Who Is Charlize Theron's Character In ‘Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness’
It's been three weeks since we entered the multiverse with the release of Sam Raimi's latest masterpiece Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The public's excitement surrounding this movie has been unique as it stemmed from its announcement at 2019's Comic-Con and kept bubbling until its release on May 6. This was due to the ongoing leaks and rumours, the plot but also for merely being a sequel to the original movie.
Of course, when the movie was released, the madness just kept going. The public had to take in many surprises such as the Scarlet Witch's villain role and killing spree, the introduction of the Illuminati, and even the elements of horror added to the movie which is very new in the MCU.
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Marvel Reveals A New Character Played By Charlize Theron
Since its announcement, this movie has been the target of many rumours and leaks about the plot and most importantly the cast. Indeed, due to the success of the cameos present in Spider-Man: No Way Home and the use of the theme of the multiverse, Doctor Strange 2 was very much expected to deliver some cameos in this movie. In reality, when the Illuminati were confirmed to appear in the movie, the internet started to speculate on who would be joining the team. Aside from this group, many other characters were rumoured to be part of this adventure, amongst others there were the X-Men, Deadpool, and Clea. At the end of the movie, surprisingly, we find Charlize Theron playing the role of Clea in one of the post-credit scenes.
In the said post-credit scene, we find our Doctor Strange taking a walk in the streets of New York when unexpectedly he hears a feminine voice calling him by his made-up name. When he turns around, we see a woman wearing a purple robe printed with mystical circles and runes, it's Clea. She informs him that he created an incursion and that they need to fix it together. Then, the strange woman cuts a rift into the Dark Dimension with the magical weapon that she summoned. Confident, Strange puts on his Cloak of Levitation, reveals his third eye, which he acquired by manipulating the Darkhold and follows her.
Who Is Clea?
In the comics, Clea comes from the Dark Dimension and is the daughter of Prince Orini and Umar The Unrelenting. Her family history is quite intricate. Her mother comes from another dimension, one of the Faltinians which are beings of pure energy, and her father is the son of Olnar, the former Mhuruuk wizard-king of the Dark Dimension. Umar and her twin brother, Dormammu, were exiled by their people from their home dimension after they had slain their genitor, Sinifer. When they arrived in the Dark Dimension, they sought to help Olnar fulfill his desire of expanding the boundaries of his realm. The twins taught their new king how to absorb other universes into the Dark Dimension by breaking down the barriers between realms.
At some point, they annexed a pocket universe that was inhabited by the Mindless Ones, these indestructible monsters who would attack and destroy everything they would encounter on their path. When released into the Dark Dimension, the Mindless Ones invaded and killed everyone they encountered, along with Olnar. At the time, Orini was too young to take on the role of king, consequently, when Dormammu repelled the Mindless Ones and repaired the barrier, the inhabitants of the Dark Dimension chose Dormammu as their regent. After this, the latter cast away all the Mhuruuks except Orini who wasn't considered a threat. Years later, Orini and Umar conceived Clea and this experience led her to lose her ability to return to her Faltine form. Thus, frustrated, she abandoned Clea and became violent, turning herself against her brother who, being more powerful than her, defeated her and banished her into another realm.
Clea's story arc is very much bound to her relationship with her family as well as Strange's, with whom she has a rather intricate relationship. In regards to Strange, she is often used as a character in distress waiting to be saved and usually used by Dormammu as a weapon against him. Clea and her Faltinian uncle were both introduced in Strange Tales #126. After acquiring the title of king of the Dark Dimension, Dormammu sought to conquer Planet Earth and for that reason, Strange often had to fight him to stop his machinations. Amid these two characters, we find Clea, who always tries to help Strange, often at the cost of her liberty. Clea has never presented any antagonistic reasoning towards Strange, apart from the time she had been corrupted by the Silver Dagger when she was living on Earth at some point after Strange brought her there. The two sorcerers even married each other and used magical rings to strengthen the mystical bond that linked them, as she couldn't stay on Earth for long periods due to her new duties as ruler of the Dark Dimension. When Strange dies after dealing with Mephisto to save his reality, Clea inherits his Cloak of Levitation and the Eye of Agamotto. She also honours him by adopting his last name and becomes the Sorcerer Supreme of Planet Earth.
What To Expect From Theron's Character In The MCU?
While brief, the post-credit scene certainly calls for speculation as it recalls some of Clea's history from the comics and hints at some points of the original movie. Right after the film was released, Michael Waldron, the writer of both Loki and Multiverse of Madness talked about Strange's story arc and Clea's future in the MCU, during an interview for Deadline.
Waldron declared that he always wanted to introduce Clea and explained how she is tied to Strange's past great enemy, the dreadful Dormammu.
"We always knew we wanted to introduce Clea, who in the comics is you could say the great love of Doctor Strange, but really in a lot of ways his formidable equal as a sorcerer herself. Her backstory is fascinating, she's the niece of Dormammu, the giant floating head from the first movie."
The writer continued by explaining that to introduce Clea, they had to close the book on Strange's relationship with Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams).
"They have a lot of great adventures in the comics, and we knew we wanted to introduce her, but it felt like we had to close the book to some extent on his love story with Christine Palmer, Rachel McAdams' character."
Finally, aside from this tease from the writer, we can only speculate on the future of this character, basing our arguments on what we see in the said post-credits sequence. Seemingly, as Clea can travel between dimensions and the Dark Dimension she might also be able to travel between universes too. This and the fact that she mentions an incursion caused by Strange could be interesting to the extent that Marvel seems to be setting this big cross event that is often referenced as Secret Wars, where universes collide and Doctor Doom uses his powers to put them together and save some portions of these universes. Logically, this would mean that the fixing of the incursion mentioned by Clea would end up being a failure. On another note, Clea also seems to know Doctor Strange as she calls him by his made-up name, and so it is very likely that she had seen him in the past during his encounter with Dormammu. Also, remember that Strange hasn't defeated Dormammu so it is very likely that they come across each other again in the future. Moreover, we should take into count the fact that there are no more infinity stones in Strange's universe and therefore Dormammu might break the bargain they had made.
Based on this short sequence, it is certain that Charlize Theron's character will play a significant role in Strange's story arc in Doctor Strange 3, whether it is as his great love or merely as a fellow sorcerer.
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Source(s): Comics Explained, Marvel Fandom, The Direct [1], [2], [3]