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Jair Aguirre

Trishia Briones

English 1301-120

06 October 2022

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Poster Analysis

The shattering glass is a striking image that appears on the poster for the action/horror

film: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Doctor Strange appears in the center of the

poster, surrounded by shattered glass which has different people in their reflections, that can be

seen in the sanctum sanctorum with the window shattered, and in the far back, there is a glowing

red cloud. This madness of a poster was created for the 2022 film and does an excellent job of

attracting Marvel and Sam Raimi fans with a different formula than any other MCU film.

Throughout the shattered mirror, there are multiple versions of Strange, Wanda, Wong,

Baron Mordo, Christine Palmer, and America Chavez. That makes sense given that we're about
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to embark on a multiversal journey and may encounter multiple versions of each character. It's

worth noting that at least one version of each character is screaming. That makes one believe that

Sam Raimi's horror chops will put favorite characters through hell. One can also see an eye that

appears to belong to Shuma-Gorath/Gargantos that can also represent the freemasonry eye

symbol or the Illuminati,The Illuminati, in the comics, are a secret society of superheroes that

join forces and work behind the scenes. There's also the Darkhold that can be seen on the left

side of the poster under Doctor Strange, and another book located next to the big Doctor Strange,

which is actually the Book of Vishanti, which in the comics is a mystical book of pure good that

is the light counterpart of the Darkhold. It also grants sorcerers the power and knowledge to

defeat their enemies. There's also Doctor Strange's broken watch.

Defender Strange, the ponytailed version of Strange will likely be from a different

universe. He was most likely a member of the comic book team known as the Defenders in his

world. One may recognize that name from the Marvel Netflix shows, but Strange, Namor, the

Hulk, and the Silver Surfer were also part of the original lineup. One can see him in the piece of

mirror just to the left of Stephen’s head. One can tell Stephen isn't normal because he has white

streaks in his hair and his mustache doesn't connect to his — in his universe — non-existent

beard! There are also several Defender Stranges scattered throughout the poster. Down in the

right hand corner this is one of the most obvious Easter eggs. Captain Carter's shield was

important in What If...?, and people suspected to see it and her in the Multiverse of Madness.

This appears to imply that the theory was correct. Strange and Captain Carter are already linked

by the events of that series, so this makes a lot of sense.

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Under the left hand side of Strange’s flowing Cloak of Levitation, one can see a sharp

shard, which shows a face with a large cut above its eye. It resembles the zombified Strange,

who is actually Defender Strange and is being possessed by 616 Strange from another planet. It

gets a little complicated, but the concept can be understood. On the left-hand side of the poster. A

reflection of Deadpool can be seen in the shard. It looks like a promo shot similar to the one

where he has his finger over his mouth in a shush position. In reality, this is the phenomenon

known as pareidolia, the human instinct to see faces and familiar shapes in the midst of chaos, in

which nothing is actually there, but it does resemble Deadpool. On the poster's left side, near the

bottom corner, there's an image that Captain Marvel fans will recognize right away. It looks like

a new version of the Mar-Vell, Captain Marvel, or the MCU Nova Corps logo. It is believed it

has something to do with Monica or Maria Rambeau. In the comics, the former was the original

Captain Marvel, and she now has superpowers in the MCU. Her mother, Maria, was Carol's

partner, and is believed to have appeared in the new Multiverse of Madness trailer. If that's the

case, it appears that in one universe, Maria received Captain Marvel's powers, rather than Carol.

The overall picture can be seen in the sanctum sanctorum window shattering into

multiple pieces, which actually resembles the multiverse, in the series What if...? The way they

depict the multiverse is through broken mirrors, because it is understood that a mirror can be a

gateway to different dimensions. The big red cloud represents evil, or in this case, the chaos

magic about to overtake Doctor Strange, foreshadowing the movie's villain, the Scarlet Witch,

who is a user of chaos magic and her magic color is red, so putting the pieces together one has a

villain.
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In conclusion, this poster contained a number of easter eggs that might have revealed the

plot, including unnoticed cameos by Deadpool, Captain Carter, and Maria Ramboue. The

illuminati were also hinted at, as was the identity of the main antagonist—who would turn out to

be the Scarlet Witch—from the Gargantos Eye, which resembled the all-seeing eye. This poster

serves as an example of how a straightforward, potent image can be more potent than wordy,

revealing movie marketing.

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Works Cited

“All the Doctor Strange 2 Poster Easter Eggs We Saw.” Nerdist, April 29, 2022.

https://nerdist.com/article/doctor-strange-multiverse-of-madness-poster-easter-eggs/.