Multiverse Of Madness’ “Dead Strange Desert” Concept Art Shows How Much Darker MCU Movie Could Have Been

New concept art from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness reveals an alternative version of Pandemonium.

Thomas du Crest

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was pitched as the MCU’s first horror movie, and while the film certainly had some unsettling moments, it didn’t quite push the boundaries as many expected. Working within the constraints of the PG-13 rating made it a little difficult for director Sam Raimi to bring his horror A-game to the franchise. Still, thanks to new concept art from the movie, it is clear that there was a much darker universe waiting to be explored by Benedict Cumberbatch’s sorcerer.

Thomas du Crest

Sharing concept art for the MCU’s first and most successful movie of 2022, artist Thomas du Crest finds Strange discovering a desert littered with corpses of his multiverse variants in images that could have been truly horrific if played out on screen. With the skeletons of some variants strews across the sand and others skewered on spikes, the art also suggests an entirely different collaboration in the movie, with Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Karl Mordo and a non-evil Wanda Maximoff joining Wong and Strange in the scene.

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Thomas du Crest

While not much information is given about the art, du Crest leaves one description that says the piece is the Incursion Universe and notes it is “Early explorations for the Incursion Universe. At that point, it was more of a desert filled with dead Strange variants.” It seems that this universe is the one that instead became the crumbling reality in which Strange fought himself with musical notes. There are probably fans on both sides of the coin-flip as to which could have been the better version.

Related: Why Scarlet Witch Should’ve Been The Next Big Bad of The MCU Instead of Kang The Conqueror

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Ended 2022 as Marvel’s Highest Grossing Release

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

After the Covid pandemic hindered 2021, Marvel Studios and audiences alike had high hopes for 2022 to deliver some massive hits for the franchise and follow on from the unexpected monster box office of Spider-Man: No Way Home. While the year didn’t produce another $1 billion hit, Multiverse of Madness came closest with a final gross of $955.8 million worldwide.

While the disappointing summer box office of Thor: Love and Thunder, which ended the year a lowly 8th place in the list of the highest-grossing movies of 2022, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has delivered a decent punch to end the year, although it looks like the Ryan Coogler-directed Black Panther sequel is going to fall some way short of Multiverse of Madness.

2023 brings a slate of new Marvel movies, starting with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in February, which will kick off the MCU’s Phase 5 and see Jonathan Majors finally getting his first big screen run out as Kang the Conqueror. Although there is a long road to go before Avengers: Secret Wars brings the multiverse saga to a close in 2026, fans are already hyped to see the saga get going after several false starts.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder are available now on Disney+. They will be joined by Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on Feb. 1.

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