Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness Could've Featured A Far Grislier Fate For Mordo

"Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" underwent various changes throughout its production. The turbulent history of the film started back when Scott Derrickson left the project due to creative differences, with "Spider-Man" and "Evil Dead" director Sam Raimi taking the reins on the project with a new script from Michael Waldron. Not even that would remain stable, as the film would undergo extensive reshoots until it eventually became the Marvel Cinematic Universe film we know today. "Multiverse of Madness" was a wild change of pace from previous MCU outings, with Sam Raimi bringing his signature flair, giving audiences a horror-tinged chase movie with a surprising number of casualties.

Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff was at the center of most of the carnage in the film, with the multiverse becoming her playground for all sorts of twisted action. From the sorcerers at Kamar Taj to the Illuminati of another Earth, no one was safe from Wanda's wrath and her quest for motherhood. Baron Mordo, a villain who first appeared in 2016's "Doctor Strange," was supposed to be one of many who met a grisly fate at Wanda's hands. Recently released storyboards reveal the character's gruesome offscreen death that almost came to be.

The storyboard, seen above, comes from storyboard artist Jeremy Simser. Sharing the art on Instagram, Simser explained that since screenwriter Michael Waldron shared the scrapped story detail of Mordo's demise in the audio commentary track on the new "Multiverse of Madness" digital release, he thought it appropriate to share how it would have gone down. 

The storyboard artist describes in his caption that it wasn't until "very late in the process" that the team scrapped the idea. The creators behind the MCU are known to make many last-minute changes to their films, something that's been a topic of discussion as of late. Interestingly, this deleted scene remains non-canonical, with the mainline 616 Baron Mordo still alive and kicking somewhere.

The Baron Mordo that gets to share the spotlight with Doctor Strange is from an alternate Earth, serving as a substitute to the "real" Mordo, who parted ways with Doctor Strange in the 2016 film with the ominous warning that eventually, the "bill comes due." Now, the only remaining question is, what about Mordo made the creatives behind "Multiverse of Madness" spare the main continuity version of the character? 

Feige and the team at Marvel Studios are always looking to the future, so the only logical answer, for the time being, is that Mordo has a more significant role to play than just being cannon fodder for Wanda Maximoff. Only time will tell when Mordo will reappear, but one can safely assume that when the bill does come due for Doctor Strange, he'll be there.