When it was revealed that Kaecilius was the lead villain in Doctor Strange, many fans were pretty surprised. After all, the Sorcerer Supreme has many other far more well known foes in the comic books, and among them is a character known as Nightmare. He was actually introduced alongside Strange in the hero’s very first appearance. Of course, he too is still relatively obscure, but as the tyrannical ruler of the dream dimension, he’s also one of the Marvel Universe’s most powerful entities.
Now, in a new interview, director Scott Derrickson has revealed that if a sequel does happen (despite the overwhelmingly positive reviews, that hinges on its box office performance), he would like to bring Nightmare to the Marvel Cinematic Universe:
“I really like the character of Nightmare and the concept that the Nightmare Realm is a dimension. […] That’s early – that’s like the first Strange tale. I think that’s in the introductory episode of Doctor Strange, and I always loved that.”
If the filmmaker is that much of a fan, why didn’t he include him in Doctor Strange? Well, it turns out that there’s a very good reason:
“We decided not to do that because that’s a bit of a complex idea to try to introduce everything we do introduce and introduce the idea of nightmares themselves as being a dimension. I hope somewhere down the line we do get to explore that because I think that’s super cool concept.”
A Doctor Strange sequel really could go in any number of directions, but before that happens, we’ll see the character return in Avengers: Infinity War (something which is sure to shake up his status quo). Derrickson returning is a must as well, but as he himself has pointed out in a number of recent interviews, it all comes down to how well Doctor Strange does at the box office.
