New rumors claim the continuation of Doctor Strange‘s story is taking a backseat at Marvel Studios. The third film in the Master of the Mystic Arts’ trilogy, which was initially expected to release in 2026, is now suspected to begin filming that same year.
The reports come from frequent Marvel insider Daniel Richtman, who alleges the film will now come out after the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga, presumably meaning after the double-bill of Avengers movies coming in 2026 and 2027.
Is this goodbye to Time Runs Out?
A tentative title for the film was Doctor Strange: Time Runs Out after rumors emerged last year that the project would pull from the comic book event of the same name which deals with the incursion between the last two remaining parallel timelines in the multiverse and serves a prelude to the 2015 comic Secret Wars (also the title of the second upcoming Avengers film). An incursion, aka the collision and subsequent destruction of two timelines, happens after reckless and continued multiversal travel.
Fans will recall how Charlize Theron’s Clea visited Stephen Strange in the Multiverse of Madness mid-credits scene. She informs Strange that he caused an incursion, just like the version of his character who was killed by the Illuminati in the dimension Strange, Wanda Maximoff, and America Chavez briefly visited in the film. Clea then uses an energy knife to create a passage to the Dark Dimension which, once again, attentive viewers will remember from the first Doctor Strange film as the home of the inter-dimensional mystical entity Dormammu (also Clea’s uncle in the comics).
In that film, Dormammu wanted to merge the Earth and the Dark Dimension but was ultimately stopped by Stephen who exhausted the power-hungry creature with a time-stone-induced time-loop, using Earth’s safety as his bargaining chip. A recent listing from Production Weekly, a subscription service that delivers news and updates on film and TV productions, featured none other than Denzel Washington as part of the cast of Doctor Strange 3 precisely in the role of Dormammu. The character was voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch in the first film. The same report also promised a Sam Raimi return to the director’s chair after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
So, can the Time Runs Out storyline as we know it still apply if Doctor Strange 3 is slotted after the end of the multiverse saga, considering it deals with parallel dimensions and incursions? Or could this film come out in between the two Avengers films, a la Captain Marvel in 2019? Maybe the MCU is just borrowing the title?
Is Doctor Strange 3 being replaced by the Scarlet Witch movie?
Also in a recent Production Weekly report, there was a listing for an upcoming (unconfirmed) Scarlet Witch movie, led by Elizabeth Olsen and written by WandaVision and Agatha All Along creatives Jac Schaeffer and Megan McDonnell, with a status note that simply read “2026.” Could that be its release year and not its production start date?
It would make sense for Marvel to fast-track a Scarlet Witch film in order to bank on the popularity of Agatha All Along and the so-called “Wandaverse.” Wanda has been slowly but surely becoming the most popular character among the MCU’s fanbase, thanks not only to Olsen’s striking performance but also to the former Avenger’s deeply emotional and well-developed arc. Who knew focusing on characters and not simply what happens to them could be so effective?
Whatever Marvel has planned, it seems Doctor Strange 3 is still very much happening, we might just have to wait a little longer for it.
