One of the many different universes shown in Marvel Studio's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hid a sneaky reference to the evil organization known as Hydra.
Speaking to Variety, Framestore VFX’s Alexis Wajsbrot, who supervised the team responsible for creating the film's special effects, clarified where fans can see the Hydra nod. The chilling Easter egg can be found during the scene where the Master of the Mystic Arts and his new ally America Chavez rapidly move through 20 different universes in less than a minute. One of the dimensions shown is entirely in black-and-white and has a film noir style to it. In the background of this scene, audiences will be able to see a large blimp bearing the sinister insignia of the fascist group.
"The hardest part on this kind of project is sometimes not the execution of the work itself, but sometimes it’s just finding what is it that we want to do," Wajsbrot said. "Because it’s so large, and we could come up with so many different ideas. There [are] lots and lots of concepts of different ideas. We are very, very involved in the creative process on a shot like that."
Wajsbrot and his team made sure to pay painstakingly close attention to detail when crafting the dimension-hopping scene. They admitted to spending “months and months” combing through past Marvel movies in search of Easter eggs to incorporate into their multiverse.
After making its Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Captain America: The First Avenger, Hydra has gone on to play an antagonistic role in several subsequent films and series. The group has been depicted in the MCU as a rogue Nazi science division led by the Red Skull. It eventually turned itself into a fascist shadow organization embedded within S.H.I.E.L.D. for years, before being stopped by Steve Rogers. Given that Hydra was publicly displaying its insignia in the black-and-white reality Strange and Chavez briefly visited, it would seem that this was a reality where Hydra was far more successful than it was in the main MCU continuity.
This isn't the first time that a Marvel property has shown a grim alternate reality where Hydra succeeds in its evil mission. Season 4 of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. featured a similar storyline called “Agents of Hydra.” In the series, the Hydra world was really a computer simulation as opposed to a parallel universe but it still gave fans their first glimpse at what could have happened if Hydra hadn't been defeated.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is in theaters everywhere now.
Source: Variety
