As with any Marvel movie, a sequel to Doctor Strange is inevitable. Ever since the studio began building its Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with the Iron Man franchise, the studio has knocked out hit after hit, and sequel after sequel. It goes without saying, then, that a Doctor Strange sequel will be coming our way. The nature of said sequel, however, remains unknown. and a Doctor Strange sequel could be about many different storylines.
At the end of Doctor Strange , the titular character takes up the mantle of Master Sorcerer at New York City's Sanctum Sanctorum, supposedly with Wong by his side. Obviously, placing Doctor Strange in New York will make it easier for Strange to team up with the Avengers later on in the MCU — he is confirmed to appear in Avengers: Infinity War. However, Doctor Strange exists so far outside of the physical world of the MCU that it's hard to see him recruiting an Avenger to battle mystical evils with him, unless it's Scarlet Witch or Thor. So, assuming there are no Avengers coming into the Doctor Strange world for a potential sequel, I think it's safe to say that a Doctor Strange sequel will find our beloved sorcerer fighting off another threat from another dimension.
Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson recently revealed what he wants to see in the sequel, telling IGN that he'd love to bring in Nightmare as a villain. "I really like the character of Nightmare," he said. Nightmare, the ruler of the Dream Dimension, was one of Strange's first foes in the original comics. In fact, Derrickson, who also co-wrote the film, wanted to introduce Nightmare in Doctor Strange, but felt it was too complicated. "We decided not to do that because that's a bit of a complex idea to try to introduce everything we do introduce and introduce the idea of nightmares themselves as being a dimension," he added.
During a different interview, Derrickson revealed that he would like the Doctor Strange sequel to follow the example of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight by introducing a truly chilling villain. "What made The Dark Knight so great was that the origin story of Batman had been well-told, and then it was time to bring in a villain where you really got to go deep," Derrickson told Den of Geek. The director also pointed out that The Dark Knight had two villains, calling it "a more visceral experience." If a Doctor Strange sequel were to have two villains, then it could feature both Nightmare and Mordo, who ended the film on his way to becoming a villain.
Mordo, who turned his back on Doctor Strange for going against nature, could be the perfect villain for a Doctor Strange sequel. For one thing, he'd make a fight extremely personal, setting up a villain with stakes the likes we haven't seen in a long time from a Marvel film. Hopefully, if Mordo does return in a potential Doctor Strange 2, he'll be the main villain, with Nightmare also acting as a larger threat.
Villains aside, I think I speak for everyone when I say that a Doctor Strange sequel might also want to work on expanding Wong's role as Doctor Strange's fellow sorcerer/sidekick, as well as Christine Palmer's role as his mortal love interest. If it can do that, then, who knows, maybe the Doctor Strange sequel will be even better than the first.
Images: Walt Disney Studios; delfranz/tumblr (2)
