It’s been a few years since we last saw Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strangein Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Thankfully, Cumberbatch has made it clear that he’ll be back in the Marvel world soon enough, explaining to Variety that Doctor Strange will be absent from Avengers: Doomsday but will have a substantial role in Avengers: Secret Wars.
“Is that a spoiler?” he said, before adding “F— it!”
“He’s quite central to where things might go,” Cumberbatch added, although he didn’t provide any additional detail as to how his character will fit in.
Avengers: Doomsday was first announced at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con, and will feature the return of Robert Downey Jr. to the MCU as Doctor Doom.
Secret Wars, meanwhile, is based on a 2015 comic by writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Esad Ribic, and is set after the multiverse is nearly destroyed by beings called the Beyonders in an event that wipes out almost all of the superheroes we’ve come to know. The few survivors join together on a planet called Battle World led by Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom. Those two characters spend plenty of time together in the comic.
Cumberbatch also said that there are plans in place for a third Doctor Strange solo movie at some point, although the details are far from nailed down. He did say, though, that Marvel is very open to discussing new directions for the character with him.
“They are very open to discussing where we go next,” he explained. “Who do you want to write and direct the next one? What part of the comic lore do you want to explore so that Strange can keep evolving? He’s a very rich character to play. He’s a complex, contradictory, troubled human who’s got these extraordinary abilities, so there’s potent stuff to mess about with.”
