History Recap / WhatIfS1E4WhatIfDoctorStrangeLostHisHeartInsteadOfHisHands

-->'''Good Strange:''' I wish that was true, but you're... ''you're not her.''

* TheBadGuyWins: Strange Supreme successfully absorbs Good Stephen to access his power, though it does very little good for him in the long run…

* ExactWords: The Ancient One says nothing is impossible to do. In this case, breaking an Absolute Point. Just because something is not impossible to do doesn't mean one should do it.

--->'''Uatu:''' He's on the wrong path. I could warn him, intervene, but the fate of his universe is not worth risking the safety of all others. Besides, I doubt he'd listen.

* ForWantOfANail:
** The divergence in this reality is that Christine Palmer and Stephen Strange maintain their romantic relationship, and she died in the car accident rather than Strange driving alone and losing the use of his hands.
--->'''Uatu:''' In this universe, Stephen Strange didn't lose his hands… but his heart. Grief-stricken, Strange sought answers across the world and in the mystic arts.
** The Ancient One causes another divergence when she confronts Strange, creating two timelines in one reality - one where Strange goes unimpeded in his pursuit to become more powerful, and another where Strange gives up on saving Christine - in order to give the universe a fighting chance against the former. Unfortunately, the Good Strange isn't enough to stop Strange Supreme.

* ShutUpHannibal: When Strange Supreme tries to beg that Uatu save the universe by punishing Strange instead of the rapidly collapsing universe by remarking that he was wrong and should have known better, the Watcher coldly shoots this down with three words.
-->'''Strange Supreme:''' I was wrong. I…\\
'''Uatu:''' [[IWarnedYou You were]] '''[[IWarnedYou warned]]'''.

!! "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?"

!! "What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?" contains examples of:

* TheBadGuyWins: Strange Supreme successfully absorbs Good Stephen to access his power, though it does very little good for him in the long run...

* {{Determinator}}: Stephen is very determined to avert Christine's death... to no avail.

** Strange Supreme will absorb anything that comes from the portal... except for bugs. Doesn't stop him from stealing their capes, though.

--->'''Uatu:''' In this universe, Stephen Strange didn't lose his hands... but his heart. Grief-stricken, Strange sought answers across the world and in the mystic arts.

-->'''Strange Supreme:''' I was wrong. I...\\

* SparedByTheAdaptation: A '''very cruel''' variation. As grim as his fate here might be, if it's any small consolation, Stephen avoids his initial fate from the end of ''Infinity War''. Not that being blipped is any more cruel than living the dream alone in a prison of your own making (as Strange Supreme would later put it) for what you have done...

* VillainProtagonist: A first for ''What If...?''. The episode focuses on Doctor Strange Supreme, an evil version of the character who will use dark magic to bring back Christine Palmer even if it means dooming the entire universe.

->''"One life, one choice, one moment... can destroy the entire universe."''

* LastOfHisKind: Taken UpToEleven at the end, where Strange Supreme succeeds in bringing back Christine, but the resulting TimeCrash causes the universe to collapse in on itself, save for a tiny pocket of reality that Strange Supreme manages to save with his magic. As not just the only human, but the only thing left ''in the entire universe'', Strange has nothing but guilt over destroying reality; [[AndIMustScream a guilt he has to live with alone, forever]].

* PyrrhicVillainy: Strange Supreme absorbs Good Strange and proceeds to revive Christine. He got what he wanted, only for Christine to become terrified of Strange's monstrous appearance and the collapsing universe around them. And then it turns out Christine will be erased with the collapsing universe anyway, making all of Strange's efforts pointless. All that's left is a regretful Strange Supreme trapped in his pocket universe, forever alone to live with his actions.

* CastingGag: For Creator/RachelMcAdams, this isn't the [[Film/TheTimeTravelersWife first]], [[Film/AboutTime second]] or [[Film/MidnightInParis third]] time she's played the significant other to a time traveler's plot.

* TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin: Averted. Despite the Good Strange's best efforts he cannot defeat Strange Supreme, who is more powerful and experienced sorcerer than the former. By the end of the duel between the two sorcerers, Strange Supreme succeeds at absorbing the soul of the Good Strange.

** Strange Supreme's actions pose such a danger to reality that Uatu actually considers telling him what will happen. He decides against it because of the threat Strange might pose to the multiverse if told, and he doubts Strange would listen anyway.

** When Strange asks the custodian of the Lost Library of Cagliostro if he is Cagliostro, the custodian replies that he isn't, only the librarian O-Bengh. In the comics "O-Bengh" is speculated to possibly be Cagliostro's real name.

* TimePassesMontage: Strange Supreme spends decades absorbing one monster after another in the library, first shown with the seasons changing outside the library, followed by the landscape itself. He doesn't consciously notice, as he uses the Time Stone to keep himself young. By the time he stops, O-Bengh has gone from a man in his prime to an old man on his deathbed.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: O-Bengh tells Strange Supreme of another Dr. Strange who has moved on from his Christine's death. He soon learns the truth and proceeds to either rally him to his cause or absorb him like the other beings.

** Later in the episode, there's the dying O-Bengh's revelation that there's another Strange in this universe, something the Watcher then confirms.

* WhosOnFirst: The librarian O-Bengh initially believes Stephen Strange's name to be "Armani" because of his "It's Armani" comment (regarding his clothes). Strange corrects him with, "It's Strange", prompting a comment from the librarian that it's no stranger than any other name in the universe.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: O-Bengh aged while Strange Supreme gained his powers and refuses his offer to use the Time Stone to extend his life, seeing death as "part of the plan."

* WizardsLiveLonger: Strange magically suspends his own aging to spend centuries absorbing demons. O-Bengh, who does not do the same, is still alive, albeit barely, when Strange finally comes out.

* VoiceOfTheLegion: Heartless Strange starts to speak this way after absorbing who knows how many mystical beings over the centuries.

* StarcrossedLovers: Strange and Christine have a functioning and happy relationship with each other, a romance that other Strange variants would envy for. Yet this universe still manages to keep them apart by having Christine die in a car accident that would set Strange on the path to becoming the Sorcerer Supreme, which functionally turns her death into an Absolute Point. Strange's countless attempts to undo this death only end in failure; even when he breaks the fabric of reality and unwittingly destroyed the universe, Christine still ends up dying anyways. Even worse, it's implied by Christine's last words that she would have rejected Strange if she had survived, putting him in the same category as all the other Strange variants who couldn't win Christine's heart.

* LivingClothes: Strange Supreme steals a cloak from one of his monstrous targets that flies around similarly to the Cloak of Levitation. Humorously, when the two Dr Stranges face off against each other, their cloaks detach and fight a battle of their own.

-->'''O'Bengh''': There is a fine line between devotion and delusion. It can do more than break your heart, it can shatter your mind.

* HeroAntagonist: The Ancient One and the good Strange try to the villainous protagonist Strange from wrecking the universe.

* IAmLegion: Heartless Strange refers to itself this way before it resurrects Christine.

'''Heartless Strange:''' But we must!

* TimeCrash: The result of Strange's attempt to undo the Absolute Point (specifically, when Christine perishes) -- reality dissolves and breaks apart around him.

** The release of ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness implies there's another possible Absolute Point at play: [[spoiler:whatever happens, Stephen and Christine are in fact [[LoveCannotOvercome never meant to end up together]]]].

** While Strange Supreme is a madman who's willing to absorb any and all creatures into himself to bring his beloved Christine BackFromTheDead, he didn't actively sought the destruction of the universe, and desperately tries to stop it from happening.

* HeroAntagonist: The Ancient One and the good Strange.

* TheShadowKnows: When Strange Supreme first approaches Good Strange, only his shadow can be seen, and it reveals all the different monstrous spirits he has absorbed. When he finally reunites with Christine, she sees him as the full OneWingedAngel he has become.

* BeyondTheImpossible: Strange Supreme's quest to alter an Absolute Point in time leads to him overpowering, or rather, ''corrupting'' an ''Infinity Stone''.

* CameBackWrong: Inverted. While Christine is resurrected into her normal former self, Strange must become an unrecognizable OneWingedAngel in order to do it, and Christine is completely horrified by his new form. And then the entire universe collapses due to the RealityBreakingParadox Christine's resurrection creates.

* DramaticIrony: The inflexibly-preordained death of Christine Palmer in this particular timeline (as well as Strange's futile attempts to overturn it) gains worse weight with the full knowledge that the Sacred Timeline counterparts of them actually remain alive (give or take [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar Strange's perishing from the Snap]], albeit having fully decided to remain AmicableExes).

* ArcWords: The Ancient One claims that Christine's death is seen as an "Absolute Point", a moment in time that shapes a person's destiny and cannot be changed or broken. Stephen attempts different means to undo this, with disastrous results.

** One of the many creatures [[Creator/BenedictCumberbatch Supreme Strange]] consumes is a [[Film/TheHobbitTheDesolationofSmaug dragon]].

** The Ancient One acknowledges that splitting Strange's personal timeline comes close to being a reality-ending risk itself, but the certainty that the evil Strange will do the same if left unchecked means there's no choice.