Those Doctor Strange Tide Commercials, Explained
Oh, Wong, you rascal.
With six years having passed since Doctor Strange and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (due out in just two tantalizing weeks), we Strange fans are so desperate for content that we’ll grasp at anything. Luckily, capitalism is here to provide!
On April 14, a truly weird commercial fluttered briefly around social media. In the commercial, David Harbour, known to Marvel fans as Black Widow‘s Alexei Alanovich Shostakov, or Red Guardian, is bemoaning a mysterious stain on one of his shirts. Suddenly, a portal opens up behind him and an arm reaches through to steal his bottle of Tide. When he sees that it’s gone, Harbour simply says, “Strange.”
What did we just watch here? It raises so many questions. Why is David Harbour in the MCU if he’s not playing Red Guardian? Is this a multiverse thing? Why is a sorcerer stealing his detergent? Why this bottle of detergent, out of all the possible bottles in the world? And who stained his shirt??
There’s actually some backstory here, although I can’t guarantee it’ll shed much light on the situation. Harbour has been doing Tide ads since the 2018 Superbowl, with this banger commercial:
The beer fell on the floor! And everyone’s clothes are clean! I love it. Anyway, this new ad is clearly a callback to Harbour’s previous Tide endorsements. With a Doctor Strange tie-in, apparently. (Or…Tide-in?)
The ad would have been funny enough on its own, but it turns out there’s a whole story arc going on here. One week later, another ad was released that continued the saga.
Wong’s in hot water for getting a lump of tuna melt on the Cloak of Levitation, and the nearest grimoire doesn’t have any spells to get it out. (I bet there’s a spell somewhere, but I get it, Wong, you’re in a time crunch here. I won’t judge.) Having ruled magic out as an option, Wong suddenly has a genius idea, a flash of inspiration that could only hit the Sorcerer Supreme: he does the laundry like a regular person.
I guess Harbour’s Tide was the most convenient target for Wong, because that’s the one he went with. Maybe Wong watched the Super Bowl in 2018?
With about two weeks until the premiere of Doctor Strange 2, it’s possible we’ll get more ads with the rest of the story. Although if Tide is as good as Harbour thinks it is, there won’t be much more to tell … unless the cloak shrinks in the dryer.
In any case, thanks to the human need to wash our clothing, we have a teensy bit of Wong content to ti…uh, keep us patient while we wait for Doctor Strange 2, due out on May 6. Isn’t capitalism great?
(image: Marvel Studios, Tide)
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