Benedict Cumberbatch has been quite busy working in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but how much he’s involved in the ongoing universe remains a mystery. The Oscar-nominee recently addressed his future playing Doctor Strange, adding that he is still “open” to continuing.
Cumberbatch is set to appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home this month and star in his standalone sequel, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, this coming spring. With these two films, Cumberbatch will have appeared in six MCU features so far, and it appears he’s willing to keep going under one condition.
Cumberbatch spoke with USA Today, sharing that while he is still open to playing Doctor Strange, the real catch is that whatever comes next has to remain interesting and challenging. Cumberbatch said, “As long as the character is interesting and challenging and doing fantastic things in the MCU, why not?” The Doctor Strange star isn’t the only one to discuss his future role in the MCU. Spider-Man: No Way Home co-star Tom Holland recently spoke about his Marvel future after Sony producer Amy Pascal hinted that Holland’s wall-crawler will be featured in a few more films and that No Way Home will not be his last outing.
It makes sense for stars like Cumberbatch and Holland to look beyond their Marvel characters, especially after Cumberbatch shared his nervousness for his Doctor Strange sequel and the pressures that have building from the film. Those pressures include living up to expectations, not to mention the countless reshoots taking place or the six-year gap from the first film’s release. But it appears that as long as Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and the rest of the team continue to develop engaging stories, there’s a great chance that stars like Cumberbatch will continue their Marvel run.
While fans have a pretty clear idea of what to expect in Spider-Man: No Way Home (like Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock and Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin returning), many details surrounding Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness have still been kept under wraps. Other than what the film’s title hints at and a possible villain, Elizabeth Olsen, who will return to play Wanda Maximoff in the film following her appearance in Disney Plus’ WandaVision series, did confirm that Doctor Strange 2 heads down a much darker route, almost resembling a horror film at times.
While Olsen’s comments are not too surprising, considering Sam Raimi (The Tobey Maguire Spider-Man trilogy) is directing the film, it’ll be interesting to see how dark of a film the MCU is willing to push for. The sequel also stars Benedict Wong as Wong, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo, Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez, and Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer. Loki head writer Michael Waldron, who was praised for his work on the Marvel Studios series, was hired to rewrite the script along with newcomer Jade Bartlett.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness releases in theatres on May 6th, 2022.
Source: USA Today
