Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ending explained

Ok so this is the insane ending of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness fully explained

This film should have been named after Wanda tbh


The long-awaited sequel to Doctor Strange is finally here, and Multiverse of Madness is one of the most hyped and now acclaimed entries into the MCU canon in a long time. A lot of this is due to the presence of one Wanda Maximoff – the Scarlet Witch – and her return to the main narrative after the huge success of WandaVision. Directed by horror / Spider-Man renowned Sam Raimi, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a big film with a complicated plot that turns many MCU cogs – here is the full ending explained.

Major spoilers ahead:

Portals and dimensions

The film starts with a dream sequence as Doctor Strange tries to save America Chavez from a demon after her powers. After this, he wakes up and attends Christine Palmer’s wedding. The wedding is interrupted by another demon trying to kill America – who reveals to Strange and Wong that she is able to travel through the multiverse via portals. The Doctor Strange from the dream sequence is known as Defender Strange – who has ended up a corpse on this Earth (Earth-616) with America.

Strange and Wong take America to Kamar-Taj for her protection from the demons and Doctor Strange then travels to seek Wanda for help. When he finds her, he learns it is Wanda herself who is sending the demons in the hope to get America’s powers. When Wanda arrives hunting down America, the latter takes her and Strange to another dimension to escape.

Wanda can’t travel dimensions like America, but she can use the powers from the Darkhold book she got from Agatha Harkness in WandaVision to dream walk and control the Wandas of any dimension she wants. Wanda seeks America’s powers so she can travel the multiverse to be reunited with her children from WandaVision. One of Wong’s associates destroys the Darkhold, but Wanda says it’s a copy and she uses Wong’s help to get to Mount Wundagore for the spells are transcribed in a cave there. Once she is done with Wong’s help, she throws him from a cliff.

On the alternate Earth, Earth-838, Strange and America arrive to see a statue of him that shows that he died fighting Thanos. They’re taken by Mordo, who drugs them and presents Strange to the Illuminati and holds America in a research facility. The Illuminati reveal that the Book of Vishanti killed Thanos, not Strange, and that they use the story of him to tell people. In reality, Strange of that Earth was corrupted by the Darkhold and got too powerful. They had to execute him, and are deciding to do the same with the Strange from Earth-616 as they feel that all Stephen Stranges across the multiverse are ultimately the same.

Before they get a chance to, Wanda has dream walked into the Earth-838 Wanda’s body and turns up after America. She brutally massacres all of the Illuminati. Christine Palmer, who was an expert in Earth-838’s facility, tries to assist Strange and America escape with the Book of Vishanti but they’re all defeated by Wanda who destroys the book and captures America.

In another universe with Christine, Strange sees an incursion event has occurred and destruction is everywhere. He finds his alternate-universe self, who is evil with a third eye and his own Darkhold, defeats him and plans to dream walk back into his buried Defender Strange corpse for a big final show down.

Did Wanda die? The ending of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness explained

At Wundagore, Strange uses his Defender Strange corpse to try and stop Wanda and save America – Wong also is there to help, he didn’t die when Wanda launched him off the cliff. In a weakened state, Doctor Strange tells America to use her powers to overcome Wanda. But America is also weak to Wanda’s power – she instead, she shows Wanda-838’s sons this world’s Wanda’s momentous power and rage, which frightens the children. Wanda sees what she’s become, and in a final act of heroism she brings down Wundagore around her, killing herself and destroying all copies of the Darkhold in the process.

Well, we ASSUME Wanda is dead – we don’t see her body. Presumed dead, but could definitely come back in the future if the MCU wanted to pull a Scarlet Witch shaped trick out of their hat.

The film wraps up with America training with Wong and Strange getting a third eye – and a post-credits scene with Charlize Theron (!) that sets up DS3. All in all – a big, complicated, success. I don’t care that Wanda was a mass-murdering villain – she’s always MY queen!

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