Avengers: Infinity War Theory - Does Doctor Strange Turn Against The Avengers?
The not-so-good Doctor?!
When the "last" Avengers: Infinity War trailer (inverted commas added because there have been roughly 750 TV spots since) debuted, we got another information dump that seemingly hinted at a good deal of the plot (even with the Russos warning about the value of preserving fans from spoilers).
Arguably the most interesting shot in there saw Doctor Strange in an apparently perilous situation, his face pierced by shards of glass and an expression of agony on it. He seemed to be bound, with one of Thanos' Black Order - revealed to be Ebony Maw - taunting his pain.
Clearly, this was supposed to be another hint at the threat that even the most powerful Avengers will face in the upcoming ensemble. After all, this is the Sorceror Supreme - what his powers cannot overcome probably isn't worth thinking about. But even more than that, the scene sets up a moment from one of the comics that Infinity War is based on - Jonathan Hickman's Infinity.
And that could mean we've seen a hint at a particularly dangerous development for the Avengers and Strange himself.
So what are we looking at here?
3. The Importance Of Ebony Maw
When Thanos arrives in the MCU properly, his most potent weapon won't be the Infinity Gauntlet (at least not without its Stones), nor the gigantic Black Dwarf (possibly renamed Cull Obsidian), or incredible warriors Corvus Glaive or Proxima Midnight. It won't even be the huge Outrider army that we see swarming across the Wakandan field of battle.
His biggest weapon initially will be Ebony Maw, his Black Order general who cannot rely on brute strength or combat skills like his "siblings". He's a master tactician whose powers make him the ideal candidate to go after Doctor Strange, because his powers are simple but devastating: he's a whisperer - a genius who influences his enemies and manipulates them.
Fundamentally, he turns their brains against them, which is particularly dangerous for brains as powerful as Doctor Strange's. That image of him being tortured in the trailer? Those are Strange's own projections. His own magic. His own mind.
And it's something we've seen in the comics, rather unfortunately...