Doctor Strange has been a key player in MCU's ongoing Multiverse Saga and we did not even realize it

As the MCU's Multiverse Saga approaches its end, one character is set to play a key role: Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange. The character made his debut in 2016 with the popular solo movie, and since then, he has appeared five times. The last time we saw Stephen Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was in 2022's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Since then, we have not seen Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, even though Multiverse of Madness ended with a setup for the Master of the Mystic Arts in a multiversal adventure. But the actor confirmed last year that Dr. Strange will appear in Avengers: Doomsday.

Is Doctor Strange in Avengers: Doomsday?

Back in January 2025, Cumberbatch popularly told Variety that Stephen Strange was sitting out Avengers: Doomsday. In that interview, he even revealed that Strange will play a larger role in Avengers: Secret Wars. However, just a week later, Benedict Cumberbatch backtracked on his comments and revealed that he is in Doomsday.

Now a year later, we haven't seen anything about Doctor Strange in Doomsday. Several fan theories have hinted at a dark turn for the Master of the Mystic Arts. In the image above we see a masked figure with three eye holes. Rumors suggest that this figure is called Boris.

Fans believe that Boris is none other than Stephen Strange:

In the comics, Doom has a trusted confidant named Boris Karela. We even see a reference to Boris in the video above as Robert Downey Jr. is wearing a custom-made jacket for Comic-Con that has an intriguing patch called "Boris Towing". However, several leaks suggest that Boris in the MCU might be a sorcerer, who is on Doom's side.

Avengers: Doomsday is believed to be taking its cues from the 2015 event comic book, Secret Wars. In that comic, Strange is working for Doom, but betrays the Latverian dictator at a crucial moment. Some Doomsday leaks hint that Strange might have joined Doom's side either because of blackmail or because he is under the Latverian ruler's control.

Some fans believe that Avengers: Doomsday might end with Strange using the Runes of Kof-Kol spell. If you remember, Stephen used the same spell in Spider-Man: No Way Home to make everyone forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. This time Strange would use the Runes of Kof-Kol to make everyone forget about the world before Battleworld.

But Avengers: Doomsday might also end with the revelation that some characters would remember the world before Doom formed Battleworld and took control of reality. In the 2015 comic, some characters like Reed Richards and Spider-Man retain their memories of the old world as they were sealed inside a life raft as the multiverse was collapsing.

Thus, we can expect something similar to happen in this year's Doomsday, as Strange casts the Runes of Kof-Kol. But legacy Marvel characters like Hugh Jackman's Wolverine and Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man may somehow retain their memories to save the Marvel Universe one last time.