Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness Merch Offers First Look At Shuma-Gorath

It's an exciting time to be a Marvel fan as the Marvel Cinematic Universe jumps headfirst into the multiverse with shows like "Loki" and "What If...?" ahead of "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness." The Tom Holland-led sequel will double-down on the idea of variants introduced in "Loki," where there are multiple versions of every single character throughout the multiverse. Most fans are expecting to see Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprise their roles as their respective Peter Parkers in the film, but it's unclear if they'll show up.

What we know for certain is the web-slinger definitely won't be alone in his next movie. Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) will also be on hand to help him tackle the problem of having his secret identity outed to the whole world. It'll presumably pave the way for the Sorcerer Supreme's 2022 sequel, which will also see Elizabeth Olsen reprise her role as the Scarlet Witch.

It's not quite clear what Doctor Strange will be up against in his own sequel, aside from meeting Xochitl Gomez's America Chavez along the way, of course. But a new piece of merchandise just revealed the first look at a classic villain from the comics, Shuma-Gorath, which suggests that the tentacled beast might make an appearance somewhere in the "Multiverse of Madness."

A new listing on Booktopia shows off a puzzle that fans can buy. The cover of the puzzle box shows Doctor Strange fighting Shuma-Gorath with the title "Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness" above the characters. Why is this so important? Well, as Inverse details, Shuma-Gorath is an ancient demon who lives in a completely different dimension outside of the Marvel Universe. He's essentially a giant, tentacled eyeball that wields immense cosmic power and can't be killed. Instead, Shuma-Gorath is one of those villains that the hero has to subdue and lock away. Notably, this tentacled being always finds some way of returning.

The Lovecraftian beast is obsessed with ruling various universes and alternate dimensions. Shuma-Gorath even briefly took over Earth in the Hyborian age before being defeated by a different time-traveling sorcerer, per Fandom. The character constantly comes back to the Earth-616 universe (the main continuity of the comics), mainly because Doctor Strange and various other characters have defeated him over the years, and he's determined to cause chaos.

Most fans think we've already seen the beast in the MCU thanks to "What If...?" Both Captain Carter (Hayley Atwell) and Doctor Strange Supreme face off against massive tentacles from another dimension in the series, which seem to fit the bill for Shuma-Gorath. Viewers never see what the tentacles are attached to, and the creature never actually speaks to characters. Instead, the tentacles just cause pure chaos and destruction. "What If...?" doesn't have the runtime to explore the monster's origins and what it's capable of, possibly leaving the explanation up to director Sam Raimi's "Doctor Strange" sequel. Kevin Feige recently said the animated series could easily crossover into the live-action properties, so that is possible, too.