Doctor Strange is a great hero, but if one thing has become clear in recent years, it's that his decisions more often than not put reality at risk.
While Peter Parker had a role to play, that dangerous spell in Spider-Man: No Way Home very nearly brought countless Variants into the MCU. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and What If...?, meanwhile, drove home the danger Stephen Strange poses to the Multiverse.
At the end of his sequel, the former Sorcerer Supreme hopped into a portal alongside Clea to halt an incursion, and The Cosmic Circus has now shared an intriguing rumour about future plans for Strange in the Multiverse Saga.
Apparently, the idea heading into Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars is to pit Strange against Kang, similar to Iron Man and Thanos. However, "Kang's perspective (and the angle Marvel Studios will want to pitch to audiences) is that he’s the hero trying to save the Multiverse from its greatest threat yet...Doctor Stephen Strange."
Yes, it appears Strange could be an unexpected antagonist in the MCU moving forward, with Strange likely blamed for the many incursions that are taking place across the Multiverse. Remember, Kang is attempting to stop those by wiping out divergent timelines, presumably to protect the one he calls home.
This explains why Sinister Strange hoped to wipe out his Variants and, according to the site's sources, "he has been terminating his variants to avoid the inevitable future of an incursion between two universes."
We're certainly intrigued by what all this means, especially as it's only a small part of a much larger picture. Strange believing he's doing what's necessary to save reality, only to be causing further problems, certainly isn't outside the realm of possibility.
After all, his comic book counterpart and The Illuminati willingly allowed incursions to take place if it meant protecting their own world, and Benedict Cumberbatch's time as the hero ending on a dark and tragic note feels oddly fitting.
How would you feel about seeing the fall of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Saga?