Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? More like Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Sadness right? Marvel Studios' What if…? episode 4 has been by far the most messed up and dark What if…? episode yet. That being said, the episode, like all other episodes before it, is full of awesome Easter Eggs. Let's check them out one by one, shall we?
Warning: Major spoilers for the show
What if…? Episode 4 – Easter Eggs and References
“What If… Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?,” brings back Benedict Cumberbatch's Dr. Stephen Strange as well as Rachel McAdams' Christine Palmer. In this episode, instead of Dr. Strange losing his hands, he loses the love of his life. He tries to undo her death over and over which ultimately brought about the total destruction of his universe.
The twist that What if…? they put on Dr. Strange's origin was amazing yet at the same time, it really shows how one choice, one difference, can make a huge impact on your life and the world around you. Now that the recap is done, let's go over all the awesome easter eggs you may have missed in the episode:
1. An old reporter makes a comeback.
When Stephen learns of Christine's death on the news, the newscaster is Leslie Bibb's Christine Everhart, who was seen in Iron Man and Iron Man 2, and she's a reporter for WHiH World News.
2. Absolute Points in Time
This is an interesting one. The Ancient One states that Christine's death is an “absolute point in time,” which is very important for future MCU projects. This means that certain events can't be changed, even in other timelines. This could be a reason why Spider-Man gets in trouble with the multiverse in No Way Home as his identity might be an absolute point in time.
3. The Librarian
O'Bengh, who is guarding the Library of Cagliostro, is a character from the Marvel comics and is actually Cagliostro. He even studied the Darkhold, aka the book Wanda currently has after WandaVision.
4. Tenta-cool reference bro
The first creature that Stephen encounters while trying to gain absolute power is a tentacle monster that is similar to or perhaps even the same one as what Captain Carter encountered in the first episode of What if…?. Many people are speculating that this creature is Shuma-Gorath. A mythical one-eyed, multiversal tentacle monster who often clashes with Doctor Strange in the comics.
5. Who's come to bargain?
After Stephen is injured by the tentacle monster, O'Bengh tells him “mystic beings do not bargain,” which is likely a nod to when Stephen tried to bargain with Dormammu in Doctor Strange.
6. Strange gets a mystical face shield
Wong places a “heavy-duty protection spell” on Stephen and calls it “The Guardian Vishanti.” In the comics, The Vishanti are a trio of beings who help the Sorcerer Supreme.
7. The Crimson Bands of Cyttorak
When Stephen is fighting his evil self, he uses a magical lasso spell, which he also used in Avengers: Infinity War while fighting Thanos.
8. Red is Chaos
When Evil Strange absorbs Stephen, his magic turns from green to red. In the MCU, red usually symbolizes Chaos Magic, aka what The Scarlet Witch wields.
9. “Stephen, what did you do?”
Towards the end of the episode, when Christine disappears, it mirrors the scene when Vision did the same during the WandaVision series finale. Speaking of WandaVision, Strange also goes through the five stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance — throughout the episode much like Wanda did throughout her series. Both Wanda and Stephen create false realities and mess with timelines in order to save the one person they love most.
10. The Watcher says no
In an attempt to undo all the chaos and destruction caused by his selfishness, Dr. Strange asks The Watcher to help him. The Watcher then responds and turns him down further reinforcing the fact that he merely observes and that was his only purpose. This is also the very first time we see a character in What if…? interact with the god-like being.
So there you have it, all the awesome What if…? episode 4 Easter Eggs. Although this was a very dark episode, it's nice to see that Marvel and Disney+ aren't afraid to show audiences the darker side of their favorite heroes. Maybe the next episode we get is a little lighter but we won't complain if it's as dark as this one. Heck, go darker even and have Thanos win Endgame by absolutely slaughtering everyone with his Double-Edged sword.