Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Could Draw Inspiration From Classic Lovecraft Story

Over the weekend, former Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness director Scott Derrickson revealed if given the opportunity, he wouldn't mind directing an R-rated Star Wars flick set on Hoth — you know, something in the vein of The Thing. Of course, the tweet itself was a nothing burger and it was just Derrickson trying to make conversation with his thousands of followers. But diving into the tweet a little further, as someone with a little too much time on their hands would, a potential Freudian slip could reveal some major inspiration for the story behind the Doctor Strange sequel the director was once attached to. Do you have your tin foil hats ready?

In the tweet, which has since now been deleted, Derrickson expressly states The Thing and In the Mountains of Madness as the inspiration for his would-be Hoth movie. But the thing is — the Lovecraftian tale is actually titled At the Mountains of Madness. Again, likely a nothing burger and an honest mistake, but say you're a filmmaker that's working on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and you know the Lovecraft story has some major inspiration on the movie, that might cause some confusion — right?

It's pretty well evidenced by the name itself it's at least drawing some inspiration from the ages-old story, Derrickson tweet or not. Maybe the inspiration is just in name, or maybe Marvel Studios is going all-in on the idea — which isn't too far from a mind-bending Doctor Strange story the way it is.

In the story, an expedition to Antarctica runs into an ancient alien lifeform. Like The Thing, the story features most of its cast slaughtered at one point or another with just geologist William Dyer surviving to tell the tale. If we're looking to try tying the story into Doctor Strange somehow, one could make a comparison Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) could come across a similar monster — like long-time comics villain Shuma-Gorath — in the anticipated sequel.

Either way, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige previously revealed that some unexpected characters would end up making their live-action debuts in the Doctor Strange follow-up.

"The next Doctor Strange film, for instance, features some new MCU characters which will be making their debut in that movie you won't expect or won't guess who it is but we found a cool way to make it work because we want to make a particular type of movie there and there was a character who we always wanted to do something with who will fit really well there," Feige teased.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is set for release on May 7th, 2021.