Why that number in Doctor Strange 2 got cheers in the cinema
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was filled with several crowd-pleasing moments, though one reference might have completely flown over your head.
If your screening was anything like ours, one number was cheered just as loudly as any reference, cameo, or Easter egg in Doctor Strange 2. That was, of course, 616.
So, what’s the deal with 616? What do the numbers mean? All will be explained in our guide to Doctor Strange 2’s biggest deep cut: Universe 616.
Spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness follow. You have been warned!
After Doctor Strange and America Chavez end up in the Illuminati’s universe, they are met by a familiar-looking scientist at the Baxter Foundation: Christine Palmer.
She explains that, to keep tabs on all the different universes, each one is allocated a number. The MCU’s Doctor Strange is from the "designated universe 616." Christine’s universe, for those keeping track, is 838.
616 carries a great deal of significance in Marvel. Earth-616 is the official name of Marvel’s mainline ‘canon’ universe in the comics, where the vast, vast majority of stories have taken place since Marvel's inception. It is also, according to Christine, now the name of the MCU’s universe in the movies.
It's unclear if the name will be carried forward but, given the importance of the number in Marvel's comics, it's likely that fans will adopt Earth-616's name to use interchangeably when referencing the MCU's Sacred Timeline/the 'main' universe from now on. So, if you see someone talking about '616', that's why.
Bizarrely enough, this isn’t the first time ‘Earth-616’ has been namechecked in the MCU. It was previously used by Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home. There, he said that
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