While fans’ Superior Iron Man theories never panned out in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, producer Richie Palmer has revealed the vital difference Tony Stark made to Earth-838.
The Doctor Strange sequel saw Benedict Cumberbatch’s Stephen Strange and Xochitl Gomez’s America Chavez travel to Earth-838, where they encountered the Illuminati – a secret collective of superheroes, founded by their Doctor Strange to make the decisions nobody else could.
While no version of Tony Stark is ever seen on Earth-838, Stark’s impact on this world can be seen. Richie Palmer has revealed how Earth-838’s Tony differed from Earth-616 and how this led to the rise of the Illuminati.
Tony Stark’s Ultimate Creation
Alongside the Illuminati on Earth-838, Doctor Strange, America and the Scarlet Witch encounter a legion of Ultron sentries. Unlike the Ultron of the MCU’s 616 universe, however, these sentries serve their Earth’s heroes, acting as defenders in just the way Tony Stark had intended.
In 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark envisioned Ultron as “a suit of armor around the world.” Obviously, things didn’t pan out so well and Ultron ended up trying to destroy humanity. On Earth-838, however, Tony’s plan appears to have worked.
Speaking to Empire in a recent interview, Richie Palmer said Earth-838’s Wanda “had some children and kinda retired. She was happy living a life with her family and didn’t need to prioritize being a superhero.” Lending some further context, Palmer revealed:
“… but this is a world where Ultron seemed to work the way Tony Stark intended him to work in Age of Ultron. ‘A suit of armor around the world.’ Tony was trying to get the Avengers to retire in Age of Ultron. So imagine this is a Wanda that, around that time… This is a world where Tony cracked Ultron, and it worked, and he went, ‘Hey, whoever wants to retire and go home, can.’ And then the Illuminati came to rise behind the scenes, pulling the strings, but, I think it’s just a little bit of a better world for whatever reason, and Wanda was able to go and have the life that she deserved. We as the audience don’t know who the father of those children is in this universe.”
It sounds like the creation of Ultron on Earth-838 allowed the Avengers to step down from duty, paving the way for the Illuminati to take on a more active role. Of course, it’s not necessarily a perfect system – “a suit of armor around the world” still sounds a little authoritarian – but clearly it allowed Wanda to enjoy the life she had wanted.
Here is the synopsis for Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness:
The MCU unlocks the Multiverse and pushes its boundaries further than ever before. Journey into the unknown with Doctor Strange, who, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary.
Directed by Sam Raimi from a script written by Michael Waldron, the Marvel film stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, with Michael Stuhlbarg, Rachel McAdams, John Krasinski, and Patrick Stewart.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is available now on Digital and Disney Plus, and will arrive on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on July 18th. Stay tuned for all the latest news regarding the film, and subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.
Source: Empire
