Infinite Ultron. Infinite Black Panther Killmonger. The Watcher. Marvel Studios first canonical animated series, What If…?, brought these incredibly powerful characters into the Marvel Cinematic Multiverse and turned them loose against one another. When it was all said and done, Infinite Ultron-who is now Infinite Zola Vision-and Infinite Black Panther Killmonger find themselves imprisoned in a pocket dimension by Strange Supreme. Given what we this morose version of Stephen Strange survived not only during this episode but also in his own, an argument can be made that Strange Supreme is the most powerful being in the multiverse.
Episode 4 of What If…? was one of the show’s highest points. More than almost any other episode, it refused to adhere to the formula of following the familiarity of the Sacred Timeline and branched out. Resultant of that, fans were treated to a look at just how dark the mystic arts can be…and how dangerous. Strange’s motivations are not intrinsically villainous, but they result in the catastrophic collapse of his reality leaving him the sole survivor in a pocket dimension prison of his own making. Of course, the power it took to create that pocket dimension and contain whatever was left of his reality would have been immense, making him a near omnipotent god-like figure. Given he had already reached a god-like level of Cosmic awareness that allowed him to identify and communicate with The Watcher, this version of Strange was set up to be a pretty heavy hitter.
Strange Supreme returns in Episode 9 and displays those god-tier powers throughout. He creates another pocket dimension in which the Guardians of the Multiverse assemble, casts powerful protection spells on the team, survives a barrage of Infinity Stone-based attacks, summons zombies from another reality, unleashes some terrifying dark magic counter attacks and, finally, contains two beings fighting over the aforementioned Stones in another, smaller pocket dimension which he keeps inside his own dimension. Strange Supreme is essentially a 10-year old boy keeping fireflies in a jar at this point, demonstrating complete control over his own powers and over the ultimate powers in any given multiverse.
Marvel Studios has often been accused of nerfing characters that should, according to the comics, be their most powerful. In recent years, Thor and Hulk have been “powered up” a bit compared to their early appearances and both Captain Marvel and Wanda Maximoff have emerged as contenders for the most powerful being in the MCU after their displays in Avengers: Endgame and WandaVision. This dark version of Doctor Strange would seem worthy of putting up a fight with any of them, including the incredibly powerful Scarlet Witch. Who knows, maybe we’ll see the two of them face off in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
