Stephen Strange: Doctor Strange Appreciation 2021

[John Venus]

I'm still surprised they haven't confirmed if she's in the sequel movie or not.

Why does there seem to be such an aversion to Clea? It makes no sense to me.

They are not going to deflate hype for upcoming projects by releasing information on a movie that's not even going to come out this year. We would still be waiting for the NWH trailer if that fan hadn't leaked it and they've revealed little since.

I'm fairly certain that Rachel McAdams Christine is going to be revamped and reintroduced as Clea in the movie. A multiversal counterpart of her being revealed as the daughter of Dormammu and a sorceress herself. Sam Raimi seems to be an old school Dr Strange fan, even referencing him in Spider-Man 2. I wouldn't be surprised if he decides to bring Dr Strange's characterization closer to his actual comic book counterpart.

[Reviresco]

They are not going to deflate hype for upcoming projects by releasing information on a movie that's not even going to come out this year. We would still be waiting for the NWH trailer if that fan hadn't leaked it and they've revealed little since.

I'm fairly certain that Rachel McAdams Christine is going to be revamped and reintroduced as Clea in the movie. A multiversal counterpart of her being revealed as the daughter of Dormammu and a sorceress herself. Sam Raimi seems to be an old school Dr Strange fan, even referencing him in Spider-Man 2. I wouldn't be surprised if he decides to bring Dr Strange's characterization closer to his actual comic book counterpart.

Really? I wouldn't be adverse to that, as I like Clea so much better, but most of the time they seem to like having a non-powered love interest to 'ground' the superhero. I am very curious about Rami's take on the character and the world.

[Frontier]

I think the first movie put the kibbosh happening on a romance with her and Strange happening again, so either she transforms into Clea somehow or we actually get Clea, because I don't think Christine as Christine is an endgame relationship.

[Albert1981]

I just hope Cumberbatch and McAdams massively improve their chemistry in the future. I really liked McAdams in Mean Girls and Midnight in Paris. Cumberbatch, I'm not as familiar with. To tell you the truth, I'm just not too big a fan of the voice acting in the What If series so far. But then again, I prefer voice actors/actresses doing work in audiobooks and video games, as opposed to famous "celebrities". I don't like big name live-action actors/actresses lending their voices to projects and depriving professionals who are primarily voice actors/actresses of work. But I will say that I liked Rudd's and Bettany's work in that last What If episode...And the new Spider-Man voice actor was pretty good too. The rest I like better as live-action performers.

I AM curious about what McAdams is gonna be doing in Strange 2. It was thought she was done with the MCU a couple of years ago, but now that is clearly not the case. I would have no problem with Palmer turning into Clea. I don't know how they're actually gonna make that happen, though. I consider "Sylvie" to be an amalgamation of a few characters. They could do the same with Christine. I need to bone up on finding what exactly Clea's powers are (and how different they are from other magic users in the Marvel Universe). Even though I was somewhat disappointed in Loki (I also felt similarly disappointed about the Black Widow movie), I actually liked how Sylvie used her powers to create illusions in order to interrogate Hunter C-20.

[GenericUsername]

Clea was my 'gateway' character into Marvel comics back in the 70s. I loved Strange but I always loved Clea too because she seemed like a classic fantasy novel type character, despite some awfully bad characterizations at times. I hope that Marvel does find some way to restore her memories and continue to use her in stories. We'll see. Maybe they will. Maybe she'll make a surprise appearance in the next film, and Marvel will use that as an excuse to put her back in the comics. I have no idea. If not, too bad.

As for horn dog Strange... UGH. It's like contemporary writers looked at Strange's origin story, in which, when he became Sorcerer Supreme he shed all of his ambition, callous greed, and history of using and discarding women and they said, "BORING! We like playboy, arrogant, jerk Doctor Strange! Quick! Heal his hands so he can be an arrogant surgeon again, and start writing him like magical Tony Stark! We'll say he's such a rash arrogant ass that he has no friends left, but the ladies will think he's catnip so we can hook him up with everybody! LOL!" I truly do regard post-New Avengers Doctor Strange as a different character from Classic Strange. Back in the Marvel bankruptcy/rising from the grave era when Marvel was rebooting the franchise, it would have been easy for them to toss Strange on the trash heap of comics history. Instead, they modernized him by busting him down and sticking him on the Avengers. Their gamble did pay off because Strange is a popular character now, and the movies have made him even more popular, so that's all good. He is different though. At least he got a (ghost) dog out of all of these changes, so that's a good thing. I don't think Classic Strange would ever have got himself a dog.

I had hoped when Fearless Defenders happened that they were gonna give Clea something of her own. Even though I hated the reasoning they gave for her and Stephen parting for good.

But they do with her what they do with Sharon Carter often times. They either have her exist as a love interest or don't have her at all.

[GenericUsername]

I just hope Cumberbatch and McAdams massively improve their chemistry in the future. I really liked McAdams in Mean Girls and Midnight in Paris. Cumberbatch, I'm not as familiar with. To tell you the truth, I'm just not too big a fan of the voice acting in the What If series so far. But then again, I prefer voice actors/actresses doing work in audiobooks and video games, as opposed to famous "celebrities". I don't like big name live-action actors/actresses lending their voices to projects and depriving professionals who are primarily voice actors/actresses of work. But I will say that I liked Rudd's and Bettany's work in that last What If episode...And the new Spider-Man voice actor was pretty good too. The rest I like better as live-action performers.

I AM curious about what McAdams is gonna be doing in Strange 2. It was thought she was done with the MCU a couple of years ago, but now that is clearly not the case. I would have no problem with Palmer turning into Clea. I don't know how they're actually gonna make that happen, though. I consider "Sylvie" to be an amalgamation of a few characters. They could do the same with Christine. I need to bone up on finding what exactly Clea's powers are (and how different they are from other magic users in the Marvel Universe). Even though I was somewhat disappointed in Loki (I also felt similarly disappointed about the Black Widow movie), I actually liked how Sylvie used her powers to create illusions in order to interrogate Hunter C-20.

I think them not having chemistry was the whole point. They were two characters going in completely different directions. And there was a strain in their relationship.

I don't know about Christine being turned into Clea. These are both very different women. And I don't want them to do the women are interchangeable thing.

I just wish they'd have had Clea as an important part of Stephen's life in the MCU.

[John Venus]

Really? I wouldn't be adverse to that, as I like Clea so much better, but most of the time they seem to like having a non-powered love interest to 'ground' the superhero. I am very curious about Rami's take on the character and the world.

I think the first movie put the kibbosh happening on a romance with her and Strange happening again, so either she transforms into Clea somehow or we actually get Clea, because I don't think Christine as Christine is an endgame relationship.

I don't think the Christine we saw in the first movie is going to be turned into Clea but rather somebody who looks like Christine will pop up from Multiverse and we learn that she is Clea and the only thing she has in common with Christine is her face.

We initially learned that Rachel McAdams wasn't returning for the sequel then we later learned that she was returning anyway. That means Marvel must have made her an offer that she couldn't refuse. The sequel is also written by the same writer as Loki which featured the female Loki we are getting Jane Thor in Thor 4 so why not Christine-as-Clea?

[SJNeal]

I don't think the Christine we saw in the first movie is going to be turned into Clea but rather somebody who looks like Christine will pop up from Multiverse and we learn that she is Clea and the only thing she has in common with Christine is her face.

Love Rachel, love Clea - cliché or not, I fully endorse this idea!

[Albert1981]

I think them not having chemistry was the whole point. They were two characters going in completely different directions. And there was a strain in their relationship.

I don't know about Christine being turned into Clea. These are both very different women. And I don't want them to do the women are interchangeable thing.

I just wish they'd have had Clea as an important part of Stephen's life in the MCU.

Oh yeah, I think Palmer and Strange weren't supposed to have much of a connection in that first movie. But IF Christine DOES turn into Clea, I think they should get along better. It will feel weird to me if McAdams ends up playing both characters though. I would have liked Clea to show up earlier. I'm still not sure why that didn't happen. I don't mind Strange being single though. He doesn't seem particularly emotionally mature in the movies...Which I kinda like? He's definitely more grown-up than Ultron though. LOL!

[Frontier]

Oh yeah, I think Palmer and Strange weren't supposed to have much of a connection in that first movie. But IF Christine DOES turn into Clea, I think they should get along better. It will feel weird to me if McAdams ends up playing both characters though. I would have liked Clea to show up earlier. I'm still not sure why that didn't happen. I don't mind Strange being single though. He doesn't seem particularly emotionally mature in the movies...Which I kinda like? He's definitely more grown-up than Ultron though. LOL!

Hopefully he's reached a better level of emotional maturity once he becomes Sorcerer Supreme...

[Clea]

I don't think the Christine we saw in the first movie is going to be turned into Clea but rather somebody who looks like Christine will pop up from Multiverse and we learn that she is Clea and the only thing she has in common with Christine is her face.

We initially learned that Rachel McAdams wasn't returning for the sequel then we later learned that she was returning anyway. That means Marvel must have made her an offer that she couldn't refuse. The sequel is also written by the same writer as Loki which featured the female Loki we are getting Jane Thor in Thor 4 so why not Christine-as-Clea?

It's possible that the film could introduce an alt universe version of Christine-as-Clea. I've seen online speculation for months that Christine is actually Clea living undercover on Earth. We'll see. Any version of Christine=Clea would provide them with a way to give Rachel McAdams a much more interesting role than she had in the first movie. She was just a plot device in the first film, meant to show what a self-absorbed ass Strange was before his accident. The What If episode elevated her importance to him but still in a plot device sort of manner. However they use her in the MoM film, I hope that she gets to be more than just the love interest who got away. Rachel McAdams is a terrific actor so I'd be happy to see her get to do more to do.

[Albert1981]

Hopefully he's reached a better level of emotional maturity once he becomes Sorcerer Supreme...

Yes, but please keep the snark!

[Albert1981]

If Clea actually IS Christine, wouldn't she know what an astral projection is?:

[Clea]

If Clea actually IS Christine, wouldn't she know what an astral projection is?

Yes, unless she was raised on Earth in complete ignorance of her actual heritage, to keep her safe from Dormammu. That would somewhat parallel her origin in the comics, where she was raised with no magical training and didn't learn that Umar was her mother and therefore Dormammu was her uncle until she was an adult. It would be quite a stretch of course, but the MCU isn't bound by comics canon history. It's an A/U so they're free to do whatever they want. Personally I'd prefer it if they didn't opt for this route simply because I hate the notion that female characters could be so conveniently interchangeable. IMO they should be treated like separate people, not just smooshed together to fit the role of Strange's love interest.

It's kind of the same type of origin story that was used for the one-shot appearance of Sophia Strange, daughter of Clea and Stephen Strange, back in Epic Anthology #1. Clea hid Sophia on Earth (in New Orleans, where Strange Academy is now set) and kept her presence secret from both Dormammu and Stephen Strange to protect her. Poor Sophia appeared one time and was never seen again. I guess Clea hid her very, very well.

[DigiCom]

It's kind of the same type of origin story that was used for the one-shot appearance of Sophia Strange, daughter of Clea and Stephen Strange, back in Epic Anthology #1. Clea hid Sophia on Earth (in New Orleans, where Strange Academy is now set) and kept her presence secret from both Dormammu and Stephen Strange to protect her. Poor Sophia appeared one time and was never seen again. I guess Clea hid her very, very well.

Actually she did. Sort of:

https://comicbookrealm.com/series/14...s-sylvia-faust