Ever since Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was announced, rumors have run rampant about a variety of possible cameos in the movie. The biggest name attached to the film at any point was megastar Tom Cruise, who was heavily rumored to appear as an alternate version of Tony Stark in a sequence involving the multiversal Illuminati. Whispers about Cruise started after the internet revived the fact the actor was originally slated to play Iron Man in the 2008 Marvel Studios film, before Robert Downey Jr. was eventually cast in the role. However, the movie’s writer Michael Waldron revealed in a recent interview with Rolling Stone that, while the idea of exploring this other timeline did come up, the Top Gun lead never actually the filmed anything for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Yeah, that was totally made up. I mean, there’s no cut footage of Tom Cruise! But I love Tom Cruise, and I said to [Marvel Studios president] Kevin [Feige] at one point, I was like, Could we get Tom Cruise’s Iron Man? I remember reading about that in Ain’t It Cool News back in the day, that Tom Cruise was going to be Iron Man… As it was being talked about online, I was like, Yeah, that’d be cool!
Michael Waldron
When pressed to reveal if Cruise had even been contacted about the opportunity, Waldron explained that the actor was already busy working on other projects:
Well, I mean, he was shooting Mission Impossible 7 and 8… I don’t believe so. I just don’t think it was ever an option, because of availability.
Michael Waldron
While sort of anticlimactic, these quotes should put to rest any speculation that Cruise was cut from the film’s final product. Luckily, there are plenty of exciting surprises that did make the movie, and you can see them for yourself in theaters now.
Source: Rolling Stone
