Empire Magazine revealed its covers for its 400th issue yesterday, and a subscriber cover by Chris Malbon offers a look into the horrific, dimension-hopping world of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, with an “explosion of colorful chaos magic… portals, powers, and psychedelic patterns galore.”

Empire promises that things will be Strange, and if you haven’t seen the latest television spot yet, well then, you are in for a massive dose of Deadite fun. I may be alone in this, but zombies certainly live up to Empire’s cosmic promise that the 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be Strange with a capital “S.”

RELATED: What to Know About Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

The Empire subscriber cover offers several clues about what we can expect from Doctor Strange 2. From Rintrah the Magical Minotaur, introduced in 1986’s Doctor Strange #80 by Peter Gillis, Aleret Carlson, Chris Warner and Randy Emberlin to America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), introduced in Vengeance #1 by Joe Casey and Nick Dragotta, to Defender Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), introduced in Marvel Feature #1 by Roy Thomas, Ross Andru, Bill Everett and Sam Rosen, but those aren’t even the most exciting teasers on the Empire cover. 

The cover seemingly confirms the Savage Land! Marvel Comics’ Savage Land, located in Antarctica, first appeared as The Land Where Time Stands Still in 1941’s Marvel Mystery Comics #22 and was quickly forgotten because it was racist. But, it was reintroduced (and slowly retooled over the years) as the Savage Land in X-Men #10 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Chic Stone and S. Rosen. 

I don’t know about you, but I am so ready for the Ashy Slashy puppet to be an official part of the MCU canon. In the meantime, I will deal with the ultimate Deadite slayer Ashley Joanna Williams (Bruce Campbell), saving the Marvel Universe from Doctor Strange’s multiversal madness.

If Army of Darkness taught me anything, there is only one man powerful enough to slay Zombie Strange and Zombie Wanda Maximoff. Now it seems that Earth-199999 Doctor Strange has unleashed the What If…? world on MCU prime, which you can see in the most recent television spot, and it’s a perfect time for the ultimate slayer to step in.

Directed by Sam Raimi, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness arrives in theaters on May 6 and stars Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch, Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer, Gomez as America, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo, and Benedict Wong as Wong. Check out the new television spot and tell us what teasers you see in it and the Empire exclusive covers below! 

Empire Subscriber Sover

Photo: Empire/Chris Malbon

Empire Doctore Strange 2

Photo: Empire

Things Get Out of Hand in the DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS Trailer

 

 

Rebecca Kaplan
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