In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, everything is connected. At the red carpet premiere for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Kevin Feige confirmed that the Disney+ series Loki set up the upcoming film as well as Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Feige revealed, “There’s always a method to the madness even at the multiverse and to the Marvel fans who know that Loki and Sylvie did something at the end of that series that sort of allowed all of this to be possible. He Who Remains is gone and that allowed a spell to go wrong in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which leads to the entire multiverse going quite mad.”

The Marvel CEO further detailed how the film also serves as a sequel to other stories in the MCU: “This is absolutely a sequel to the first Doctor Strange, but also to Infinity War and Endgame and also to WandaVision. And that really just let us have an embarrassment of riches of like, such an amazing cast and amazing stories and then Sam Raimi tying it all together.”

Both Loki and Multiverse of Madness were penned by Michael Waldron, so this revelation isn’t too much of a surprise. The stakes continue to rise after this confirmation and explanation of these threads connecting to the upcoming movie. At the end of Loki, the titular antihero (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) are faced wih the choice of saving the multiverse or letting all hell break loose. Sylvie ultimately chooses the latter by killing He Who Remains, which unleashes a multiverse of alternate timelines that the TVA cannot prune. 

The upcoming Doctor Strange sequel is coming to theaters this Friday, May 6th. Directed by the legendary Sam Raimi, MCU stars will reunite in the film, along with some new faces: Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, Benedict Wong as Wong, Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/ Scarlet Witch, Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier, Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo.