‘Doctor Strange 2’ Post-Credits Scenes Explained And Why They Matter

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness opened in theaters this weekend and I just went and saw the movie this afternoon. I’ll have my review up soon, but for now I wanted to talk about the latest MCU film’s two secret scenes.

As I noted previously, there’s a mid-credits and a post-credits scene in Doctor Strange 2. The two scenes are both worth sticking around for, but if you’ve seen the movie already allow me to shine a little light on what they both mean.

Spoilers follow.

The Mid-Credits Scene Explained

Right after the stylized credits roll, we get the first of the two hidden Doctor Strange 2 hidden scenes. This is the more important of the two.

In it, Strange is walking down the street when suddenly there’s a flaxen-haired woman standing in front of him looking a bit aggressive. She tells our superhero wizard that he’s created an ‘Incursion’ (when two different universes collide, potentially destroying one or both in the process) and that he needs to come and help.

Strange’s third eye (which opened at the very end of the film) pops open and he tells the mysterious woman that he’s ready. She’s opened a portal that looks out on some space-age scene and they both hop through.

The mysterious interdimensional woman is named Clea according to the film’s credits, and is played by Charlize Theron. Clea is an important character in the Doctor Strange comics. She’s a magic user like Strange, but also has the ability to travel between dimensions.

In the comics, her father is Prince Orini, son of the wizard-king Olnar who once ruled over the Dark Dimension. Orini is a loyal servant of the massively powerful interdimensional entity Dormammu, who Strange tricked in the first Doctor Strange film.

Clea and Strange, in the comics at least, have something of an on-again, off-again romance so it could be that Strange is finally going to be able to move on from Christine. What this means for Doctor Strange 3 remains to be seen, but it certainly looks like Clea will become a new and important character in the MCU.

The Post-Credits Scene Explained

Well, this scene needs little explanation but it does seem like one that’s funnier if you know who the actor is and his significance to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’s director.

Earlier on in the film, as Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and America (Xochitl Gomez) are walking down the street on Earth-838, America unwittingly steals some delicious looking pizza balls from a street vendor.

The street vendor begins haranguing them, grabbing at Strange’s cloak and Strange casts a very nasty spell on the poor man, causing him to start slapping and punching himself. When America asks how long it will last, Strange guesses two or three weeks.

The post-credits scene returns to the street vendor who, at long last, stops slapping himself, looks up at the camera and says gleefully, “It’s over!” which is both a reference to the curse lifting and the movie at last being over. It’s all very funny, but it’s more funny if you know that the vendor is played by none other than Bruce Campbell.

Campbell, of course, is most famous for his role in the Evil Dead movies and the show Ash Vs Evil Dead. The director of those films, including The Evil Dead and Army of Darkness, is Sam Raimi—who also directs Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

You’ll note that this movie is much darker than most MCU films and includes lots of fun little horror elements. Well, that’s Raimi’s touch. And bringing Bruce Campbell into the mix as a fun little cameo is pretty clever.

Raimi also directed the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man films, so it’s kind of fitting that this follows Spider-Man: No Way Home and includes a few Spidey jokes.

I really enjoyed Multiverse of Madness and will have my review up soon on this blog (so give it a follow!) Let me know what you thought of the latest adventure of Doctor Strange on Twitter and Facebook. Thanks for reading!