If you’ve seen the latest Avengers: Infinity War trailer, which we’re assuming you have – and if you haven’t, what the hell are you waiting for? – then you’ll know that Thanos has some pretty nasty things planned for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, as we see shots of Thor and Doctor Strange on the receiving end of what’s no doubt serious pain.
The latter, in particular, is interesting. If you recall, the Sorcerer Supreme’s seen with glass stalactites pricking him all over his body, like some kind of evil acupuncture. Poor Stephen sounds like he’s in excruciating agony, too, which only seems to make Ebony Maw, who’s torturing him, enjoy it all the more, going by the sadistic grin on his face. Comic book fans will probably be pretty familiar with this scene, as well, as it’s pulled from 2013’s Infinity.
In the source material, Thanos sends Maw to deal with Strange and find out where the Infinity Stones are. During their encounter, the Master of the Mystic Arts eventually gives up the information and also becomes a double agent for Thanos (thanks to Maw’s mental trickery), working with the Mad Titan against his fellow Avengers. Now, there’s been nothing to suggest that this particular part of the storyline will be adapted as well – he could just reveal where the Stones are hidden – but what if Marvel decides to go down this route?
Imagine for a second that, amongst everything else Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have to deal with, they also find themselves with a traitor, with Strange pretending to help them only to be secretly working for Thanos. It’d be an interesting twist and would certainly add some more excitement into the proceedings. Not that we’d expect the Sorcerer Supreme to stay evil for too long, but it’d definitely be fun to see him go bad for a bit, don’t you think?
Chalk this all up as speculation for now, as once again, we’re unsure of how much Avengers: Infinity War will pull from the Infinity comic, but with the film arriving in theaters on April 27th, we’ll find out soon enough which side Doctor Strange ends up on.