When last seen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Doctor Stephen Strange hopped off to an undisclosed alternate universe with Charlize Theron‘s Clea with the promise that he’d return again. However, despite a third film in the franchise rumored to have been fast-tracked, there’s been no official announcement from Marvel Studios just yet, leaving fans wondering when they might see the Master of the Mystic Arts again. As it turns out, his next appearance may not be as far away as some might think.
In an interview with Nick Hackworth, Benedict Cumberbatch revealed that plans are in place for him to step back into the role of Strange. After describing his next role as Pete Seeger in James Mangold‘s upcoming Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, Cumberbatch teased his return to the MCU.
“After that [A Complete Unknown],the only thing I think I know for certain is there are some Marvel capers in the making next year,” revealed Cumberbatch. And while the actor went on to clarify that he knows very little about the plans–and given the current climate in Hollywood, it’s easy to believe him–a little Sherlockian deduction might lead to some possible explanations.
Following Disney’s major reshuffling of their future slate of films, only two Marvel Studios films, Blade and Fantastic Four, are currently intended to release in 2025. Of those projects, only Fantastic Four is known to be scheduled to film in 2024 with Blade believed to be nearly ready to enter production as soon as the ongoing WGA strike comes to an end. Given Strange’s travels to Earth-838 make him one of only three MCU characters to have met that Earth’s version of Reed Richards, it isn’t too hard to imagine Strange interacting with the main continuity’s Mister Fantastic. Of course, that doesn’t take all other options off the table. There’s an Untitled Marvel film slated for February 13, 2026 which could potentially be either Doctor Strange 3 or another film in which Strange appears and it’s certainly worth pointing out that while Cumberbatch will be filming next year, he never indicated he was working on a film. With that in mind, it’s possible he’s joining any number of Disney Plus projects that are either known to be or rumored to be in the works. Unfortunately, with Marvel sitting out SDCC ’23, we’ll likely have to wait quite some time to find out what’s next for Strange.
Source: YouTube
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