Going into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, fans may have had unreasonable expectations in their heads for how many surprise guests the trip through countless alternate realities had in store.
In the end, those expecting Cameos: The Movie were left disappointed, which ended up causing a schism among the fandom. On one hand, there were folks who were expecting dozens upon dozens of Marvel Cinematic Universe favorites, deep cut comic book characters, and multiversal variants to show up, but it’s not as if Sam Raimi didn’t slather on the fan service.
John Krasinski’s Reed Richards, Hayley Atwell’s Captain Carter, Anson Mount’s Black Bolt, Lashana Lynch’s Captain Marvel, and Patrick goddamned Stewart’s Charles Xavier ensured that Doctor Strange 2 was hardly lacking in the cameo department, but costume designer Graham Churchyard admitted to ComicBook that another cult hero came agonizingly close to making the cut.
“We got very far designing Balder the Brave and then we were waiting, and waiting, and waiting on casting. I took it to a prototype stage, we were kind of in that design thing, getting fabrics together and ideas and waiting for an actor. Poor Balder the Brave, he almost made Thor 1, and Thor 2, and Thor 3, if I can simplify that.
Then, it’s just like, ‘Yay! He’s gonna get an appearance!’ Poor guy. I’ve seen designs Marvel’s archive book of Balder’s helmet going back to Kenneth Branagh’s Thor. So, he’s been a long time waiting and I don’t think he’s gonna make an appearance any time soon.”
A while back, rumors began surfacing that Daniel Craig had been offered the role of Balder, but he wouldn’t commit due to scheduling conflicts and the pandemic. Maybe one day the comic book mainstay will get his day in the MCU sun, having missed out once again.
