Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness fans are contemplating what could have been after an alleged poster and plot details of one of the franchise’s most overlooked villains have come to the surface. However, even as passionate fanbase opinions were being formed, some questioned the authenticity of the supposed leaks.
The X account Scarlet Witch Updates shared two unused Doctor Strange 2 posters, with the first being a solo image of Scarlet Witch.
The second image is where things get more interesting as it shows the Earth-616 version of Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Mordo, a character that is bafflingly absent from the finished film despite being teased as a main villain at the end of 2016’s Doctor Strange.
Though we did get an alternative dimension version of Mordo with long hair on Earth-838, the OG former sorcerer was nowhere to be found in the sequel, let alone sporting a crossbow, like in the poster.
Another fan account on X, Doctor Strange Updates, subsequently shared what was purported to be unused storyboards and plot details about what would’ve happened with Earth-616 Mordo had his scenes made it into Multiverse of Madness. This includes Mordo confronting Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch only to be decapitated by her, with the Darkhold-corrupted Wanda Maximoff later holding up his severed head as a taunt directed at Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange later on in the movie.
Some social media users doubted the poster’s authenticity, citing misspellings for both Xochitl Gomez (erroneously “Xlotchi”) and Ejiofor (“Chiwetal”).
Another Reddit user proclaimed it to be an obvious fan creation.
However, other Reddit users defended the image. For instance, the asset of Wanda appeared to be new as did a spaceship-looking structure that was not in the finished movie.
Just out of curiosity, we performed a reverse image search, via TinEye, for both the poster and the leaked storyboards. The poster had zero results. However, the storyboard of Wanda holding Earth-616 Mordo’s head can be traced back to the Instagram account for storyboard artist Jeremy Simser from last year. He wrote:
“Every wonder whatever happened to Universe 616 Mordo [sic]? Well, up until very late in the process THIS is what happened to him! It’s always interesting to be involved as the story gets refined while I storyboard. Who knows what Mordo’s ultimate fate may be? Not me! DELETED SCENES DON’T COUNT!”
Other images of Earth-616’s Mordo could be found on the website for another storyboard artist, Soren Bendt Aaboe Pedersen.
The entire Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness discussion among fans makes us hopeful Mordo’s off-screen fate may not be permanent since we rather liked the prospect of him as a villain. Maybe one day, that can still come to fruition.