Kevin Feige Connects ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ to ‘Loki’ & ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige unearths the horror roots of ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ and more.
It’s all connected! During a red carpet interview with Marvel.com, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige broke down the through line that started in Marvel Studios' Loki, continued into Spider-Man: No Way Home, and came to a head in Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
“There’s always a method to the madness, even in the Multiverse,” Feige promised. “For the Marvel.com fans that know that Loki and Sylvie did something at the end of that series that sort of allowed all of this to be possible. He Who Remains is gone, and that allowed a spell to go wrong in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which leads to the entire Multiverse going quite mad in this [Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness].”
Feige is, of course, referring to the timely demise of Jonathan Major’s He Who Remains, who was killed by Sylvie in the Loki Season 1 finale for his role in pruning Variants like herself. As a result, the Time Variance Authority’s Sacred Timeline unraveled, allowing other timelines and realities to splinter into existence.
So, when Doctor Strange’s spell to erase Peter Parker’s secret identity from public knowledge went wrong, he was able to inadvertently summon beings from other realities into his own during Spider-Man: No Way Home. The earth-shattering consequences of this continued into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
“This is absolutely a sequel to the first Doctor Strange, but also to Infinity War and Endgame, also to WandaVision,” Feige added. “That really just let us have an embarrassment of riches, like such an amazing cast and amazing stories – and then Sam Raimi tying it all together.”
Feige also explored Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’s role as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first horror movie, explaining how this element of the film was present from the very start. “It came up early on, and our Executive Producer Scott Derrickson had a great thought that there hadn’t been… those PG-13 scares for a long time,” he recalled. “If you think back to the Indiana Jones movie – and there’s another one coming from Disney soon – that there were scary moments in those! You hadn’t seen that much anymore.”
“Strange felt like the character to do that with,” he continued. “Now, with Sam behind the camera, I’m very excited for people to finally see what that means and who is scaring who.”
To hear more of Feige’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness breakdown, check out the official Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange in the Multiverse LIVE Red Carpet coverage. For more fun, don’t miss our Best Red Carpet Moments video and more!
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, with Michael Stühlbarg, and Rachel McAdams. The film is directed by Sam Raimi, and Kevin Feige is the producer. Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Eric Hauserman Carroll and Jamie Christopher serve as executive producers. The screenplay was written by Michael Waldron.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now in theaters.
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