How Doctor Strange Can Hear & See The Watcher (When No One Else Can)

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Marvel's What If...? episode 4.

Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) starts sensing and then, eventually fully seeing the Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) in the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton).

Titled "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?", What If...? episode 4 imagines Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams) dying on the spot during Strange's car accident. This still sets him down the same path he took in the Sacred Timeline, only this time, he had an entirely different motivation — to bring the love of his life back. He eventually shifted his focus on learning sorcery, became the new Sorcerer Supreme after the Ancient One died, and saved Earth against Dormammu. But during Palmer's second death anniversary, he decided to fully recommit himself to finding a way to resurrect her. With the Eye of Agamotto in his possession, he's convinced that this was possible, and he didn't have any plans of stopping until he accomplished his mission.

While Strange's unrelenting spirit is typically one of his best traits, in how powerful Strange has become at that point, so much so that he was able to easily break through various realities to learn of his existence and eventually converse with him.

At this point, the events of What If...? are separate from what's happening in the main MCU timeline. But with the multiverse in shambles after the death of He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) at the end of MCU's Sacred Timeline. While the main incarnation of the sorcerer doesn't seem to have any more hang-ups when it comes to the life he lost after his car accident, the fact that that there's a chance that he or anyone else who is able to do what he did in What If...? poses some major threat in the MCU — especially considering the way the universe just suddenly ended, without having any chance to be salvaged.

Doctor Strange has only appeared in one solo film as part of the superhero franchise, and yet, he has effectively opened a whole new pocket that can be explored over time. While it seems like the MCU Sorcerer Supreme has gone through a lot already, his What If...? episode proves that there's still so much to learn about him and magic in general in the franchise. Fortunately, the character is expected to stay in the universe for a long time yet, allowing Marvel Studios to fully explore his ethos.

More: The MCU Changed How Its Alternate Timelines Work (Again)

Marvel's What If...? releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.