For 10 years, multiple movies and now Disney+ shows, Marvel Studios have crafted an intricately interconnected universe which continues to expand. With the introduction of Doctor Strange, the MCU began to delve into mystical realms. Making Stephen Strange a central point of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He played a key role in the conclusion of the Infinity Saga as well as the animated What If..? series. Helped Spider-Man in No Way Home and most recently took a trip through the Multiverse. Many of these moments have inspired the latest LEGO® Marvel building, which is focused around the Sanctum Sanctorum. This isn’t the first time the building has appeared in LEGO form but how does this more extensive and detailed take on Strange’s townhouse compared to previous sets. Here’s a look at the upcoming LEGO Marvel Sanctum Sanctorum set.
Product Details
Capture the magic of Doctor Strange with the stunning LEGO® Marvel Sanctum Sanctorum (76218), a celebration of the Master of the Mystic Arts – designed with adult enthusiasts in mind.
A 3-storey tribute to Doctor Strange
This 2,708-piece recreation of the Sanctum Sanctorum, the notorious residence of Doctor Strange, incorporates classic scenes from Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The top floor houses the museum of mystical collections, the middle section contains the library, and on the ground floor there are familiar features both inside and out. The set includes 9 iconic minifigures – Doctor Strange, Wong, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Ebony Maw, Master Mordo, Sinister Strange, Dead Strange and The Scarlet Witch – a host of authentic accessories and several customisable elements, which ensure that this rewarding project delivers great pleasure long after the construction work has finished.
- Set Name: Sanctum Sanctorum
- Set Number: 76218
- Pieces: 2708
- RRP: £214.99/$249.99/249.99€
- Number of Bags: Bags x 18 + loose elements
- Stickers: 2 x sheets
- Minifigures: Doctor Strange, Wong, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Ebony Maw, Master Mordo, Sinister Strange, Dead Strange &The Scarlet Witch
- Instructions: Booklet x 1 + LEGO Building Instructions App
- Availability: LEGO Stores & LEGO Online from August 1st – Available to Pre-order Now
In the MCU, there are three Sanctums which are built at intersections of cosmic energy. They are found in London, Hong Kong and New York. We are first introduced to these unassuming buildings in Doctor Strange, where the Zealots attack in their pursuit of Dormammu. It later features in Thor Ragnarok as Thor and Loki search for their lost father Odin. Bruce Banner also crashes through the roof of the sanctum before formulating a plan with Tony Stark in Infinity War. The New York Sanctum later features in Spider-Man No Way Home, where it’s used to imprison some familiar Spider-verse villains. So the building has become a key location in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It may not be as unique in appearance as say the Avengers Tower but in a similar fashion as the LEGO Daily Bugle, it’s what is on the inside that counts.
As well as many bags of elements, inside the box, you’ll also find two sheets of stickers and three instruction booklets. Each one is focused on a particular level of the building. They also have a little introduction to the set, with a focus on those who created the it, namely Justin Ramsden and Ashwin Visser. It’s nice to see sets offer this sort of information. Normally, stickers are the bane of most LEGO builds. But I have to admit, the ones featured in this set are outstanding. They include many amazing nods to moments in the MCU. My particular favourite is the Iron Man and Hulk-themed ice cream tubs. I’ll let you discover the other for yourself, but they are very fun and add a lot to the set.
Although this is a Marvel set, it’s also essentially a Modular Building. So the build experience is very much in keeping with previous Modular Building Collection sets. Starting with a 32×32 baseplate. The ground floor probably requires the most building as it acts as the base for the other floors as well as including a small amount of street detail. As mentioned above, the exterior doesn’t scream Marvel set, but it does take a leaf out of the Modular Buildings book by featuring plenty of architectural flourishes. Plus it includes the Sanctum’s unique circular window and a number of special portal panels. These do add a little comic book flare. However, if you aren’t a Marvel fan, the building can nicely sit alongside other Modular Buildings and not look at all out of place.
The interior of the building is packed with detail. With a perfect balance between what standard Modular Buildings offer as well as so plenty of Marvel Easter Eggs. This is where the set really becomes fun. With the location featured in a number of different MCU films, there are nods to many of them. The set description suggests it’s inspired by Infinity War and Multiverse of Madness but there are many more little details from elsewhere in the MCU. For example, the Book of Cagliostro is chained up in a small section behind a portal. Interesting fact, I was watching Doctor Strange as I was building this set and at the same moment I built this part, Doctor Strange was discovering the book.
The second level, partly uses the ground level as its floor, with the rest of the room open in order to replicate the grand staircase found inside the Sanctum. There is an interesting section at the top of the stairs, where you’ll find two bookcases on either side of a door. Behind these bookcases are a pair of a sliding walls. They can be moved using a pair of ‘aircon’ units on the exterior of the building. Each wall features a different scene. So opening the door will show the Dark Dimension, the desert and a mountain. I highly recommend you place the stickers as far over to the side of the panels. So on the left panel, over to the left and the opposite for the other panel. I didn’t realise this until they were in place.
The top section of the Sanctum is dedicated to a room filled with mythical relics. Technically, a similar room is seen in the London Sanctum but it fits in nicely with the overall look and feel of this version of the building. There are a few nods to other MCU films here as well including Thor’s disguise version of Mjölnir and The Staff of the Living Tribunal. This room also features the iconic rounded window, which is the most recognizable feature of the building from both the outside and interior. A disc element is used, which features printing of the latticework patterning across it.
The entire building is topped with a small roof section, which features a few chimney stacks and other various pipes. There’s also a small bench featuring a few plants, which also connects the set to Endgame, as this is where the Hulk, meets the Ancient One during the Time Heist. It’s these little nods to moments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole, which make this set truly amazing. They are achieved with a mix of physical aspects of the set and the sticker details. Small things like the Hulk-inspired Ben & Jerry’s in the freezer, the Thor-themed Pizza chain, Strange’s hand X-ray with a minifigure twist and what appears to be the Tesseract behind the fridge even the Shamballa Wi-Fi password are all very fun.
As this 3-storey also has a rather cool trio of portal panels. These are all built to the scale dimensions but feature three different things on them. Namely an open portal, a poster adverting a Captain America exhibition and any portal with the monster Gargantos reaching through it. There are then three holes dotted around the Sanctum. These portal panels can easily be popped out and moved around the building. I’m sure budding building will use these to customise the set in fun ways.
The set features 9 minifigures with characters based on different MCU films. They are a mix of all-new characters and variants of previous minifigures. So from the Multiverse of Madness, there’s The Scarlet Witch which is both a better and poorer version of the character found in the MCU Minifigures Series. It uses the same hairpiece with a tiara but now features print detail on it. The torso is tweaked to cover up the skin, but there’s no cape and the legs are plain. I do like the 1×1 red plates to create her chaos magic. Master Mordo is the Earth-838 variant of Karl Mordo, his minifigure is completely new with a great hairpiece and sand green costume. This set marks the second appearance of Thanos’ right-hand man, Ebony Maw. This version is a vast improvement, with his face looking a lot less like Squidward. The use of grey skin helps as does the improved print. This outfit looks better as well being all dark, although there’s no print on the legs.
From what I can tell Iron Man is a unique minifigure, although there are so many versions of the character it’s hard to keep track. But it does use the new helmet introduced with the recent Iron Man Armory set. The same could be said about Spider-Man, it appears to be a new variant based on the current version of Spider-Man. So it has a darker blue colouring combined with the red and there’s print detail on the arms.
There’s been a couple of different versions of Wong, with the one in this set being very similar to the version found in the 2018 Toys R Us minifigure collection, although it also loses its leg print compared to that version. The OG Doctor Strange is exactly the same as the version featured in the Gargantos Showdown set, but his Multiverse variants are very cool. Sinister Strange is the variant Doctor Strange battles towards the end of the Multiverse of Madness. His outfit has traits of Doctor Strange’s but it’s mostly blue and brown. He has no cape but one of his alternate faces includes the Third Eye he gains from being corrupted by the Darkhold. Finally, there’s the reanimated corpse of Doctor Strange, listed in the set as Dead Strange. This is a great minifigure, with his outfit being a torn version of the one worn by Defender Strange and he also has the zombified face. The only downside is the lack of a shadow demon-armed cape.
When compared to the epic line-up of characters in the similar Daily Bugle set, having just 9 is a little disappointing. More so when some of them offer lesser versions of the same characters. For example, Iron Man and Spider-man could easily have been swapped out for better characters.
Review Round-up
As a Marvel fan, I’m really loving what the LEGO Marvel theme has to offer just recently and this is a top-tier set. Not only can it be combined with other Modular Building sets, but it can also nicely connect to the 18+ Daily Bugle building. There’s so much detail packed into the set, achieved with a mix of the excellent stickers and the build itself. I quite like that fact the set is inspired by different Marvel films, although it’s far more than the two suggested by the product description. It’s just fun to build, with clever little details and is pretty much perfect, although I would have liked a couple more minifigures. I genuinely hope this style of set inspires future releases. I would gladly buy a Marvel or movie-themed Modular Building every couple of years as they perfectly blend the build experience of the Modular Building Collection and the wider scale appeal of movie licenses. The set’s designer, Justin has already cemented his place in LEGO history as a legendary designer and this is another cracking set.
For
+ Basically a bonus Modular Building
+ Packed with so many fun details and Easter Eggs
+ The stickers are outstanding
Against
– Could have had better or more minifigures
Coming Soon: UKIrelandUSCanadaGermanyDenmarkAustraliaNew Zealand
This set was provided to BricksFanz by the LEGO Group for purposes of review. The thoughts within this review are that of BricksFanz and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group or Disney. Providing a set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
