MCU Theory: Doctor Strange 2 Post-Credits Set Up Loki Season 2

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' post-credits scene set up the MCU's future, and that might include a crossover in Loki season 2.

Warning: SPOILERS for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness!

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness‘ post-credits tease important events and characters for the future, and it might all be set up for Loki season 2. The fifth Marvel Cinematic Universe movie in Phase 4 wrapped up its multiverse story with a big surprise at the end. Charlize Theron’s Clea appears and recruits Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to help her with a new type of multiverse threat. All of this was only possible after Loki season 1’s finale included the rebirth of the Marvel multiverse. And while the Disney+ show helped set up Doctor Strange 2 in this fashion, it is now possible the MCU sequel returned the favor.

Upon first glance, Doctor Strange 2‘s post-credits scene appears to be a tease of what will happen whenever Marvel Studios makes a third film starring the powerful sorcerer. The introduction of Clea (a longtime romantic interest in the comics), Doctor Strange growing more comfortable with his third eye, and agreeing to jump back into the Dark Dimension all seems like set up for Doctor Strange 3. While this could be the case to some degree, that doesn’t mean that pieces of these storylines won’t continue elsewhere first. The MCU already had Black Widow‘s post-credits scene set up Hawkeye, while Disney+ flipped the script as WandaVision‘s ending set up Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. These examples show how fluid the MCU’s storytelling is between what will happen in the movies versus the shows, as well as how Marvel can use each property to prop up another.

Marvel Studios doesn’t have any official plans to make Doctor Strange 3 (yet), and the sequel is at least a few years away from happening regardless. With the excitement that Doctor Strange 2‘s post-credits scene generated, it’d make sense if Marvel Studios wanted to include some of the payoffs a bit sooner, such as in Loki season 2. The two MCU properties already share plenty of connections, and now there is the potential that Doctor Strange and Clea’s adventure will continue in Loki season 2 first and help set up the real story of Doctor Strange 3.

Doctor Strange 2’s Post-Credits Tease A New Multiverse Threat

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness deals with various aspects of the multiverse, but another tease of incursions arrives in the film’s post-credits scene. An incursion is a multiverse event where two universes collide, which can destroy one or both universes. Doctor Strange 2‘s Illuminati of Earth-838 provides the first mention of them during the movie, and Doctor Strange sees the destruction that comes with an incursion later on. Doctor Strange 2‘s post-credits scene teases that the incursions are just beginning, as Clea recruiting Doctor Strange to deal with one could point to bigger problems within the multiverse.

All of the details for how the MCU will treat incursions are not revealed in Doctor Strange 2, but the comics point to how big of a deal they are. Marvel’s comics explained that each incursion contracts the multiverse timeline, resulting in more incursions occurring after. It is possible that the incursions triggered by Earth-838’s Doctor Strange not only resulted in the death of an entire universe but also is the catalyst for them continuing to happen throughout the multiverse. This could be why Clea and Doctor Strange are going on a new adventure to deal with the multiverse threat, but they likely won’t be the only ones.

Loki Season 2 Could Deal With More Incursions

Now that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness introduced the idea of incursions, these new multiverse threats could pop up again in Loki season 2. The show’s first season established many of the MCU’s multiverse rules, which included the idea of variants, the Sacred Timeline, and the breaking of He Who Remains’ curated timeline. Loki season 1’s ending sees Tom Hiddleston’s god of mischief find himself in a brand new universe, one where Kang openly rules the Time Variance Authority, which is dealing with the multiple branched timelines. There’s a chance that part of their panic and new responsibilities will include observing incursions or even learning more about how they happen, how frequently they occur, and so on.

There’s also reason to believe that Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness could continue their connection thanks to the involvement of Michael Waldron. After serving as the head writer on season 1, he was brought on to work out the multiverse plot of Doctor Strange’s sequel. He’s not leading the writing team on Loki season 2, but Waldron is still creatively involved. That could extend to him planting the seeds for Loki’s next adventure in Doctor Strange 2 through the mention of incursions.

Theory: Doctor Strange & Clea Will Return In Loki

The likelihood of Loki season 2 dealing with incursions seems high now that the concept has been introduced to the MCU, but that might not be the only connection to the Phase 4 movie. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness‘ post-credits scene could secretly set up that Doctor Strange and Clea will appear in the next season of the Disney+ show. The TVA expanding its focus to tackle incursions could mean that they come across Benedict Cumberbatch and Charlize Theron’s characters. It only makes sense that Doctor Strange and the TVA cross paths. After Loki season 1 included a significant cameo through Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains, the appearance of Doctor Strange and Clea would be one way to potentially deliver an even bigger surprise to Disney+ subscribers.

Doctor Strange 2‘s post-credits scene doesn’t just add a narrative path for Clea and Doctor Strange to be in Loki season 2, but it also fixes a potential logistical problem for Marvel Studios. The studio already has a full slate of movies through 2023 and has enough films further along in development to extend to 2024 or 2025. That means that Doctor Strange 3 might not happen for another three or four years to go through a natural development cycle and find a place in the MCU slate. That would be a long time for Marvel to hold back on what Doctor Strange and Clea are up to after this tantalizing tease. So unless they plan on making fans wait that long (or skip this story altogether as they did with Doctor Strange‘s post-credits), Doctor Strange and Clea returning in Loki season 2 when it releases sometime in 2023 gives Marvel a place to pay off this scene in just about a year.

How Loki Season 2 Can Set Up Doctor Strange 3

Through an appearance by Doctor Strange and Clea, Loki season 2 can set up Doctor Strange 3 in some major ways potentially. The connection proposed here could mean that Loki, Mobius, and Sylvie work with Doctor Strange and Clea moving forward. The quintet of multiverse MCU characters could form their own team, maybe a revamped version of the Defenders with a multiverse twist, that makes it their mission to stop incursions and investigate the truth about what is causing them. This could even result in Doctor Strange 3 featuring Kang the Conqueror as the main villain. All of this would push the franchise further into multiverse territory, of course, but that seems to be Marvel’s long-term plan. And since rumors previously suggested Loki, Sylvie, and Mobius could be in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Marvel Studios could finally deliver on the crossover in Loki season 2 and beyond.