Charlize Theron has given Marvel fans a look at her character Clea, the latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Academy Award winner took to Instagram and Twitter to share a couple of behind-the-scenes photos that feature her in the character’s get-up, piquing the curiosity of movie buffs. This comes after Clea was first teased in the post-credits scene attached to the Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen-led Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. In the Marvel comics, Clea is Doctor Strange’s lover and a skilled sorcerer in her own right.
For those who may not know, Clea also happens to be the niece of Dormammu, the villain featured in Doctor Strange. While we don’t really know what the future holds for Clea in the MCU, she is expected to feature alongside Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange on as-yet unannounced Doctor Strange 3. And given Theron’s status, it’s possible Clea might get a feature film or series somewhere down the line. If Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel can get one, why not Clea.
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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness screenwriter Michael Waldron hinted at the same last week on Deadline’s Hero Nation podcast: “Doctor Strange and Clea 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 — the Rachel McAdams character — and so Doctor Strange hears that wisdom from Christine to face his fears and be open to the idea of loving someone. And then along comes Clea, and I guess we’ll see what happens next between the two of them.”
If Marvel takes this route for Theron’s Clea, it will be quite different from the one followed for Doctor Strange as that character was directly introduced through the standalone movie Doctor Strange, which was released in 2016. Of course, the other route isn’t too uncommon either in the MCU. With a six-year gap between Doctor Strange and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it’ll be interesting to see when we next get to see Clea.
Some of that gap was because Cumberbatch was involved in bigger MCU adventures. Following Doctor Strange, he went on to appear in the mega get-together Avengers: Infinity War, the universe-altering Avengers: Endgame and the interdimensional Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Directed by Sam Raimi, who properly introduces horror to the MCU through the film, the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness cast — in addition to Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange / Doctor Strange, Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch, and McAdams as Christine Palmer — includes Benedict Wong as Wong, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Karl Mordo, and Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now playing in cinemas globally.