Marvel Studios just used What If…? season 3 to quietly hint at how an iconic MCU villain who hasn’t been seen in nine years can now return to once again battle Doctor Strange. Over the course of its three-season run, Marvel Animation’s What If…? reinvented some of the MCU’s most iconic and powerful characters as the series explored a wide variety of alternate universes. What If…? season 3 may have wrapped up the story, but the series’ final chapter also teased some wild new stories for the live-action MCU.

What If…? season 3 was arguably the weirdest chapter of the animated series yet, concluding the popular Multiverse Saga series with a bang. Audiences were introduced to a Wild West-themed Shang-Chi and Kate Bishop, a Celestial Agatha Harkness and the daughter of Howard the Duck and Darcy Lewis, among others, with the latter being the focus of episode 4, “What If… Howard the Duck Got Hitched?” This episode also marked the return of one of the MCU’s strongest and most mysterious villains, and explained how he could return in live-action.

What If…? Revealed Dormammu Can Take Hosts

Dormammu Almost Took Byrdie As His Host

What If…? season 3, episode 4, continued the story of Howard the Duck and Darcy Lewis, who married during Thor’s epic global party back in What If…? season 1. Season 3 revealed the pair had, somehow, produced an egg, which became coveted by all manner of characters as it was birthed during the Convergence and was seemingly destined for great things. The Grandmaster, Malekith, Laufey, Zeus and Thanos, along with his Black Order, fight for possession of the egg, but it’s Kaecilius who comes closest to claiming it for himself.

While the others wanted the egg for their own personal gain (or breakfast), Kaecilius wanted to use it to provide his master, Dormammu, the ruler of the Dark Dimension, with a physical host body. This was the first mention in the MCU’s history of Dormammu being able to inhabit host bodies, as the being was previously seen as an amorphous construct floating throughout the Dark Dimension in 2016’s Doctor Strange. Of course, Dormammu did not use Byrdie as his host, and she grew into a formidable hero, but this could prove crucial to the live-action MCU.

What If…? Season 3 Supports A Wild Doctor Strange 3 Casting Theory

An Old Theory Brings Mads Mikkelsen Back To The MCU

Back in February 2024, Mads Mikkelsen revealed to Business Insider that he would be happy to return to the role of Kaecilius, despite the character’s death at the end of Doctor Strange. This spurred a theory to be shared by Reddit user AlexWFS which suggested that Mikkelsen could, in fact, return as the human form of the Dormammu. The events of Doctor Strange and What If…? season 3 make this even more likely, as Kaecilius’ body was sent to the Dark Dimension in the former, perhaps allowing Dormammu to claim it as his host.

I love them all. The most fun must’ve been “Doctor Strange” because I got to do two things I love: doing magic and flying Kung Fu. Yeah, that one. I wouldn’t mind going back to him. But I have a tendency to die in all the franchises, so it’s going to be hard.

Kaecilius was perhaps Dormammu’s most loyal follower in Doctor Strange, as he turned his back on the Ancient One and Kamar-Taj in hopes of breaking down the Earth’s defensive barriers and unleashing the Dark Dimension, making everyone equal as part of “the One.” At the end of Doctor Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch’s titular Master of the Mystic Arts trapped Dormammu in a time loop and forced him to remove his zealots from the Earth in order to be freed. This means Kaecilius’ body will be readily available for Dormammu to inhabit, allowing Mads Mikkelsen to return to the MCU as Dormammu.

Why Dormammu Needs A Host In The MCU’s Future

Dormammu Needs To Be Explored More In The MCU

As the ruler of the Dark Dimension, Dormammu is one of the most powerful beings in the MCU’s multiverse, but Marvel Studios has barely scratched the surface with the formidable villain. Doctor Strange left audiences wanting more, and 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness only made this worse, as the movie’s post-credits scene debuted Charlize Theron’s Clea, who is Dormammu’s niece in Marvel Comics. If Clea is explored in more detail in a possible Doctor Strange 3, it would make sense for Dormammu to take a human form, and this would, in fact, be necessary.

Dormammu might be a supremely powerful character in the MCU, but audiences will struggle to connect to him on any level if he doesn’t have a physical form. Currently, he’s a bit of a strange antagonist, with no real form and no known purpose. Putting Dormammu in a host body, especially if this is the body of the incredibly talented Mads Mikkelsen, would allow audiences to empathize and understand him more. What If…? season 3 has perfectly set the stage for this to happen in Doctor Strange 3, so hopefully this will finally come to fruition.