Deleted concept art of a scene with dead Strange variants in the “Incursion universe” from Multiverse of Madness that features Stephen, Wong, Mordo and Wanda
Such a good scene. I can see both sides of arguments for or against the scene being in the film.
Pro - It adds to Strange's character & shows the goodness (however deeply buried) is there in him & would have been a good trigger for Mordo wanting to help him & bring him to The Ancient One.
Con - It's simply too early to see something like this from Strange because of the selfish to selfless arc he has yet to fully start, with the AO making him a better person.
The Con is why Derrickson didn't include it, saying it was gonna be added if test audiences found Strange too detestable. They didn't, so he didn't feel he had to pull out that stop.
I get the con of it but it's so sweet, I side with the pro. Lmao
Why couldn't they include this in the final cut? 🤔😭
Source
"That's um, I don't even know if that was in the movie. But that's Benedict and I the first time on-set together in the MCU when we were doing additional photography for 'Endgame'. And they had just added a piece where [Doctor Strange] threw a fireball or something and then I threw a fireball or something. I don't even know if it's in it. But that was our first time working together." - Elizabeth Olsen
Another deleted scene from MoM. This is concept art of young Stephen and Donna in the frozen lake:
The art is by Darrell Warner. He had this to say (link to his IG):
"More Into the Multiverse Madness……There’s a sequence in the released film where one version of Strange, whilst in conversation with himself as another talks of them loosing their Sister……Throwing it back here to pre Covid with one of my early tasks in getting to grips with those children of that past……We were slightly rudderless at the time but still working with the original Scott Derrickson script and awaiting news of a new Director | Subsequently this whole sequence of the Strange kids on the frozen lake was dropped when Sam Remi took up the tiller……."
So there you have it, turns out Derrickson might have wanted to include the scene with Donna but once Raimi showed up the whole thing was dropped.
— Benedict Cumberbatch (Defender Strange) and Xochitl Gomez (America Chavez) in a deleted scene for Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse Of Madness | Xochitl Gomez's TikTok