Not many Marvel Cinematic Universe fans would name Doctor Strange as their favorite installment in the franchise. Still, the Scott Derrickson blockbuster did the job expected. The 2016 effort introduced Benedict Cumberbatch’s title hero, told a functional origin story, and began the mythology’s expansion into mystical territory.
MCU has become so successful over the last thirteen years, Doctor Strange‘s $677 million box office haul and 89% Rotten Tomatoes score is now considered middle of the road for Kevin Feige’s work. Now, fans expect better from Sam Raimi’s Multiverse of Madness.
Not only does it boast visually distinctive filmmakers, but as a continuation of WandaVision, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and even Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, it’s a potential game-changer for MCU.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cumberbatch admitted he had more freedom to put his stamp on the Sorcerer Supreme the second time around (after the requisite origin story was out of the way).
“With the first film, you’re always locked into a script, because it’s the origin story, but there was a lot more freedom this time around. I guess, because we were, not literally making it up as we go along, but sometimes it feels like that. Marvel has this amazing ability to come into production: ‘We really just have to start shooting now. It doesn’t matter that the third act is not quite where you want it to be’. You really do things on a wing and a prayer sometimes.”
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is six months away from release; expect first official footage to arrive soon. Given the connections between the two, Spider-Man: No Way Home would be the obvious candidate. Hopefully, though, we don’t have to wait long when the premise is more than enough to get fans hyped.
