If you’ve seen Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, you know the Marvel hero faces a bevy of villains — Gargantos the tentacle monster, the mentally unbalanced Scarlet Witch, and even an extremely evil version of himself. But in his jaunt through the multiverse, Strange managed to create a new foe — one that might test him to his limits. Or at least ask for $US5 ($7).
Yes, it’s Pizza Poppa, played by Strange director Sam Raimi’s friend and favourite punching bag Bruce Campbell. If you don’t recall the scene, as Strange and America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) travel through Earth-838, America grabs a slice of pie from a stand and is accosted by its owner, Pizza Poppa, for not paying. It’s a legitimate complaint, frankly, as is Poppa’s suggestion that this person walking around in Doctor Strange’s cloak — it being a world where Strange has died — must have stolen it from a museum. When the MCU’s Strange tells Pizza Poppa to back off, the Poppa gets ready to squirt mustard on what he believes is an imposter and a thief, only for Strange to magically cause Poppa to squirt the mustard in his own face and then begin punching himself in the face… for three weeks.
It’s a strange scene (no pun intended, believe it or not), since the Sorceror Supreme could have easily created some money with magic or ensorcelled the Pizza Poppa to believe he had been paid. It clearly only exists so that Raimi can torment Campbell for the umpteenth time in one of his films. That is, unless this extended version of the movie’s post-credits scene, when Pizza Poppa finally stops hitting himself, holds the key to the future of the MCU:
NEW: As #DoctorStrange arrives at home today, both on-demand (Vudu) & on D+, here is an exclusive deleted Pizza Poppa scene that teases the character’s future return, via @Fandango pic.twitter.com/GLWaL0Disq
— Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) June 22, 2022
Yes, Pizza Poppa wants revenge, because Pizza Poppa always gets paid. And if he shatters the entire Marvel Cinematic Multiverse to get that $US5 ($7), then we know which “hero” to blame. (A question, however: what pizza stand has mustard available as a condiment?)
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