A Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness puzzle might've spoiled the movie's villain

No, you haven’t gone back in time to the summer of 2016, when a toy revealed who Mads Mikkelsen would be playing in the then-upcoming Doctor Strange movie (if you did go back in time, please tell everyone that the election is really important), but history does seem to be repeating itself in a weird way. Blame whoever was supposed to be guarding the Time Stone.

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but a piece of Doctor Strange merchandise may have just spoiled the villain in the upcoming Doctor Strange movie. That’s according to IGN, which says a listing for a Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness “adult coloring pad and puzzle” set was posted online that features Doctor Strange battling a giant tentacle monster with one big eye. Marvel Comics fans will recognize that as a description of the Great Old One, Shuma-Gorath, a Cthulhu-y tentacle monster who (let’s face it) is best known for being in the Marvel Vs. Capcom video games.

If this puzzle/adult coloring pad is legitimate, a big-screen appearance from Shuma-Gorath would be a major payoff to a handful of (arguable) cameos in Disney+’s What If…? animated series. In that show, an alternate universe version of Hydra tried to summon a monster in World War II that bore a resemblance to Shuma-Gorath, and later a twisted version of Doctor Strange himself summoned a similar monster so he could eat it and steal its power.

Marvel Studios insisted that What If…? was a canonical part of the MCU’s multiverse, just focusing on other realities than the one seen in the movies, and Shuma-Gorath crawling up to the majors would certainly back that up—and potentially set the stage for more things from that show to make the transition to the movies. In The Multiverse Of Madness, directed by Sam Raimi, will be in theaters on May 6.