The Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer left fans reeling from all its thrilling, punch-the-air moments, but it also got them mighty suspicious, too. Doctor Strange’s behavior and personality seemed a little off in the teaser, which has left many wondering if this could be an imposter pretending to be the Sorcerer Supreme instead of the real deal. Two major contenders are Mysterio or even Mephisto (it’s gotta be him one of these days, right?).
However, the latest version of this theory has pitched another possible culprit—and this one arguably makes the most sense, given that they have a long history impersonating others. Redditor u/Aggravating-Humor88 wonders if the Strange that Peter goes to for help in getting the world to forget his secret identity is really the God of Mischief himself, Loki. After all, masquerading as powerful people is a major part of his MO—like when he pretended to be Odin in Thor: the Dark World/Ragnarok.
Obviously that incident happened prior to the trickster’s redemption, so why would a post-Loki Loki want to impersonate Strange? Well, the Redditor suggests that it’s all do with Sylvie. At the end of his Disney Plus show, Sylvie sent Loki back to the TVA and was last seen cut off from the rest of time in He Who Remains’ Citadel. Seeing as Tom Hiddleston’s anti-hero has fallen for his female variant, he’ll obviously stop at nothing to reunite with her—including dressing up as Strange and gaining access to the multiverse.
Something fans aren’t buying is that Strange would mess up his memory-altering spell so badly just because Peter got too chatty, which is what the trailer wants us to believe. This theory wonders if Loki-as-Strange deliberately engineered this spell to cause multiversal chaos, all with the aim of getting Sylvie back. Alternatively, as he wouldn’t be as proficient with magic as Strange, Loki could’ve genuinely messed it up.
Whether Strange is really Loki or not, it definitely seems like there’s something fishy going on in the Sanctum Sanctorum. We’ll finally find out what when Spider-Man: No Way Home hits theaters on December 17th.