Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Doctor Strange

  • RUMOR: ‘Ironheart’ Adds Another Magic User and Ally of Doctor Strange

    RUMOR: ‘Ironheart’ Adds Another Magic User and Ally of Doctor Strange

    Marvel Studios upcoming Disney Plus streaming series Ironheart continues to shape up to be the MCU’s first really magic vs. tech battle. Kevin Feige announced Anthony Ramos as the series’ main antagonist, Parker Robbins, aka The Hood, at D23 and a recent rumor that Sacha Baron Cohen will appear as Mephisto continues to gain traction as more sources chime in on its legitimacy. With two major magic users in her way, it would stand to reason that Riri Williams might need some help understanding just what she’s up against and a new rumor might point in the direction of just that kind of ally.

    According to Geek Vibes Nation, actress Regan Aliyah, who joined the cast at the end of August, is set to play Zelma Stanton in Ironheart. Stanton is a relatively recent addition to the Marvel Comics’ universe, having been introduced in 2015 at the beginning of Jason Aaron’s run on Doctor Strange. Shortly after meeting Strange, Zelma agreed to work at the Sanctum Santorum as his librarian. More recently, Zelma has appeared in Strange Academy, a series in which Strange and some of the most powerful magicians in the Marvel Universe have opened a school for young magic users.

    https://twitter.com/GeekVibesNation/status/1581619861540986880?t=tR1vZCaIZRAdqr-l091W7Q&s=19

    At this point, we can only speculate as to what Zelma’s role in Ironheart might entail, but it does seem likely she will be assisting Riri as she learns about magic and takes on The Hood and the powerful demon Mephsito. As is often the case for characters adapted into the MCU from the comics, Zelma’s origin story might be changed a bit to allow for her to hop right into the action. Whatever the case, for a show featuring a tech genius, Ironheart is becoming very magic-heavy and very interesting.

  • Benedict Cumberbatch Pushed for “Darker” Scenes in ‘Doctor Strange 2’, Wrote Some of the Scenes Himself

    Benedict Cumberbatch Pushed for “Darker” Scenes in ‘Doctor Strange 2’, Wrote Some of the Scenes Himself

    It feels like an eternity ago that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was released in theaters. Time truly flies when you’re having fun, as we got a bunch of iconic new entries into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yet, there still is something special about the latest multiverse-focused storyline as Benedict Cumberbatch got to take on his iconic role in different variations, and as it turns out, he also got to write some of the scenes himself.

    I absolutely loved it, and it sounds so egotistical – but there we go, that’s what actors are – but I loved doing the scenes with myself because of the challenge of it. And I got to write some of those scenes … I suggested that it needed to get darker at a point. There was a slightly more saccharine version at one stage and I’m really happy with the way it evolved.

    Benedict Cumberbatch

    He goes on to highlight in an interview with Prestige Online that director Sam Raimi and the film’s writer, Michael Waldron, were quite supportive of letting him add his own voice to the script as well. He also highlights his hope to further explore the multiverse and the many Variants that exist out there.

    Sam Raimi was so game for it and Michael Waldron really supported me to write it as well. We turned what was a very small combat between the two into a sort of very bizarre and inventive battle in that moment. I really loved it. It was how the original was pitched to me a long while back when Scott Derrickson was still working with us: Strange would meet versions of himself. It was something I wanted to lean into. We could have gone even further, and maybe it will go into the future. Who knows what other versions we might need in the multiverse chapter of the MCU? But it was very enjoyable to play all the variants of myself.

    Benedict Cumberbatch

    It definitely would be a shame if we doesn’t get to play around with the concept of Variants further in the MCU. Loki‘s upcoming second season might take a crack at it again after introducing a few versions of Loki and we did get the iconic Spider-Men in No Way Home. Who knows just how much we’ll venture out into the multiverse once Phase 5 arrives?

    Source: Prestige Online

  • New ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Concept Art Offers First Look at Daniel Craig’s Scrapped Cameo

    New ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Concept Art Offers First Look at Daniel Craig’s Scrapped Cameo

    While Doctor Strange‘s travel through the Multiverse of Madness wasn’t as cameo-filled as many hoped, it still gave us some great bloody cameos. The return of Patrick Stewart as Chares Xavier stole the show alongside the fan-casting-turned-reality with John Krasinsky as Mr. Fantastic. Still, there’s always a little sense of what might have been when first teases came of what sadly had to get scrapped due to the pandemic.

    Among them was the MCU debut of Daniel Craig as Balder the Brave. Not only would he have been the Illuminati’s stand-in for Thor but also open up the Norse mythology. Of course, the biggest shame is that we almost had 007 but luckily concept artist Darrell Warner has given us a first look at what the character would’ve looked like if they managed to go through with it.

    While it seems like a one-time chance to make it a reality, we’re still in the middle of Marvel Studios’ Multiverse Saga. So, there’s still a chance they might revisit the character in a future entry such as through Secret Wars. We still don’t know if this character actually ever existed in the mainline MCU.

    So, we’ll see if they’ll potentially use him as a way to force Thor to explore more secrets that his father has kept from his family. Considering he got a surprise sister in Thor: Ragnarok, maybe a new half-brother is the perfect addition to pushing him further off the cliff after all the loss he had to endure up until now. Only time will tell if they will make this a reality after all.

    Source: Instagram

  • Kevin Feige Teases the Scarlet Witch’s MCU Future

    Kevin Feige Teases the Scarlet Witch’s MCU Future

    Elizabeth Olsen has become a driving force behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Her character’s journey from orphan to one of the most powerful characters in the Multiverse has been one of the MCU’s most impressive, long-term character arcs and Olsen’s work in WandaVision stands among the best performances given in the 14-year history of the franchise. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness saw Wanda turn heel, fully embrace the Scarlet Witch and eviscerate some of the Multiverse’s mightiest heroes before realizing the enormity of what she’d done and bringing Mt. Wundagore down around her.

    Since Multiverse of Madness premiered early in 2022, rumors have begin to swirl that despite her apparent demise, Marvel Studios had future plans for Wanda in not one, but two projects. A solo Scarlet Witch project and an adaptation of Avengers: The Children’s Crusade have both been the source of fairly legitimate rumblings, though Marvel Studios has had nothing to say on the subject…until now. In a recent interview with Variety, both Kevin Fiege and Olsen gave some insight into what the future might hold for the character.

    As fans of the MCU might come to expect, Olsen is hesitant to reveal even the slightest bit of information about whether or not there even is a future for the character, saying “I really don’t know my future. There’s nothing that has been agreed on.” Fortunately, and perhaps a bit uncharacteristically, Feige was a touch more loquacious.

    There really is so much more to explore. We still haven’t touched on many of her core storylines from the comics. I don’t know that we saw her under rubble? I saw a tower coming down, and a little red flash. I don’t know what that means.

    Kevin Feige

    Essentially, Feige is subscribing to the narrative that many fans have been quick to point out: though the circumstances seemed dire for Wanda as Wundagore came crumbling down, there’s no reason to surmise that one as powerful as the Scarlet Witch couldn’t have survived. More than that, Feige’s praise of Olsen is effusive, calling her “incredibly humble and incredibly down-to-earth” behind the scenes while also stating that she is “a force of nature” when “those cameras roll.” To cap it off, Feige enthused that he’d “work with Lizzie for another 100 years” before teasing “anything’s possible in the multiverse!” Certainly not the type of “I-said-a-lot-without-saying-anything” answers Feige tends to give nor a nail in the coffin of the character.

    Even after being told of Feige’s comments, Olsen remained mum on the topic of her return. But with her sons rumored to appear in Agatha: Coven of Chaos, two rumored projects that would feature her and Avengers: Secret Wars ahead, it’s hard to imagine that Marvel Studios would leave the Scarlet Witch buried in the rubble.

    Source: Variety

  • New ‘Multiverse of Madness’ Concept Art Reveals Unused Doctor Strange Variant

    New ‘Multiverse of Madness’ Concept Art Reveals Unused Doctor Strange Variant

    In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we took our first real trip throughout the multiverse, or at least Doctor Strange was forced to when helping a young America Chavez. Throughout his travels, we are introduced to two Variants of the talented yet arrogant sorcerer, yet it seems that there was one more that didn’t make it beyond the concept stage.

    Concept artist Darrell Warner revealed a new piece of concept that offers a first look at “Marvellous Melvyn,” a street magician version of our popular doctor. It seems this version of the character was part of the initial pitch by Scott Derrickson before Sam Raimi took over production, which took the production into a very different direction.

    The design is great and it’s really a shame that we didn’t get to see this version of the character. Not only would it have given Benedict Cumberbatch a fun new interpretation to bring to life, but perhaps he may have been an unwilling traveler that ends up getting dragged along for a journey he is definitely not equipped for. It’s also great that the designer got to work with thee costume designer Graham Churchyard to bring the idea to life.

    We can always theorize on the “what if” of the original Scott Derrickson‘s sequel of his Doctor Strange film that introduced magic into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Perhaps it is somewhere out there in the multiverse that got a chance to see it and they could use the What If…? series to introduce a few of those concepts that didn’t quite make it.

    Source: Instagram

  • Neil Gaiman Details Rejected ‘Doctor Strange’ Movie Pitch

    Neil Gaiman Details Rejected ‘Doctor Strange’ Movie Pitch

    Netflix’s adaptation of The Sandman has put acclaimed writer Neil Gaiman back in the spotlight, and he’s using the opportunity to discuss some failed projects from his past. In a recent appearance on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Gaiman spoke in detail about a rejected pitch he made to Marvel boss Kevin Feige over a decade ago. The creative revealed that, in 2007, he drew up an idea for a Doctor Strange film that would have been directed by auteur Guillermo del Toro. Unfortunately, at the time, Marvel was more focused on their big-name characters, and turned down Gaiman’s pitch so they could make a push toward The Avengers instead.

    Gaiman elaborated:

    Kevin and I have spoken a few times over the years on things. The only one that I wish, although, odds are probably, I think the way they did it commercially was better than…but I remember back in 2007, having minimalistic conversations with Kevin Feige about ‘What about Doctor Strange?’ Then talking to Guillermo Del Toro, and Guillermo and I having these ideas about Doctor Strange and starting the beginning, me starting the beginning of the conversation with Kevin about ‘I could do Doctor Strange with Guillermo.’ And basically, they said, ‘We just want to concentrate on the core characters right now. Doctor Strange is way up the line. We don’t want to go there.’

    Neil Gaiman

    Marvel’s plan eventually worked, transforming them into one of history’s most successful film studios. Scott Derrickson would go on to helm the first Doctor Strange as an origin story in 2016, with a trippier sequel from cult favorite Sam Raimi, titled Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,dropping earlier this year. Gaiman‘s take on the character apparently would have been much darker, with a focus on his flaws and a lot of visual inspiration from co-creator Steve Ditko:

    There were some cool things in it. My favorite Doctor Strange thing was the idea of…the one thing that we really wanted to do was have his adventures, have him become an alcoholic and a disbarred physician, all that sort of stuff, happen in the 1920s. So the idea is that he went through all of that and the training to become the world’s greatest magician maybe in the early ’30s, late ’20s, and he’s been living in Greenwich Village for 90 years looking the same in his place, and nobody really notices. We just sort of liked that idea, and he would have been sort of out of time. But other than that, it would have just been very sort of Steve Ditko because, you know, that’s the best.

    Neil Gaiman

    Both released Doctor Strange films are now streaming on Disney+, while Gaiman’s The Sandman is available on Netflix.

    Source: The Direct

  • Early ‘Multiverse of Madness’ Concept Art Shows Unused Designs for Nightmare

    Early ‘Multiverse of Madness’ Concept Art Shows Unused Designs for Nightmare

    There’s the Multiverse of Madness that was. There’s also the Multiverse of Madness that never was. After initially returning to helm the sequel, Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson left the project early in 2020. Michael Waldron came on to rewrite the script and Sam Raimi took over as director and the film that premiered in May of 2022 was vastly different than the one Derrickson originally set out to make.

    Dating back to his original pitch for the first Doctor Strange film, Derrickson had been trying to find a way to include one of the Sorcerer Supreme’s classic comic book villains, Nightmare, into a story. Now, thanks to newly released concept art from Ryan De Silva, fans can get a look at some early designs of Nightmare, who Derrickson had intended to use as the villain of the sequel.

    The designs indicate that Nightmare was set to be the villain, rather than the Scarlet Witch, though the film was still set throughout the multiverse. Now that there’s proof that Nightmare was the intended villain, it would be incredibly interesting to find out exactly how Derrickson hoped to use the Lord of Dreams while exploring the multiverse. As it stands, fans of the character, including Derrickson, will have to hold out hope that the villain will find another way into the MCU.

    Source: Deviant Art

  • ‘Doctor Strange’ Storyboard Artist Reveals Mordo’s Grisly Original Fate

    ‘Doctor Strange’ Storyboard Artist Reveals Mordo’s Grisly Original Fate

    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness did a pretty good job of continuing the threads established in Stephan Strange’s first solo outing, but there was one major loose end that never wrapped up. While Chiwetel Ejiofor did return for the sequel to reprise his role as Karl Mordo, the Ancient One’s top former student and Strange’s one-time mentor, it wasn’t in the way most fans expected. Mordo had ended 2016’s Doctor Strange disillusioned with magic users and promising to rid the world of it’s “too many sorcerers”. Many assumed this meant the sequel would see him follow his comic book arc to become Strange’s arch-rival on Earth, but instead, the mainstream timeline’s version of the character never appears at all.

    Audiences were treated to an alternate Earth-838 Mordo, who lives in a world where Strange has died and he has ascended to become both Sorcerer Supreme and a member of the Illuminati. The film leaves the fate of Earth-616 Mordo completely up in the air, but according to storyboard artist Jeremy Simser, that was not always the case. Months after the release of Multiverse of Madness, the artist has unveiled a series of panels that confirm Ejiofor‘s potential villain was once supposed to perish at the hands of Elizabeth Olsen‘s Scarlet Witch:

    There had previously been rumors that the film’s original script had Mordo losing his head after trying to stop Wanda Maximoff on his own, but this is the first solid look at how that might have played out. Luckily for fans of the character, and those hoping to see him fulfill his comic book role down the line, Simser mentions in his caption that deleted scenes don’t count as part of Marvel Cinematic Universe canon. So, perhaps there’s still room for Mordo to flex his villainous muscle in Doctor Strange 3.

    Source: Instagram

  • ‘Doctor Strange’ Sequel Artist Reveals First Look at Daniel Craig’s Balder

    ‘Doctor Strange’ Sequel Artist Reveals First Look at Daniel Craig’s Balder

    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was filled with exciting surprises, yet there were still quite a few that ended up on the cutting room floor. Perhaps the biggest abandoned idea was a cameo appearance from fan-favorite actor Daniel Craig as part of the Illuminati. The prestigious superhero team essentially operated as the Avengers of Earth-838 and was comprised of several unexpected heroes from Marvel’s past. Hayley Atwell and Lashana Lynch returned as alternate timeline variants of Captain Carter and Captain Marvel, respectively, while big names like Patrick Stewart and John Krasinski shocked viewers with the Marvel Cinematic Universe debuts of Professor X and Mr. Fantastic. Anson Mount even made a memorable homecoming as Black Bolt, a role he originated in 2017’s poorly received ABC series Inhumans.

    In May, shortly after the sequel’s release, it was made known that Craig had originally been intended to appear in the film as well. The former Casino Royale star would have portrayed the Asgardian warrior Balder the Brave. In both the comics and actual Norse mythology, Balder is the brother of Thor and Loki, and a respected member of Odin’s royal family. Craig‘s part in the project reportedly fell through after the global COVID-19 pandemic prevented him from traveling to the film’s set. Fans may have thought they’d never get a glimpse of Craig in the role, but luckily, concept artist Darrell J. Warner had a say in the matter. Warner recently took to Instagram to reveal an early, unfinished design for Balder:

    Warner isn’t allowed to officially state who the character is in his art, but left enough clues in the caption to make it easily deducible. Balder appears to have his signature helmet, furred cape, and blue armor, and is even standing next to one of Odin’s ravens. It’s far from a clear image of Craig, but it may end up being the closest fans ever get to seeing him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

    Source: Instagram

  • SDCC: Doctor Strange Joining ‘Spider-Man: Freshman Year’

    SDCC: Doctor Strange Joining ‘Spider-Man: Freshman Year’

    Here’s a surprise no one saw coming but it looks like Doctor Strange will appear in the upcoming animated series, Spider-Man: Freshman Year. While a great surprise, alongside the confirmation of Charlie Cox reprising his role as Daredevil in the show, there’s no word if Benedict Cumberbatch is also going to return to voice. His addition also adds to the question if this project is actually MCU canon, as it was initially hinted at given they don’t meet until Avengers: Infinity War. This is definitely opening up a lot of questions.

    Source: SDCC via Twitter