6 Marvel Comics to help explain Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
By Mark Lynch
New Avengers & Secret Wars
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Even after a lot of mishaps by the team, the Illuminati never broke up and stayed in secret. They just added new members when old ones died or left. At one point Steve Rogers was a part of the team. Once the incursion started, the Illuminati had to destroy entire universes to save their own. Steve Rogers wasn’t going to agree to that, so his mind was erased and Hank McCoy (a.k.a. Beast) was put in his place. Now, Namor, Reed Richards, Black Bolt, Beast, T’Challa, Tony Stark, and Doctor Strange were the new team.
Despite all their efforts in New Avengers (2013-2015), they couldn’t stop the final incursion. This leads to Secret Wars (a series that Marvel Studios has teased). The Ultimate Universe and the 616 collided. Before everyone could be killed, though, Doctor Doom recreated the multiverse into what is called Battle World.
The incursion was mentioned more than a few times during Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. If you want to learn about what it is and why it’s so dangerous, this is where you should look. It also shows sides of Namor, Reed Richards, Beast, T’Challa, Black Bolt, Tony Stark, and Doctor Strange that you may not recognize. To dozens of worlds, they’re evil. To the people of their reality, they could be considered heroes.