The idea of multiple alternate realities looks to be the comic book genre’s new favorite storytelling device, with both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and their rivals at Warner Bros. and DC getting in on the act. Even after the recent delay of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to March 2022 as part of the sweeping changes made to Phase Four, the Sorcerer Supreme is still set to get the jump on Michael Keaton’s return as Batman in The Flash, which isn’t scheduled to hit theaters until three months later.
2022 looks to be the year of the multiverse, and there have already been countless faces both old and new linked with a potential cameo appearance in Doctor Strange’s long-awaited second solo outing, After Scott Derrickson quit or was fired depending on who you believe, Marvel lucked out in hiring Sam Raimi as his replacement, with the filmmaker an ideal and hugely exciting fit for the material.
We previously heard that Raimi was interested in having Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst reprise their roles from his Spider-Man trilogy to give Multiverse of Madness an unexpected meta twist, and we’ve now heard that the director also has his eyes set on an appearance by James Franco in order to complete the set.
According to our intel – which comes from the same sources who told us Ahsoka Tano will show up in The Mandalorian‘s second season and a new Scream movie is in the works, both of which were correct – Raimi wants to go all-in on the possibilities of the multiverse and sees a brief glimpse of his core Spider-Man cast as the ideal way of showing that nothing past, present or future is off-limits when it comes to the multiverse and alternate timelines.
Although it isn’t clear if Marvel can use those characters outside of their own Spider-Man series without having to strike a new arrangement with Sony, when it comes to establishing just how far-reaching the implications of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness could be, bringing back three actors that starred in Raimi’s own superhero franchise over a decade ago would definitely be one way of showing that anything is possible.