Marvel fans are hopeful that we’ll get to see one particular Doctor Strange villain be given the full chance he deserves after his lackluster return in The Multiverse of Madness.
The MCU has a habit of setting up characters and conflicts only to forget about them or under-deliver on what it promised. Such is the way with a massive interconnected universe; sometimes plans change and ideas and characters that seemed like they would have made great storylines get completely shafted.
Mordo was a pretty integral part of the first Doctor Strange movie, he assists Stephen in his quest to put a stop to Kaecilius from contacting Dormammu. However, after discovering the ancient one’s use of the Dark Dimension’s power and seeing Doctor Strange use the time ston,e he begins to question the use of magic and his descent into villainy begins. He vows to never help Strange again and, during the end credits scene, we see him begin his quest to rid the world of sorcerers.
His villain arc in the first film sets him up perfectly to be the main antagonist, or at least a very powerful antagonist in the sequel. However, when his time came in Doctor Strange 2, fans were left disappointed with the direction the character was taken. First of all, the Mordo in the sequel isn’t the same one from Earth 616; Strange travels to Earth 838 and meets a variant of of the sorcerer, although this one still holds a grudge. It’s not a very satisfactory conclusion to what the first film set up, especially considering this version doesn’t even really know our version of Doctor Strange.
Even putting that aside, Strange is able to defeat him easily, considering how much of a threat he was built up to be, it’s disappointing that their fight is so short and then afterwards we never see him again.
Fans on Reddit have called for the villain to be given another chance. After all, the Mordo of Earth 616 is still knocking about, presumably still going after anyone unlucky enough to know magic. One fan discussed the possibility of bringing the character back to deliver on what the first film set up.
Whilst fellow Redditors agreed that it would be great to see Mordo return, most thought that the odds of it actually happening were unlikely now due to how much time has passed.
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by u/cbekel3618 from discussion Mordo
in marvelstudios
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by u/zoecornelia from discussion Mordo
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Of course, there is always a chance that Marvel could bring him back in some way. It’s been done before with long forgotten villains such as Tim Roth’s Abomination, who first appeared in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk before resurfacing almost 15 years later in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Sadly, it’s a bit of a long shot, but Marvel’s surprised us before.
Whilst it’s nice to think that Marvel hasn’t forgotten poor old Mordo, the truth is it probably has, and maybe it’s best if we do too. The assumption is that the character and conflict was dealt with off screen, which kind of sucks, but hey-ho, if we got hung up on every forgotten plot detail from the MCU over the years, we’d never enjoy any Marvel movie again.