Is Doctor Strange Officially Sorcerer Supreme in 'Avengers: Infinity War'?

One of the fun things about Avengers: Infinity War is getting a chance to catch up with how so many of the Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes have developed and changed in the time jump between films. There's been almost as much discussion about where we find the respective heroes and how they got there, as there has been what will happen to them in the film - and how it will forever change the MCU, going forward.

Well, in terms of how certain characters have grown and changed leading up to Infinity War, we can now confirm a pretty big development for Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange!

During an Avengers: Infinity War Red Carpet Fan Event in Singapore, Avengers: Infinity War, director Joe Russo introduced Cumberbatch onstage as "The Sorcerer Supreme himself," and during the interview segment, Cumberbatch later refers to himself by the same title. Since Marvel Studios is rigidly fastidious about every single piece of terminology associate with MCU heroes, this is no mere slip of the tongue: by the time of Avengers: Infinity War, Doctor Strange has apparently earned the title of being the MCU's Sorcerer Supreme!

Right after the Doctor Strange solo movie revealed that its storyline would not reveal how Stephen Strange rose to the Masters of the Mystic Arts' highest rank, we wrote a piece asking when Doctor Strange would officially become the MCU Sorcerer Supreme - with two main choices: Avengers: Infinity War, or Doctor Strange 2. However, the actual answer to that query may be a combination of both!

It's clear that Strange will be Sorcerer Supreme by the time the events of Avengers: Infinity War occur - but the story of how he finally claimed the title may be what Doctor Strange 2 is all about. The post-credits scene of Doctor Strange revealed a new threat in the mystic world, in the form of Chiwetel Ejiofor's Mordo. Mordo was last seen ambushing Benjamin Bratt's Jonathan Pangborn, the crippled man who healed himself using the mystic arts. Mordo declared that his new mission was decreasing the number of active magic users in the world - and given when that scene took place (Doctor Strange takes place between Iron Man 2 and Civil War), it stands to reason that Mordo wouldn't just sit back and let Stephen Strange ascend to Sorcerer Supreme without a fight.

No doubt we'll find out more about Doctor Strange's future after Infinity War, but his solo franchise is poised to tell a great sequel story, no matter the time period it's set in. We recently learned that Nightmare will be a villain in the sequel, with Mordo teased as being involved with that story. So either Strange will settle matters with Nightmare and Mordo and become Sorcerer Supreme before the Infinity War, or the sequel will use those villains and the aftermath of Infinity War to examine how Strange was significantly affected by the darkness and cruelty of Thanos' henchman Ebony Maw. Both scenarios sound exciting to us - how about you?

Marvel Studios' Black Panther is now playing in theaters. Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on April 27, 2018. It is followed by Ant-Man and The Wasp on July 6, 2018, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, Avengers 4 on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.