Doctor Strange 2’s Epic Battle Received Last-Minute Change by Kevin Feige

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has been in theaters for almost a month now, and its impact on the Marvel Cinematic Universe is still being felt. The film takes some inventive and unexpected approaches to the world of Stephen Strange / Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), with a creative approach led by director Sam Raimi. One of the highlights of Multiverse of Madness is easily the music note fight between two versions of Doctor Strange — and according to a new report from Marvel.com, the process of bringing it to life was unique, and involved an unexpected note from Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige.

“When Sam first described it to me, I said to Sam, ‘I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” composer Danny Elfman shared. “Literally, not metaphorically, these notes are flying off the page. It was working various classical pieces against each other; kind of famous pieces. Then, in the very 59th minute of the 11th hour, at the very end, Kevin Feige jumped in and said to just simplify it to Beethoven versus Bach. I did one more pass at it where it was Beethoven’s ‘5th Symphony’ against Bach’s ‘Toccata and Fugue.’ It really worked out perfectly.”

“We wanted to do something extraordinary because we had Doctor Strange versus Sinister Strange,” Raimi echoed. “We didn’t want them to throw fisticuffs, and we didn’t even want their classic spells against each other. We wanted something that we hadn’t seen before. I thought it would be really cool if they used music as a weapon against each other.”

“With the help of my great storyboard artist Doug Lefler, we developed a sequence,” Raimi continued. “So many people contributed to it, including Bryan Andrews, the director of What If…? We had to design the music notes in a way that would really make a dramatic impact on-screen, so Kevin [Feige] helped me bring Bryan on board to design the colors and the look of the notes so that they really have a special feel to them.”

In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, to restore a world where everything is changing, Strange seeks help from his ally Wong, the Sorcerer Supreme, and the Avengers’ most powerful Scarlet Witch, Wanda. But a terrible threat looms over humanity and the entire universe that no longer can be done by their power alone. Even more surprising, the greatest threat in the universe looks exactly like Doctor Strange. Multiverse of Madness will star Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch, Benedict Wong as Wong, Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez, Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Karl Mordo.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now playing in theaters.