One Marvel hero in particular has frequently been blamed for catastrophic events, and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has continued this trend in its opening episodes. Marvel’s Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man depicts animated adventures for the famed Wall-Crawler, existing in an alternate continuity as the main MCU timeline and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. In Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man episode 1, “Amazing Fantasy,” Spider-Man’s origin comes into play, and a familiar face once again sets things in motion.
The MCU has a notorious culture of blame. The Sokovia Accords were born from the destruction caused by the Avengers in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Similarly, Star-Lord was vilified for letting his emotions get the better of him in Infinity War, supposedly allowing Thanos to escape. Thor, too, faced backlash for not killing Thanos during the battle of Wakanda. While others have been blamed repeatedly, such as Wanda Maximoff for Lagos, WandaVision, or Multiverse of Madness. However, there’s another figure who seems to be at the center of multiple universe-defining events.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Changes Peter Parker’s Origin
Doctor Strange Has Become Instrumental In Peter Parker’s Origin Story
In Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man episode 1, Peter Parker witnesses Doctor Strange battling a symbiotic alien. Strange uses portals throughout this confrontation. As Doctor Strange departs, a spider descends upon its web from one of these portals, falling onto Peter Parker’s shoulder and nestling in his shirt.
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Though there is no backstory given to this spider, it is revealed subsequently that it has imbued Spider-Man with his iconic powers. As such, Doctor Strange is now directly connected to Spider-Man’s origin story in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. This contributes to a long list of events explicitly tied to Doctor Strange’s actions in the wider MCU.
The MCU Has Now Made Doctor Strange The Cause Of Multiple Major Events
Strange Has A Questionable Legacy In The MCU
Doctor Strange’s impact on the MCU has grown immensely since his 2016 debut, but what’s more fascinating is how often he’s been subtly blamed for pivotal events. Many have argued that Strange’s famous “one” gesture to Tony Stark in Avengers: Endgame all but doomed Iron Man. By only revealing the existence of a singular winning scenario, Strange essentially forced Tony into making the ultimate sacrifice. While it was Tony’s choice in the end, Strange’s silence throughout the battle left Stark with no other perceived option.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness revealed that Strange himself was a key cause of multiversal collapses, particularly through his incursions. The film suggests that most versions of Strange across the multiverse have been reckless with their use of forbidden magic, leading to reality-threatening consequences. Even the Illuminati of Earth-838 saw Strange as such a liability that they executed their own version of him after he inadvertently destroyed an entire universe.
The animated series What If…? cemented Strange’s tendency to unravel reality itself, particularly in the “Doctor Strange Supreme” episode. That version of Strange became obsessed with reversing an absolute point in time, ultimately leading to the collapse of his entire universe. This is one of the clearest examples of Strange’s actions causing irreversible destruction.
Moreover, Strange caused all sorts of multiversal chaos when he tried to assist Spider-Man in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Though Peter’s interruptions played a role in corrupting the spell, it was still Strange’s decision to use such a high-risk incantation in the first place – leading to villains from across realities breaking into the MCU timeline. With these examples stacking up, it’s hard to ignore the pattern: Doctor Strange isn’t just involved in major events – he is often the reason they happen.
Wait… Is Doctor Strange The MCU’s Anchor Being?
Deadpool & Wolverine Introduced The Concept Of Anchor Beings
With so many universe-altering events tracing back to Strange, the question arises: is he the MCU’s anchor being? As established in Deadpool & Wolverine, and anchor being is someone so vital to a timeline that, without them, a timeline ceases to exist. This was introduced largely as a narrative justification for melding Fox’s X-Men universe with the MCU, while also serving as a meta-commentary on how vital and prominent Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine was to the franchise.
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Regardless, by explicitly naming Wolverine as Fox’s anchor being, it stands to reason that the MCU itself will have one. There are numerous theories regarding the MCU’s anchor being, but Stange’s repeated involvement in major events points to him. Whether knowingly or not, he may be a cosmic necessity within the MCU’s multiversal structure. Perhaps reality itself is meant to shift around him. Indeed, if Doctor Strange is the franchise’s anchor being, then it would explain why he keeps ending up at the heart of universe-changing moments, such as Peter Parker’s new origin in Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
