Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a box-office hit for Marvel Studios and star Benedict Cumberbatch. The movie flew past the $200 million mark during its first four days, proving to be one of the best movies of the year.
Before I go on any further, this post may contain spoilers so…beware. The movie approached the MCU formula a little differently, adding elements of suspense, horror, and unique pacing to its storytelling. Some of the rumors that were floating on the internet about possible characters to show up turned out to be accurate, extracting gasps and curse words from the audience (I earned an elbow from my fiancé).
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The movie has earned a whopping half a billion dollars since its release. A gradual decline in revenue is expected as the movie stretches out through the weeks to come, but it’s definitely a respectable number considering that the world is not completely back to normal just yet.
Benedict Cumberbatch On His Mystery Villain Role Offer
Although Benedict Cumberbatch makes an incredible Stephen Strange, this role was not the first MCU character he was offered.
In an interview with BBC Radio 1, Cumberbatch stated that he was offered the role of Dark Elf Malekith in Thor: The Dark World. The role was offered shortly after his participation in Star Trek: Into Darkness.
Benedict Cumberbatch stated that he was “really flattered… (but) I’d rather hold out for something a bit more juicy” said the British actor during an interview with BBC Radio 1. Benedict was reluctant at first due to the 70s style of the character, but eventually, he was convinced to play the part after he was reassured that the character would be “a man of today… where he thinks he’s the business because he has to have that arrogance.”
DOCTOR STRANGE 2 INTRODUCES LONG AWAITED MARVEL CHARACTERS
The movie introduced several character cameos (SPOILERS AHEAD) like Captain Carter, Black Bolt, Captain Marvel (Maria Rambeau), Professor X (Patrick Stewart) with the iconic yellow gliding chair from the animated series, and the biggest surprise of them all, John Krasinski as Reed Richards (this is where I got poked in the ribs with an elbow for shouting “OH ****!”). Krasinki’s appearance as Mr. Fantastic raises a lot of questions about the future of the franchise in the MCU, but that’s for another story.
There were several cameos that turned out to be false. Perhaps one of the biggest rumors of all was the presence of an Iron Man variant played by Tom Cruise. Why did this rumor gain a lot of traction? Cruise was Favreau’s top choice to play Tony Stark when casting for the first film. Stark is one of the original members of the Illuminati, so it made sense to think he would be included but we got Mr. Fantastic instead (not a complaint by the way).
Another possible cameo was Kang the Conqueror. As we saw at the end of Loki, one of the Kang variants ends up overseeing the TVA, so one can assume that that would remain true during the events of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
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Another big cameo that was rumored was Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine downing the original costume. Since the trailers revealed that Professor X was going to be present in the movie, fans wondered if Jackman was also going to appear. Xavier implied that the X-Men exist, but they were nowhere to be seen in the movie. I’m willing to bet that it won’t take long for them to retaliate against the death of Earth 838 Xavier.
A LOOK INTO THE FUTURE
Have you seen the movie yet? (If you haven’t why did you read this far?!) I thought it was fantastic. Sure, it’s not the best Marvel movie out there but I firmly believe that it’ll be one of the most important if not THE most important. This movie introduced 3 separate teams of superheroes, making their existence canon in the MCU. I really hope they keep Krasinski as Reed Richards in the upcoming Fantastic 4 movie. It seemed like a really good fit.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is in theaters right now! Don’t forget to follow all of our social media pages, and hit the notification bell where it’s available. We’ve got plenty of exclusives coming your way. Until next time!
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