Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will see Stephen Strange explore new territory in the MCU when it hits theaters this May. The recent teaser for the film shows Strange exploring the multiverse and, in the process, running into Variants of himself. Recently, one of those Variants, Defender Strange, was revealed by way of a Target Exclusive Marvel Legends figure. Now a new image, first shared by Twitter user @eljaunleon, gives us our best look yet at the Variant.
The Variant of Strange, who was seen briefly in the teaser, is based, at least aesthetically, on the character as he appeared in Matt Fraction and Terry Dodson’s 2011 comic book series, The Defenders. That series, which ran for 12 issues, saw Strange team up with Silver Surfer, Namor, the Red She-Hulk and Iron Fist and ended, ironically enough, with Strange altering time to prevent the destruction of the universe. At the time it was being developed, Fraction teased that the series would “explain everything that has ever happened in the Marvel Universe”, so referencing it in a film that might attempt to do the same seems logical.
The teaser only shows Defender Strange for the briefest of moments, so there’s no telling what his role in the film is or what other Defenders he might or might not be working with in his universes. To know that, we’ll have to wait to see how things unfold when Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hits theaters on May 6, 2022.
