Despite only making one live-action appearance in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Benedict Cumberbatch‘s Stephen Strange has remained a central character in the Multiverse Saga. While it remains to be seen how Marvel Studios ties the events of three seasons of Marvel Animation’s canonical animated series, What If…?, into the larger MCU narrative, one Stephen Strange Variant played an integral role from beginning to end.
Despite all that–and being a key player in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame–it’s hard to believe that there isn’t much, much more the studio could do with the character. His film appearances have neither truly scratched the surface of the weirdness of the character’s comic book counterpart nor taken advantage of his shared history with characters such as the Hulk, Namor or Clea, who was at least introduced in the last film. Even more surprising is the news that despite the character seemingly being a perfect fit as a primary foil for Doctor Doom, Strange will not appear in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday.
So what does the future hold for Strange? Cumberbatch promises the character will play a big role in Avengers: Secret Wars but surely the studio has more in store for a major Marvel Comics’ character played by one of Marvel Studios’ biggest starts…and it seems that they do. On the heels of a report that the powers that be have decided to move forward with a third installment in the Doctor Strange franchise, Cumberbatch addressed the potential threequel in an interview with Variety.
Though the star was careful not to give anything away, it’s clear things are moving forward with the project.
“They are very open to discussing where we go next,” said Cumberbatch, who will clearly have input on the direction of the project and its creative team.
Who do you want to write and direct the next one? What part of the comic lore do you want to explore so that Strange can keep evolving? He’s a very rich character to play. He’s a complex, contradictory, troubled human who’s got these extraordinary abilities, so there’s potent stuff to mess about with.
-Benedict Cumberbatch
At this point, it’s unclear if Doctor Strange 3 fits into the Multiverse Saga or if the studio sees the project as one that can help it launch its post-Multiverse plans. While it seems as though the build up to Avengers: Secret Wars might benefit from additional narrative runway–and that Strange’s importance to the overall story would dictate continuing his story before that film would be helpful–that would require moving the film again, something the studio may be unwilling to do. So, for now, whatever “potent stuff” Cumberbatch believes is in store for the character remains the stuff of speculation.
Source: Variety
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