The Marvel Universe is full of dangerous threats, with plenty of multiversal level monsters out there that could appear in future entries of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One of the most fearsome might be set to appear in the upcoming Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness -- with recent reports from The Illuminerdi suggesting Shuma-Gorath will factor into the film as a major antagonist.
What exactly is Shuma-Gorath -- and what about this ancient Marvel evil makes it the perfect possible candidate for an appearance in the MCU?
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Shuma-Gorath was fully introduced in Marvel Premiere #10, by Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner. Shuma-Gorath is one of the Many-Angled Ones, an ancient and nigh-unstoppable race of cosmic figures. The malicious Shuma-Gorath ruled over prehistoric humanity for a time before being forced out of reality -- eventually coming into conflict with powerful forces like the Vishanti. Shuma-Gorath can bend the laws of the universe to his will, spreading his influence across entire realities. In Marvel Premiere, it attempted to breach the walls of Earth-616. To Doctor Strange's horror, Shuma-Gorath was able to anchor itself to reality by attacking the mind of the Ancient One, Strange's mentor and the former Sorcerer Supreme.
With no other option and with the Ancient One's blessing, Strange was forced to kill his master to stop Shuma-Gorath from fully breaching reality. Eventually, Shuma-Gorath tried to break into the core Marvel Universe again -- this time attracting the full attention of Strange. The Sorcerer Supreme assembled as much power as he could and brought the fight to Shuma-Gorath, facing off with it in the creature's home dimension. But although Strange could match the being in terms of raw power, there was nothing that Strange could do to fully eradicate it. In fact, killing Shuma-Gorath was only a minor inconvenience for the Old One -- who instead vowed that he could possess and corrupt Doctor Strange.
He quickly proved this to be true, almost breaking Doctor Strange's spirit after briefly possessing him. Strange was forced to effectively kill himself to halt Shuma-Gorath's corrupting influence, and only returned thanks to the help of his ally, Kaluu. Shuma-Gorath eventually restored itself from this apparent death, biding its time and making other attempts over the years to breach the dimensional walls and claim Earth-616 for itself -- often attacking at inopportune times, such as when he made another attempt to invade reality during the events of Infinity. Its most famous appearance outside of the comics so far though has been as a playable character in the fighting game Marvel vs. Capcom 2, where he minimized in size for the sake of the gameplay.
Shuma-Gorath is one of the most imposing foes Doctor Strange has ever confronted. A wholly alien and unspeakable force of evil, Shuma-Gorath is the sort of threat that forces Doctor Strange -- one of Marvel's most powerful heroes -- to pull out all the stops just to keep up. His comics counterpart even has a deeply personal reason to be one of the things Doctor Strange fears most, given his power and ability to corrupt those who even defeat him. His presence as a genuine multiversal level threat would make him an ideal next step for the MCU to encounter, keeping the tensions rising following the reality-shaking battles of Avengers: Endgame. He'd also fit perfectly as the antagonist in a film titled Multiverse of Madness, hinting at how he brings chaos to the realities he inhabits and breaks.
With the MCU seemingly set to enter into a larger multiverse thanks to projects like Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and the animated anthology series What If?, it makes perfect sense for something of Shuma-Gorath's power level to be introduced. It's also honestly one of the most frightening antagonists within the Marvel Universe, and will likely carry over that element into the horror-tinted take on the MCU. It's the perfect threat for the MCU going forward, and the ultimate challenge to throw at a universe just realizing how massive the Marvel multiverse can really be.
Directed by Sam Raimi, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Xochitl Gomez. The film arrives in theaters March 25, 2022.