Lines In Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness That Are More Important Than You Think

Adrift on Earth-838, Doctor Strange and America Chavez are soon captured by the Illuminati’s agents. In a cosmically bittersweet twist, one of these agents turns out to be Christine. She’s a renowned scientist in this reality, concerned with the exploration and categorization of the multiverse. One facet of this work is naming each new universe. “Our universe is 838,” she tells Strange, “and we’ve designated yours 616.”

Comic readers will be familiar with this designation: The 616 universe is the primary setting for the vast majority of Marvel comics. Over the years, the publisher has introduced readers to dozens of different universes, each with their own number. There’s jaunty Earth-1610, home of the “Ultimate Universe.” There’s war-torn Earth-295, ravaged by Apocalypse. There’s bleak Earth-807128, where Wolverine’s cantankerous future self, Old Man Logan, dwells. but Earth-616 has always been the center of it all. 

On the one hand, Christine’s line might only mean that the comics’ multiverse and the movies’ multiverse both share a symbolic anchor point. But it might also rearrange both continuities at once. In 2016’s “The Unbelievable Gwenpool” #3, Strange peers into our reality, where he sees a movie theater showing 2016’s “Doctor Strange.” “Benedict Cumberbatch, eh? Sure, I could see that,” he remarks. But now, both comic Strange and Cumberbatch Strange are denizens of the 616. How might this ink-and-paper Strange react to the knowledge that he and his live-action doppelganger are the same guy?

Adrift on Earth-838, Doctor Strange and America Chavez are soon captured by the Illuminati’s agents. In a cosmically bittersweet twist, one of these agents turns out to be Christine. She’s a renowned scientist in this reality, concerned with the exploration and categorization of the multiverse. One facet of this work is naming each new universe. “Our universe is 838,” she tells Strange, “and we’ve designated yours 616.”

Comic readers will be familiar with this designation: The 616 universe is the primary setting for the vast majority of Marvel comics. Over the years, the publisher has introduced readers to dozens of different universes, each with their own number. There’s jaunty Earth-1610, home of the “Ultimate Universe.” There’s war-torn Earth-295, ravaged by Apocalypse. There’s bleak Earth-807128, where Wolverine’s cantankerous future self, Old Man Logan, dwells. but Earth-616 has always been the center of it all. 

On the one hand, Christine’s line might only mean that the comics’ multiverse and the movies’ multiverse both share a symbolic anchor point. But it might also rearrange both continuities at once. In 2016’s “The Unbelievable Gwenpool” #3, Strange peers into our reality, where he sees a movie theater showing 2016’s “Doctor Strange.” “Benedict Cumberbatch, eh? Sure, I could see that,” he remarks. But now, both comic Strange and Cumberbatch Strange are denizens of the 616. How might this ink-and-paper Strange react to the knowledge that he and his live-action doppelganger are the same guy?