A Spider-Man and Doctor Strange Team-Up Would Be Truly Insane

With buzz heating up for Marvel’s panel at San Diego Comic-Con this Saturday, there’s talk of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange onscreen together in Avengers: Infinity War. Whether or not this turn out to be legitimate, it’s safe to assume that the two characters will cross paths at some point. But what if they got their own team-up movie? Of all the potential oddball team-ups in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the one between Spider-Man and Doctor Strange would be both easy to pull off and an insane amount of fun.

Sony has the option to bring in an MCU hero that’s not Iron Man in for the Spider-Man sequel. If Marvel mixes the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man up with the Sorcerer Supreme, it would make for a fun and unlikely pairing that would shake up fan expectations and enhance the comedic charm of each character.

Spider-Man: Homecoming has a humble story that’s more about growing up in high school than it is becoming a superhero, and Doctor Strange is a trippy film about the mystical arts that has everything from magic relics to different dimensions. A mash-up would ground Strange back in the reality of New York City while also putting Peter’s inevitable childish awe of magic front and center.

Best of all, it could give us a live-action version of this hilariously weird image:

Peter’s inexperience and unbridled enthusiasm mean everything for the character’s charm. Since his debut in Civil War and throughout Homecoming, his innocence makes him lovable, especially in moments like when he geeks out over Bucky’s metal arm. Peter Parker is immature in a realistic way, and he really lets his freak flag fly when he’s swinging around as Spider-Man. Whether he chooses to admit it or not, Peter is a bit overwhelmed by the huge world of the Avengers. But if Homecoming proved anything to viewers, it’s that Spider-Man can be at his most fun to watch when the hero is out of his depth.

Could you imagine Spider-Man trying to web-swing or wall-crawl when buildings fold into each other around him Inception-style? It would be both visually engaging and comedic.

Peter’s the type of person that would enter the Sanctum Sanctorum and touch everything — or at the very least chatter endlessly about every little detail. How funny would be for him to interact with the Cloak of Levitation, which itself has perhaps more personality than Stephen Strange?

The spectacles that fill Strange’s world would be fascinating to the scientist in Peter, but even more so to the nerd in him.

Because director Jon Watts opted to skip Spider-Man’s origin story with Homecoming, we don’t know a lot about the nature of Peter’s powers. He’s got heightened agility and strength, can cling to walls and other objects, and he designed his own mechanical web shooters. Broadly speaking, he has “spider powers” — but the MCU has shied away from explicit details about the nature of those powers so far.

The best way to answer questions about Peter’s powers while giving him a reason to seek out Doctor Strange could lie in a Spider-Man story from comics called The Other. The comics event explores the more mystical and animalistic side to Spider-Man’s powers. In it, Peter Parker dies at the hands of the villain Morlun and is resurrected after communing with a mystical god.

What follows is a bizarre, trippy chain of events. Peter’s body gets sealed inside cocoon under the Brooklyn Bridge while he communicates with a Spider god called the Great Weaver. Existing in the astral plane, the Great Weaver is a spider-like totemic deity that compels Peter to give in to the more animalistic side to his powers. When he does, he emerges with enhanced spider powers that include night vision, fangs, organic webbing, and stingers.

It’s all terrifying, dark as hell, and exactly the kind of adventure that a man like Doctor Strange could help Peter out with. Doctor Strange, after all, battles all manner of deities, demons, and sorcerers in his comics storylines.

Best of all? This sort of thing could fit squarely within Marvel’s timeline after the next two Avengers movies.

Despite Doctor Strange being released back in October 2016, much of the film’s action takes place around the same time as July’s Homecoming. Peter’s currently continuing high school in Brooklyn, awaiting any potential calls from Happy Hogan and Tony Stark. Meanwhile, Stephen Strange protects the Sanctum Sanctorum in the heart of Greenwich Village. (Strange will also pop up in Thor: Ragnarok in some capacity to help Thor out.)

Other than that, they’re both slated for inclusion in the massive upcoming Infinity War before the second Spider-Man movie propels a new era of the MCU forward.

Avengers: Infinity War is scheduled for a release on May 4, 2018.