Audiences were taken aback by Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which featured Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, the film’s adversary. Concept art for the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel reveals that comic book villain Nightmare was supposed to make his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in the film until the Scarlet Witch stole the limelight. Artist Ryan De Silva has shared concept art for the Doctor Strange sequel that was to have been directed by Scott Derrickson and would have marked the MCU debut of Nightmare. After Derrickson and writer C.
Robert Cargill quit the project, the villain was cut from the picture. We don’t know how long the rumours about Nightmare persisted after Derrickson and Cargill left the film over creative disagreements, but we do know that the previous director wanted to include the legendary Doctor Strange adversary in his Multiverse of Madness. Raimi (of the Tobey Maguire-led Spider-Man trilogies and The Evil Dead franchise) was promoted to director with writer Michael Waldron after they announced their retirement in January 2020. De Silva showed off concept drawings that featured Nightmare in full mediaeval armour and atop a horse.
The images came from an old book and picture collection called the Dream Codex. A comic book bad guy with horns, samurai armour, and a sword appeared in the second illustration, which also featured what seems like an early version of the Book of Vishanti, the light equivalent to the Darkhold. In addition to concept drawings, Oliver Carroll also shared set designs that reveal the actor was intended to appear in at least one scene with the film’s protagonist. Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) faces up against Nightmare on a frozen lake, a reference to an earlier scene regarding the hero’s late sister. Darrell Warner, a concept artist, posted some concept art from a cut flashback earlier this year.
In the flashback, his sister slips on ice and drowns, and he must deal with her death. The fact that Nightmare was left out of the movie’s final script doesn’t mean he won’t show up in future MCU features. In the post-credits sequence of the second Doctor Strange film, Charlize Theron’s character, Clea, reveals some shocking information to him: he triggered an “incursion,” and she wants him to come with her on a trip to the Dark Dimension. The sequence suggests they will try to remedy this “incursion” in the third Doctor Strange film; who knows, maybe this could bring Nightmare back as an MCU villain. Following the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Multiverse of Madness introduces Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez, a character that underwent significant development throughout filming. Disney+ currently has the streaming debut of Doctor Strange: The Multiverse of Madness.