Why Doctor Strange Is Truly Dead And Won't Return For Avengers 4
So what if Doctor Strange stayed dead? If you’ve seen Infinity War, then you know some crazy stuff went down: Thanos got all the Infinity Stones, snapped his fingers, and half of reality died, including Doctor Strange. If you didn't see Infinity War--well...now you know.
So what if Strange was gone for good? What if he achieved what he was meant to do as a character by setting into motion the plan to defeat Thanos, and now he’s just gone, ending up as one of the few heroes that doesn’t come back in Avengers: Endgame. (By the way, it feels so much better to say the official name of the movie now instead of Avengers 4). Of course we know that Strange will be coming back: his movie made a crap-load of movie and the Marvel Studios President, Kevin Feige, all but said that they’ll be making a sequel to it when the time is right. But, what if they had the stones to keep him dead? What would happen? How exactly would his death affect the MCU moving forward?
The Importance of The Doctor
To figure that out, we first have to understand why Doctor Strange is important as a hero, otherwise, we could just say he died, and leave it at that.
Doctor Strange is--different when compared to his fellow heroes. As Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange takes on challenges and solves problems that no other hero on the Avengers team really can--at least not with the same efficiency he does. (You really think Thor or Hulk would have handled Dormammu as cleverly as Strange did?)
Unlike the rest of the his allies, Strange doesn’t normally go toe-to-toe with simple street thugs, powerful mutants, or “science-gone-awry” projects. Instead, he handles all the crazy, unexplainable, magical shenanigans that threatens to take over or destroy the world, and he does so with a knowledge and power set that’s unique to the person with his particular title.
There always needs to be a Sorcerer Supreme looking after the earth. It’s the reason why The Ancient One channeled the Dark Dimension for immortality before entrusting the job to Strange. Heck, it’s the reason why Strange took the job in the first place. So, with that being said, if Strange’s death did happen to end up being permanent, someone would have to his mantle, but who would be up for the job?
Loki, The God of Mischief
Now, your first thought to this idea is probably, why the heck would anyone allow Loki to be Sorcerer Supreme? That’s probably what Marvel considered their selling point when they gave Loki the position in the comics. That’s right, Marvel made Loki Sorcerer Supreme before, and it happened pretty recently as a matter of fact.
To give a quick rundown of the situation, the Vishanti declare Loki as the new sorcerer supreme when he wins some magically tournament that they hold. The result is that Strange gives up the position and Loki takes the title for himself. While it may seem ridiculous for a character like Loki to take the mantle, (and it kind of is) the idea does have some merit to it, especially in the MCU.
His death in the beginning of Infinity War was brought on by the fact that he was trying to save Thor, and it genuinely seemed like he had changed right before his end. The rest of the cast may not be aware of the exact events that lead to Loki’s demise, but if he came back and Thor vouched for him, there would be a good chance that Loki could take up the mantle. Of course, there would still be some tension between him and those who know him for famously trying to take over the world, but that’s where the fun would come into play.
Also, it’s not like Loki doesn’t have the power to be the Sorcerer Supreme. Actually, if he were on the straight and narrow. He’d probably be better at it than Strange. The guy is a god, and while he hasn’t displayed any feats on the same level as his comic adaptation (like pretty much the rest of his castmates), he is a master of the mystical arts, one capable of placing even the likes of Odin under his spells.
There is one major, insurmountable flaw with Loki being the Sorcerer Supreme in the MCU, however, and it’s the fact that he died in Infinity War. That wouldn’t be too big of a problem considering most of the players who died in Infinity War are obviously coming back, but Loki definitely isn’t one of them. According to the Russo brothers, Loki is definitively dead, which, when you think about it, makes since considering Loki wasn’t killed by the Infinity Gauntlet, but by Thanos himself.
So sadly, after all of his faked deaths, and other tricks, it looks like Infinity War was Loki’s last big hooray on the big screen. No more brotherly moments between him and Thor, and definitely no chance for him to be Strange’s successor.
Wanda, The Scarlet Witch
After helping Captain America take on Iron Man at the airport in Civil War, Wanda honestly doesn’t have that much going for her nowadays except for being with Vision, and that would be all well and good if she were a normal person, but she’s not. While she may be seriously toned down in comparison to her comic book iteration, Scarlet Witch is still one of the most powerful characters walking around in the MCU
Okay, maybe “to have walked” the MCU is a better way to phrase it considering she’s very much dead at the moment. But getting back to the point, Wanada is so powerful that she was actually capable of destroying one of the Infinity Stones by herself. Now considering the Infinity Stones are concentrated concepts of the universe, that’s a pretty crazy feat. Of course, Thanos then just used the time stone to reverse what she did, but it doesn’t change the fact that she was capable of doing it in the first place.
With magic that powerful, it would only makes sense that she would be a candidate to take up Doctor Strange’s responsibilities if she were to come back from the dead and Strange wasn’t. She may not know the good doctor personally, but when everyone does catch wind of the magical threats on humanity that, it wouldn’t be long before she learned of Strange’s duties to keep them all at bay.
While it may not initial be in Wanda’s immediate interests, it would become clear quite quickly that she’s the best candidate for the job, (that the Avengers trust anyway). And again, it’s not like she’s doing much else with her time, and by developing as the Sorcerer Supreme, she’ll be able to add so much more magical knowledge and power onto what she already has that hiding from the government (should that still be a plot point moving forward), will be child’s play to her. And, if we’re being honestly, a sequel to Doctor Strange with Scarlet Witch being the new Sorcerer Supreme does sound pretty cool, even if we would still prefer Benedict Cumberbatch.
