- A grief-stricken Doctor Strange uses the Eye of Agamotto in a dangerous effort to change the past.
- Dr. Stephen Strange survives the car crash, but his girlfriend Christine Palmer doesn't. Strange discovers that the accident is a fixed point in time, and goes to any means necessary to gain enough power to resurrected Christine - no matter the cost.—Gislef
- Dr. Stephen Strange picks up his girlfriend Christine Palmer and they ride along a stretch of highway. As they drive, Christine asks Stephen to say the speech he's giving later at an award ceremony for the procedure he performed in surgery. She tells Stephen to rush the podium, screaming and cheering, Stephen swerves around a truck and brakes to avoid an oncoming car. He manages to brake, but another car slams into them from behind and knocks them off the highway.
When the car lands, Stephen lives but realizes that Christine is dead. He travels the world searching the mystic arts for a way to bring Christine back, and gains the Eye of Agamotto which supposedly can alter timelines. Wong and the Ancient One warn Stephen that tampering with time can destroy the universe, and they protect reality rather than threaten it.
The Ancient One still died and Stephen bargains with Dormammu, but Stephen can't let go of the past. Two years after Christine's death, Stephen is in his Sanctum with Wong. Wong notices that Stephen has the Eye, but says nothing and goes to the kitchen and advises Stephen not to do something reckless. Once he's alone, Stephen puts on the Eye and uses it to travel back through time to the point where he picked up Christine on the night she died.
The accident happens as before despite Stephen's efforts, and Christine still dies. He uses the Eye to rewind time and takes a different route, but another car slams into them and Christine dies. No matter what Stephen does, Christine dies of one cause or another
Watcher: In this universe, Stephen Strange didn't lose his hands, but his heart. Even Stephen avoids picking up Christine, she dies in a fire. He goes back and meets Christine, and wonders if they're allowed to be happy. Christine drives and they're knocked off the road by another car again, and Christine dies.
Stephen crawls from the wreckage, and screams in anguish. The Ancient One appears and says that she's there to help him. She says that Stephen ill seek answers in the mystic arts and in her, and says that Christine's death is an absolute and unchangeable point in time. Without Christine's death, Stephen would never have become the Sorcerer Supreme. The Ancient One says that Stephen is risking the universe, and Stephen figures that all he needs is more power. She tells Stephen to stop torturing himself, and he can't save Christine. The Ancient One says that the path he's on only leads to darkness and the end of reality.
When Stephen refuses to stop, the Ancient One unleashes a blast of energy. Later Stephen enters a jungle looking for the lost library of Cagliostro. He comes across a man, O'Bengh, who walks away without a word. Stephen follows him to a nearby temple, and Stephen teleports in. Glowing sigils appear and drop Stephen into a cave. O'Bengh comes up, and says that he's the librarian for Cagliostro's books.
O'Bengh takes Stephen to a chamber with the books, and says that a sorcerer can gain the necessary power by absorbing the energy of other beings. Stephen summons a massive tentacle creature and asks if it can share some of its power with him. The creature attacks Stephen, and O'Bengh tends to Stephen afterward. He asks if Christine is worth the pain, and warns that love can break a person's mind. With that, O'Bengh leaves.
Stephen soon realizes that he has to take the power he wants. He takes a Cloak of Levitation from one creature he summons, and absorbs dozens of others.
The Watcher secretly watches, realizing Stephen is on the wrong path. However, the Watcher won't risk the safety of all the other universes. The being also figures that Stephen wouldn't listen.
Once Stephen has enough power, he summons the tentacled creature and absorbs it as well.
Stephen goes to O'Bengh, who is now old and dying. He refuses to let Stephen restore his youth. When Stephen says that he can't accept that, O'Bengh hopes that the other Stephen will. O'Bengh tells Stephen that he is only half a man.
Centuries ago, on the second anniversary of Christine's death, Stephen sets aside the Eye and decides to stop living in the past. He goes out and sees the world dissolving, the people along with it. The Ancient One appears, says that she's an "echo", and warns that they don't have much time. She tells Stephen that he's causing the destruction, when another version of him used the Eye and vanished into the past where she couldn't follow.
When the Ancient One attacked Stephen earlier, she caused two his possible timelines to exist in one universe. She warns that if the other Stephen succeeds in reversing an absolute point in their universe, the paradox will destroy their universe. The Ancient One says that the only sorcerer strong enough to stop the other Stephen is Stephen.
Stephen returns to the Sanctum and tells Wong what is happening. Wong asks if Stephen wants to stop his counterpart, and Stephen says that he has to. When Wong casts a protection spell on him, Stephen accepts it and is teleported away by the other Stephen.
Stephen is imprisoned in a magic circle, and the dark Stephen steps out of the shadows and says that they are one and the same. He says that they knew and loved Christine, and Stephen tells his counterpart that he can't bring Christine back. Dark Stephen says that he sacrificed everything for Christine, and they have to save her together.
Dark Stephen teleports Stephen to the car wreck, and says that their powers are divided but once they become whole again, they can save Christine. Stephen says that they can't and repeats the Ancient One's, and Dark Stephen insists that the Ancient One doesn't understand. Despite that, Stephen says it's arrogance, not love.
The spell protects Stephen from Dark Stephen's initial attack. The two sorcerers fight, as do their Cloaks. Stephen casts his most powerful spell, but Dark Stephen survives and pulls his counterpart into the shadows. Christine appears and says that they can be together again, but Stephen remembers the world dissolving and pulls away. Dark Stephen drops the illusion and attacks Stephen. He ends the protection spell and takes Stephen's power, and uses the power to bring Christine back.
Christine recoils in terror at the sight of Dark Stephen, transformed into a demonic being by the power he's absorbed. She starts to dissolve, and he uses all of his magic to hold back the dissolution. The Watcher appears outside the protective bubble, and Stephen asks him to stop the dissolution. Stephen admits that he was wrong, and the world shouldn't suffer for his arrogance. The Watcher says that he would punish Stephen if he could, but he can't interfere because it will cause more destruction.
The Watcher departs and the universe ends. Stephen creates a protective shell, but Christine dissolves in his hands. He collapses in grief, saying that he's sorry.
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What is the German language plot outline for What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands? (2021)?
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