This 'Doctor Strange' Cameo Was Mostly Just For Laughs
Warning: The following contains spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Love it, hate it, or love-hate it, Marvel’s first official romp through the multiverse (somehow both opened by Doctor Strange while attempting to hex Peter Parker into college, and by Sylvie after stabbing Kang—it’s confusing) is certainly not your typical Marvel can of soup. And by that, we mean: there are some severed tentacles and gouged eyeballs and cubistic body distortion in that soup. There is also perhaps the most violent scene in MCU history, involving the Illuminati, an Avengers-like group from Earth-838 and comprising Mr. Fantastic (John Krasinski), Captain Marvel (Lashana Lynch), Baron Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Captain Britain (Hayley Atwell), Professor X (Patrick Stewart), and Black Bolt (Anson Mount).
All these heroes are brutally slaughtered in a scene—we can’t help but think is probably—inspired by the Amazon series Invincible (perhaps the most violent superhero property currently around).
Many of these characters exist in the Earth-616 universe (the one we’ve followed for the majority of the MCU), meaning their deaths on Earth-838 kind of mean, well, nothing. For now, it’s all good multiverse-killing sport.
One character in particular wasn’t just from another MCU film or Disney + property, but a failed television series that aired on ABC in 2017, Inhumans. The series was a critical failure, explaining the laughs you may have heard in the movie theater when Black Bolt appeared in the Illuminati judgement room. His presence seemed less genuine than self-deprecatory on the part of Marvel Studios; he was basically a walking (un)talking meme.
But Black Bolt has a long comic history and a set of powers that are not laughable, but pretty damn awesome. Here’s where Marvel could take his character if they chose to put him back on Earth-616. Which they probably won’t. Oh well.
Who Is Black Bolt in the Marvel Comics?
Black Bolt first appeared in Fantastic Four #45 in 1965.
He was born in Attilan, a technologically advanced city on the Atlantic Ocean and home to the Inhumans, the offspring of early humans who were experimented on by a militaristic alien race. As a child, Blackagar Boltagon possessed supersonic powers that led to him being kept in a soundproof chamber before he could control his powers. He was able to reenter society at 19. He then took charge of the Inhumans following the death of his parents—which Black Bolt caused after using his powers to take down an alien ship.
Black Bolt would later go on to join the Illuminati (Earth-616 in the comics). The group, as in the Doctor Strange film, worked to prevent incursions.
Throughout his comic run, Black Bolt would meet everyone from Scarlett Witch to Kang to the X-Men—and, of course, Dr. Strange.
As in the movie, Black Bolt wears a tuning fork on his forehead to help channel his powers.
Read more about his history here on the Marvel Wiki.
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