Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: What to Know Before Watching

Following the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, in which the multiverse opened up due to Peter Parker botching Dr Strange’s memory spell, Doctor Strange has to fully rectify this to keep the Marvel universe intact.

In this movie, Doctor Strange, America Chavez, Scarlet Witch, and other characters will traverse the Marvel multiverse. They will visit parallel earths, (including the animated universe), new and old dimensions, and more variants of new and old characters will be seen,

Characters

Apart from Doctor Strange and Wong, Baron Mordo, a former ally of Doctor Strange, will be making his return as a villain.

Scarlet Witch will also be heavily involved due to Doctor Strange needing powerful magicians to save the multiverse.

America Chavez

America Chavez will be making her MCU debut. Her powers include Self-Propelled Flight, Superhuman Speed, Superhuman Strength, Star Portal Creation to travel to anywhere in the multiverse, Interdimensional Travel, Time Travel, Superhuman Longevity, Hyper-Cosmic Awareness (the ability to know what’s going on in the multiverse at large).

The Illuminati

They are a superhero secret society where each member is from a portion of the Earth’s superhero community. They go above and beyond to maintain peace and security (even if it means doing dastardly/extreme things sometimes).

The members of the Illuminati are Iron Man (representing the Avengers), Namor (representing the Atlanteans), Doctor Strange (representing mystics and outsiders), Reed Richards (representing the Fantastic Four), Professor Xavier (representing the mutants), Black Bolt (representing the Inhumans), and Black Panther (an off and on member representing the Wakandans).

Other Characters:

• Supreme Strange: A powerful Doctor Strange variant, capable of destroying galaxies as seen in Marvel’s What If…
• Defender Strange: A Doctor Strange that is in the team of Defenders
• Zombie Strange and Zombie Wanda: Superheroes from the zombie Earth-2149
• Gargantos: A character modelled after Shuma Gorath. Shuma Gorath is an ancient force of chaos, the immortal, nigh-invincible, and godlike ruler of nearly a hundred alternate universes. 
• Captain Marvel: A variant of Captain Marvel from another universe.
• Captain Carter: Agent Carter became Captain America instead of Steve Rogers.

[To see all these characters and understand better, watch Marvel What If… season 1]

Rumour: The Living Tribunal, a cosmic entity above the Celestials, Eternity, Lady Death, and others, may appear in the movie.

The Living Tribunal is more or less the fourth most powerful being in the Marvel Universe after The One Above All, the One Below All, and the Beyonders. He is the one who keeps the balance in the multiverse to make sure everything happens as it is supposed to.

Doctor Strange will be released on May 6th, 2022. The film is directed by Sam Raimi, written by Michael Waldron, and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, alongside Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Rachel McAdams.