is in fact the niece of Dormammu.
Clea is the daughter of Prince Orini (who himself is the son of Olnar, the former ruler of The Dark Dimension) and Umar (the sister of the dreaded Dormmamu). It is through the efforts of Stephen trying to defeat the evil being that brought him and Clea together. Clea found Stephen Strange to be a fascinating "human creature" and warned him on many occasions not to face uncle Dormmamu, however Strange continued on his mission, putting his own life on the line for the greater good. Clea saved Strange from mortal peril which then led to a betrayal of her own family and her imprisonment by the order of Dormammu.
In the comics Stephen and Clea meet again on multiple occasions which leads to him taking her under his wing as a student of the mystic arts and further down the line, his wife. Stephen later annuls their marriage.
Further more the the comics also depicts a story where Doctor Strange is left with no choice but to ask for help from the demonic being Mephisto in order to save reality. The deal with the devil leaves Clea with no memory of her ex-husband at all. A heartbroken Stephen is later killed, which enables Clea to remember him once more as the deal is broken. Clea is able to revive Strange briefly just in time to say goodbye. Before death reclaims his body once more Stephen hands over The Eye of Agamotto and his Cloak of Levitation to his ex-wife and says he trusts no one else. This leaving Clea as the new Sorcerer Supreme.
What could this mean for the future of Doctor Strange within the MCU?
At the end of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the phrase "Doctor Strange will return." is shown on screen. With the introduction of Charlize Theron's Clea, this could lead on to many more potential plots for the character. It would be great to see their relationship develop on screen as they do in the graphic novels, to see Stephen regain some form of happiness once more, even if it is just for a short while. After Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) received her happy ending on Earth 616 (the Earth in which our MCU heroes exist), it's only fair to see Stephen gain his too.
Does this also mean that there is a potential story line that could be written to include the one and only Mephisto? A character I have longed for to appear in the MCU since speculation of his arrival in "Wandavision" - which of course did not come to fruition. However I firmly remain seated on the Mephisto train and the future of Doctor Strange could eventually make my MCU hopes turn into a reality. Fingers crossed!
I don't feel that Marvel Studios will go down the route of portraying the death of Doctor strange on screen quite yet, especially as there is so much more to explore with the character, including him regaining the mantle of Sorceror Supreme back from Wong (Benedict Wong) but if they do decide to explore the story surrounding the death of Stephen Strange, then they will have the opportunity to develop solo movies for Clea in the future if they choose to head in that direction.
I personally am really intrigued to see what Charlize Theron brings to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and can't wait to see the character development of Clea along with any back stories she shares with us as fans. Bring on the magical future of Marvel movies!
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