Scott Derrickson’s Doctor Strange was often a feast for the eyes, but at times it was sorely lacking in the narrative department. It was an enjoyable enough introduction to the mystical side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it suffered from many of the franchise’s recurring flaws.
Rachel McAdams was the latest talented actress to be reduced to a one-note underwritten love interest, somehow the movie conspired to cast Mads Mikkelsen as an evil sorcerer and yet have his villainous Kaecilius go down in the history books as one of the MCU’s weakest antagonists, while Chiwitel Ejiofor’s Mordo filled the role of exposition machine with ulterior motives and didn’t really get much of an opportunity to put his own stamp one of the most popular names from Doctor Strange’s comic book lore.
At the end of the first film, Mordo had turned his back on the Ancient One having become disillusioned with Kamar-Taj and disappeared, only to show up again minutes later in the post-credits scene to steal the mystical energy from a man who had been given the ability to walk again, thus setting him up to become the bad guy he’s most widely depicted as.
On that note, we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who told us McAdams would be back long before it was confirmed – that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will offer no shades of gray for Mordo, and he’ll be a full-blown malevolent presence throughout the story. We still don’t know for sure who the ultimate big bad is going to be, with talk ranging from Nightmare to Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch, but having already played the frenemy card once before, it makes sense to have Mordo permanently turn his back on doing the right thing.
