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Doctor Strange 2: How Did The Illuminati Kill Thanos On Earth-838?

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

In Doctor Strange 2, the Illuminati of Earth-838 are shown just after killing Thanos, leaving many to wonder how they defeated him. The popular superhero team from the comics is introduced when Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) jump into the alternate universe numbered “838.” In this world, the Illuminati runs the heroics. Earth-838 is also different in that it casually has sophisticated memory retrieval machines on the street and pizza balls are as common a street food as hot dogs.

Additionally, it's suggested that the way Thanos was killed in the main universe ("Earth-616”) was far more complex than what Doctor Strange 2's Illuminati do to him in Earth-838. In Earth-616, the Avengers go on a “time heist,” as thought up by Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and as executed by Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.). During this “time heist,” the Avengers go back in time to retrieve all six infinity stones before Thanos got his hands on them. They then use the stones to undo “the snap,” where Thanos killed half of all living creatures in the universe. Through this, a future Thanos finds out about the stones being collected in that timeline, and he travels all the way there only to delegate collecting the infinity gauntlet to Nebula (Karen Gillan). In Earth-616, Doctor Strange then rallies every Avenger, and they wage the war where Tony Stark eventually gives his life to snap away Thanos and his army.

Related: Doctor Strange 2 Theory Reveals Earth-838 Is The MCU's Ultimate Universe

In Earth-838, though, at the time of Thanos’s death, he is on Titan, surrounded by the Illuminati, including a battered and bruised Doctor Strange variant whose fingers are blackened at the tips. According to Doctor Strange 2's Professor X, the Illuminati had banded together to try to defeat Thanos, while Earth-838 Doctor Strange, “as always, chose to go it alone.” In this alternate universe, Doctor Strange used the Darkhold to begin dreamwalking, searching the multiverse for answers on how to defeat Thanos. This didn’t work, but Earth-838 Doctor Strange kept using it nonetheless. According to Reed Richards, he inadvertently triggered an incursion, destroying an entire universe. This Doctor Strange then renounced the Darkhold’s evil and helped the Illuminati find the Book of Vishanti, which they then used to defeat Thanos.

In the flashback explaining what happened to Earth-838 Doctor Strange, a dead Thanos can be seen in the foreground with his own double-edged sword sticking out from his chest. The sword was likely driven through Thanos by a more ground-level Avenger, likely Captain Carter, after he’d been weakened by the Book of Vishanti. So in Earth-838, killing Thanos didn’t take every Avenger on Earth, but, in this universe, just the Illuminati — a much simpler and more clean-cut death than he suffered on Earth-616.

After defeating Thanos, the Illuminati mutually decided they had to eliminate the only remaining danger: Doctor Strange himself. So, Strange voluntarily agrees to die right there on Titan, next to Thanos. In one breath, Black Bolt (Anson Mount) says “I’m sorry” to Strange, destroying him and everything in the surrounding area with the power of his voice. Ironically, this makes Earth-838 Thanos's death in Doctor Strange 2 somewhat similar to the way he's killed on Earth-616, in that it also comes with the bittersweet ending of a superhero's life.

More: Everything We Know About Doctor Strange 3



Source: Screenrant