As dark as things get in What If...?'s fourth episode, "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?" they could've gotten even darker.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, What If...? head writer A.C. Bradley revealed that "regular" Doctor Strange's death at the hands of Strange Supreme was much nastier early on. "Originally in the script, regular Strange, his death was a lot more gruesome," said Bradley. "He was actually beaten to death by the Eye of Agamotto. Then when the storyboard artist took it over, they were like, 'We're going to make this a little bit more visual and fantastical instead of horrifically violent.' Because I went too dark."

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What If...?'s Doctor Strange episode centers around a timeline where, unlike the main Marvel Cinematic Universe reality, Stephen Strange's infamous car crash results in Christine Palmer's death, as opposed to Strange damaging his hands. When Strange tries to change the past using the Eye of Agamotto, The Ancient One informs him her demise is a fixed point that cannot be altered -- something Strange refuses to accept. Hoping to stop him before he wreaks havoc on reality, The Ancient One uses the Dark Dimension to create two iterations of Strange: one who makes his peace with Christine dying and one who absorbs the powers of dark mystical beings in his efforts to undo what happened.

In the end, however, it doesn't work. The latter Strange, Strange Supreme, winds up killing "regular" Strange and when The Watcher refuses to intervene, destroying his own universe. It's perhaps the bleakest moment yet in What If...?, a series that has delighted in killing everyone's favorite Avengers, most notably Tony Stark. "This was our chance to be big comic book dorks and show the different sides and have some fun," said Bradley, explaining why Strange's demise was even worse in her script. "And the original What If...? comic books were notorious for having tragic endings and twist endings which I wanted to play with. And we were free to go wherever we wanted."

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After eight episodes of open-ended stories (Strange Supreme's included), viewers will finally get some resolution with the What If...? Season 1 finale, "What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath?" on Oct. 6. "It goes places you don't expect," said series director Bryan Andrews. "I know people are starting to get a sensation that things are building to something -- and they are. And craziness ensues."

Source: Entertainment Weekly