Doctor Strange’s Iconic Nemesis Revealed in New Multiverse of Madness Deleted Scene

Nightmare is the oldest villain in Doctor Strange’s rogue’s gallery. In fact, the villain and Sorcerer Supreme made their comics debuts in the same exact issue, with the former being the first threat Strange ever faced. That’s why it’s surprising throughout two films that traverse the multiverse, the character hasn’t been introduced to live-action or, at the very least, even mentioned. At one point, Scott Derrickson was expected to bring the character into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, though those plans never came to fruition after Sam Raimi took over the flick.

Still, Nightmare was included in the project long enough to be included in concept art and keyframes produced by Marvel Studios’ visual development department. New concept art from Weta Digital’s Aaron Black shows a mysterious figure upon a horse slicing through the multiverse if various ways. Longtime Strange fans will notice that as Nightmare and his steed Dreamstalker.

Was Nightmare really going to be in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness?

Nightmare has been a favorite of Derrickson’s since the inception of the franchise. He was even included in early drafts of the first Doctor Strange film before ultimately being removed by studio executives.

“Kevin [Feige] made a very cogent case,” the director told Empire. “The trouble with starting with Nightmare is getting across the idea of the Dream Dimension as another dimension. The movie was challenging enough. It’s already an exposition-heavy movie… Dormammu made the most sense. And he is the most present villain in the comics.”

“We decided not to do that because that’s a bit of a complex idea to try to introduce everything we do introduce and introduce the idea of nightmares themselves as being a dimension,” the filmmaker explained in a separate interview. “I hope somewhere down the line we do get to explore that because I think that’s super cool concept.”

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now streaming on Disney+ and available for purchase on physical home media wherever movies are sold. What’d you think about the sequel? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!