Benedict Cumberbatch dances around ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Illuminati question

Andrew Garfield knows what it feels like to be bombarded with Marvel-related questions at the most inopportune moment, with the actor having the coincidental misfortune of hitting the promotional trail for both The Eyes of Tammy Faye and tick, tick…BOOM! while Spider-Man: No Way Home was gearing up for release, and now it’s Benedict Cumberbatch’s turn.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is coming to theaters on May 6, and the internet can’t stop talking about the first full-length trailer for the reality-bending spectacular. Cumberbatch is currently on the awards season trail for critical darling The Power of the Dog, so he’s naturally fielding MCU inquiries everywhere he goes.

When asked by Entertainment Tonight at the Screen Actors Guild Awards if Patrick Stewart’s voice cameo confirmed the impending introduction of the Illuminati, Cumberbatch answered like the seasoned MCU pro that he is.

“It’s the beginning of all of this, isn’t it? I kind of escaped it with Spider-Man because we were doing reshoots for Strange, I couldn’t do the tour. Poor Tom [Holland] and [Zendaya and Jacob Batalon] and everyone else had to go, ‘Yeah. Haven’t heard about that’ and just sort of deny everything.”

While his answer was straight from the Kevin Feige school of answering at length without actually revealing any notable information whatsoever, social media is already abuzz with Illuminati speculation, and it’s only going to grow louder the closer we get to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.