by There were many of deaths in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but a recent piece of artwork hinted that Wong nearly joined them during his final MCU film appearance.
When considering the sequence where five members of the Illuminati are brutally murdered, Doctor Strange 2 has one of the greatest death tolls from any MCU film in recent memory. The cast and crew have spoken out about how horrifying these scenes were since the movie’s May 2022 debut, putting Sam Raimi‘s direction of Doctor Strange 2 in a class of its own for violence and horror.
Before the Scarlet Witch unleashed utter horror throughout a few other realities, murdering off Reed Richards, Captain Carter, and several others in her rampage, she was said to have met her own alleged death in the sequel’s pivotal confrontation.
And now, thanks to a fresh peek at the Multiversal sequel, fans may learn more about an another fatality that Wanda Maximoff nearly added to her collection of near-death experiences while pursuing her own particular quest.
Doctor Strange 2 Nearly Caused Wong’s Death
A fresh piece of concept art from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness suggested harsher outcomes for both Wong and Baron Mordo, as tweeted by @scarletnews. Concept artist Rob Bliss created the illustrations.
In two of the pictures, the protagonist of Benedict Wong is seen to be in terrible shape, with his head actually being split in half and his brains oozing out of his skull. It’s also possible that this Wong is the Defender Wong from Earth-838, who ended up being eliminated from the final product as the runtime was reduced.
Defender Wong was also depicted in earlier concept art for Doctor Strange 2 strolling beside Doctor Strange and America Chavez as he gave the onlookers a glimpse inside his realm.
The head of Baron Karl Mordo, whose own demise earlier in the film was omitted, was also depicted in another image by Rob Bliss. The Scarlet Witch was being pursued by Earth 616’s Mordo in her Westview mansion when this scene would have begun the blockbuster. Wanda Maximoff killed him and afterwards showed his head to Doctor Strange.
The photos’ captions hinted that both fatalities came from a considerably more gruesome early draught of the script for Doctor Strange 2:
“New ‘Multiverse of Madness’ early concept art by Rob Bliss reveals alternate fates for Wong and Mordo, likely at the hands of the Scarlet Witch! In an earlier draft of the movie, Wanda was set to behead Mordo and show his decapitated head to Dr. Strange.”
The axe is avoided by Wong in Doctor Strange 2
In Doctor Strange 2, nearly a dozen Marvel heroes perished in some way, yet Wong avoided them while battling the Scarlet Witch. Although the version of Wong that perished in the concept image was probably his Earth-838 Variant who didn’t make the final cut, it still demonstrates the level of brutality and violence Marvel was thinking about with this trip.
Marvel Studios made every effort to omit anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary from the MCU’s first 2022 film, which was only a little over two hours long. If this hadn’t happened, Defender Wong might have had the opportunity to steal the show like Defender Strange did in the opening scene, giving Earth-838 more context as prime Strange and America Chavez eluded Wanda.
Thankfully, in his most recent film, which became his third of four appearances in the live-action MCU throughout Phase 4, every version of Wong avoided death.
Moving forward, Benedict Wong’s Sorcerer Supreme is reportedly in line for a prominent role in a Strange Academy Disney+ series that has been talked about recently, putting him front and centre as he guides a fresh batch of heroes into the MCU. Even with more lethal threats lurking, hopefully he’ll be able to maintain his survival for the foreseeable future like he did in Doctor Strange 2.
Now available on Disney+ for streaming is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
