The Coolest Easter Eggs In Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness
From this point forward, there are massive SPOILERS for "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness." Proceed with caution.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has always been filled with references and Easter eggs. But up until relatively recently, the architects of the fan-favorite franchise only had the one universe and timeline to play in. Following "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and the Disney+ series "Loki," we now have "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" to kick down the door to a countless number of universes that are potentially filled with even more Easter eggs to hunt for.
Okay, that doesn't necessarily mean that Sam Raimi and company hid an infinite amount of surprises for True Believers to find in the latest Marvel Studios feature film, but there are definitely some fun ones to spot as Doctor Strange travels from world to world in his second headlining movie. Take a look at some of the coolest Easter eggs that we found as we slowly descended into madness along with Strange, Wong, America Chavez, and the Scarlet Witch.
The Wonderful World of Disney
Marvel is one of the many entities that fall under the Disney banner. And when it comes to the Walt Disney Company, it's frequently said that it all started with a mouse. That may be true when you look at it at most angles, but the fact of the matter is that Walt created a character that predated Mickey Mouse named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Created in 1927 by Disney for Universal Pictures, Oswald was the star of 27 shorts that appeared in theaters from 1927 to 1938. However, when control of Oswald was taken from Disney in 1928, that's when he went on to create the similarly designed mouse that became an entertainment icon for generations.
All that is water under the bridge now as Oswald returned to Disney in 2010 and has made a number of appearances in cartoons, video games, and films. One of those films is "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness." You can spot him on TV during a scene in Wanda Maximoff's house on Earth-838. Although, Oswald isn't the only classic Disney character to grace the Scarlet Witch's television. Billy and Tommy are also watching "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" at one point. Clearly, they're getting the most out of their Disney+ subscription.
After Oswald and Snow White, there are two more Disney connections in the former Sorcerer Supreme's latest film. During the music battle between the Dr. Stephen Strange from the Sacred Timeline and the Sinister Strange from the universe that suffered an incursion, they use the notes from "Tocata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565" and "Symphony No. 5" as weapons to hurl at each other. Obviously, these pieces of music have existed long before Doctor Strange, Marvel, or Disney, but the tunes by Johan Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven were used in "Fantasia" and "Fantasia 2000" respectively.
Across the Raimi-verse
On top of the connections to Disney, there are also plenty of references to director Sam Raimi's previous work as well. First, when Sara sacrifices herself by stabbing the Darkhold in an effort to stop Wanda, her burning demise is reminiscent of the ending of "Drag Me to Hell." Then, when the Souls of the Damned surround the decaying body of Defender Strange (or Ponytail Strange, as we say around these parts), they look and sound a bit like the Deadites from the "Evil Dead" series. The dead Strange also looks a bit like the possessed Ash from "Evil Dead 2."
But the ultimate "Evil Dead" Easter egg involved the man behind the chin himself. Bruce Campbell cameos in the movie as Pizza Poppa, the street vendor selling pizza balls on Earth-838. When Doctor Strange enchants Pizza Poppa's hand to repeatedly attack himself, Campbell delivers a performance that overtly calls back to the scene where Ash is being possessed and fighting with his own hand. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), Pizza Poppa doesn't end up with a chainsaw for a hand in the post-credits scene for "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness."
In addition to those moments, there are a couple more Raimi calling cards hidden in the movie. Eagle-eyed viewers may notice the Oldsmobile Delta 88 that has appeared in each of the director's movies since "Evil Dead." While it was previously seen as Ash and Uncle Ben's choice of transportation, this time the car can be seen floating in the background of Sinister Strange's world. Then, there's the 2003 Detroit Tigers. While they're arguing about baseball on Earth-838, Billy and Tommy mention the greatness of that year's lineup. Unfortunately, the 2003 Tigers from our Earth didn't have the same luck, as Raimi's hometown MLB team had such a bad season that they broke records for being so terrible.
What's in a name?
Moving on from connections to the entertainment world at large, there were a few interesting name drops in the film that are connected to comic book history. For example, the bookstore across the street from the Sanctum Sanctorum on Earth-838 is called McLeod Books. This could be named for long-time Marvel artist Bob McLeod, although, he didn't work on any titles associated with the characters in this movie. Could Raimi or screenwriters Michael Waldron and Jade Bartlett just be fans of McLeod's artwork? In the multiverse, anything is possible.
Similarly, when Doctor Strange visits his fellow Avenger Wanda Maximoff at her "orchard," the boxes say "Volkers" on them. While it could be a coincidence, there is a character named Wendell Volker in the Marvel Universe that is connected to Baron Helmut Zemo, who was last seen in the MCU in "Falcon and the Winter Soldier." Volker, a Belgian grad student, searches for Zemo in the 2007 limited comic series "Thunderbolts Presents: Zemo – Born Better" by Fabian Nicieza, Tom Grummett, Gary Erskine, and J. Brown. With Zemo being a Sokovian citizen in the MCU like the Maximoff family, could there be a connection between the "Captain America: Civil War" villain and the Scarlet Witch by way of Wendell Volker? Again, multiverse.
Fantastic
But the biggest name drops didn't explicitly involve names at all. When Earth-616 Doctor Strange meets the Illuminati of Earth-838, we see "The Office" star John Krasinski as Reed Richards aka Mister Fantastic. When Wanda successfully dreamwalks into the body of her 838 variant and engages the super-powered council in battle, she asks Richards if he has a wife and kids. When he says yes, she says that's good because there will still be someone to care for his children when he's gone. Rather than recall Reeds' gruesome fate at the hands of the Scarlet Witch, let's acknowledge that not only is Reed married to Sue Storm aka the Invisible Woman in this universe, but Franklin and Valeria Richards exist here too.
The only members of the Fantastic Four not to be shouted out in an MCU movie so far are Benjamin Grimm and Johnny Storm aka The Thing and The Human Torch. It's a little funny that the Baxter Foundation, the organization behind the Fantastic Four's home base the Baxter Building, gets mentioned (because Christine Palmer reveals that she has worked there) before the two founding members of Marvel's First Family, but their time will come when the team stars in their own feature film in the near future.
From page to screen
Those weren't the only allusions to the storied history of Marvel Comics that made their way to the big screen courtesy of "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness." In a blink-or-you'll-miss-it moment, the Living Tribunal can be spotted as Doctor Strange and America Chavez are passing through different universes on their way to Earth-838. One of these realities contains a massive being that appears to have three heads, one of which has glowing eyes while the others are covered up. This cosmic entity was created in 1967 by Stan Lee, Marie Severin, and Herb Trimpe for "Strange Tales" #157. Its primary function is to protect the multiverse from mystical forces and preserve balance between good and evil in all worlds. Considering all the madness that Strange is causing all over the multiverse, it was really only a matter of time before the MCU's Master of the Mystic Arts comes face to face with the Living Tribunal. Of course, though this appearance was only for a few seconds, the being also popped up in "Loki" on Disney+. With two sightings so far, it's possible that we could be seeing more of the multiversal caretaker as Phase Four moves on.
The Brazier of Bom'Galiath also makes a brief appearance in the movie. This ancient relic was used in the comics as part of a spell to help Doctor Strange and Silver Surfer hide from Mephisto while they made their way through his realm. But in the MCU, after Strange didn't know how to use it against Kaecilius on his Earth, Christine Palmer uses it to fend off the Souls of the Damned in Sinister Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum.
And for Scarlet Witch fans, her classic comic costume is an Easter egg that can be seen in the Darkhold Castle on Wundagore Mountain. After seeing the monument erected to house the spells of the Book of the Damned on the walls by Chthon, an Elder God who would eventually be known as the Marvel Universe's first magician to dabble in black magic, Wanda sees the mural etched into the wall behind the altar where she eventually goes to a pretty dark place herself. The massive artwork stretches from the floor to the ceiling of the temple imbued with dark magic and it depicts the Scarlet Witch in all her glory, looking very similar to how she can be found in the pages of Marvel Comics.
To me, my X-Men
Finally, we saved the coolest Easter egg for last. We already knew that Sir Patrick Stewart would be reprising the role of Professor Charles Xavier from the X-Men movies made by Fox in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" thanks to the trailer for the Phase Four film. We also knew that he would be appearing in the yellow hover chair made famous by the character's portrayal in Jim Lee's legendary run on the X-Men comics from the early 1990s and "X-Men: The Animated Series" thanks to a TV spot. However, despite revealing way too much of the movie before it debuted, the marketing team managed to keep the secret that the theme song for the iconic cartoon would make it into Professor X's MCU debut. The song played as Xavier hovered into place joined the rest of the Illuminati in the chamber as they loomed above our Doctor Strange. In a movie filled with "Oh hey!" moments, this surprise was by far my favorite.
Not a bad Easter egg haul, if I do say so myself. You can go hunting yourself at a theater near you since "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" is now playing.