Seeing as we’d been told all along that WandaVision would lead into Doctor Strange 2, Marvel fans were sure that a major cameo was going to drop in the Disney Plus show’s final episode. Be it Mephisto, Nightmare or a character from somewhere in the multiverse (seeing as Evan Peters’ Quicksilver turned out to be a red herring). As it happened, though, that didn’t end up being the case. But this might not have been the original plan.
According to insider Daniel Richtman, Benedict Cumberbatch was set to appear as the Sorcerer Supreme in WandaVision but his intended cameo was ultimately cut and held back until his incoming sequel. We know Elizabeth Olsen will return as the Scarlet Witch in Multiverse of Madness, so it’s easy to see how Strange’s WV appearance could be pushed back into DS2 without the context changing much.
It’s currently unclear exactly why the decision was made to remove Cumberbatch from the series, though, seeing as it would’ve been a huge deal for fans. In fact, it could’ve been Marvel’s own version of Luke Skywalker showing up in The Mandalorian‘s season 2 finale. Maybe we can speculate that it was cut to ensure the spotlight was kept on Wanda, as the finale is all about her journey and they worried Stephen Strange arriving in Westview would overshadow her.
Either way, Strange did get an indirect name-drop in the episode. During their battle, Agatha Harkness told the Scarlet Witch that she was even more powerful than the Sorcerer Supreme. In the finale’s post-credits scene, meanwhile, we saw Wanda pulling a Strange and reading the Darkhold in her astral form. So now that she’s unleashed her full skill set and is studying the Mystic Arts, a face-off between the two magic users should be epic to see in Doctor Strange 2. It’s just a shame we didn’t get a tease of it in WandaVision.
