Having played the MCU’s Doctor Strange since 2016, there is every chance that Benedict Cumberbatch could be starting to get bored of flying around, playing with imaginary portals on a green screen. However, the Sherlock star has made it clear that he has no plans to hang up his mystical cape anytime in the foreseeable future, and wants to have plenty more adventures as the Marvel sorcerer.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness arrives in cinemas later this week, and having taken six years to get his second solo outing, it is looking that the wait is certainly going to have been worth it. With the multiverse open, cameos and character variants galore being promised, and a mind-bending storyline on the cards, this is going to be one of the biggest movies of the MCU’s Phase 4, and could be the Doctor’s first billion dollar outing, but not likely his last.
Benedict Cumberbatch is currently blasting around the world on a promotional tour for the new Marvel movie, and while the actor is well seasoned in not giving away Marvel secrets, he has been more than happy to talk about his hopes for the future of Doctor Strange and how he doesn’t want to give up the character. As shared by @DoctorStrangeUpdates on Twitter, Cumberbatch told Total Film:
"I’m not tired of it all yet. I really enjoy playing this character, and I’ve still got a lot left to give as him, and a lot more adventures I want to have with him."
Multiverse of Madness Is Already Pulling in Big Advance Ticket Sales
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was originally scheduled for release in May 2021 but due to the ongoing Covid pandemic, the film was first delayed to November 2021,then March 2022 and finally settled on a May 6 premiere. While audiences have lost interest waiting for some delayed movies to arrive, seeming to feel that they have waited so long that they might as well wait a little longer until they arrive on streaming platforms, there has been no such dip in hype when it comes to the Doctor Strange sequel.
Following the hugely unexpected success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the expectation and excitement for Doctor Strange’s new foray into the multiverse is about as high as it can possibly be. At the end of last week, the film had already racked up over $40 million in advanced ticket sales, and the predictions of an opening weekend of around $150 million are looking very conservative. Spider-Man: No Way Home managed to massively outperform expected numbers on its opening weekend, and on its entire run, and Marvel Studios and Disney will certainly be hoping that Doctor Strange can do the same thanks to its extensive list of confirmed and rumored cameo appearances.
Whatever the multiverse holds for Benedict Cumberbatch’s Stephen Strange, it seems to be pretty certain that this is not going to be the last solo movie we see featuring the sorcerer, but with a journey of self-discovery coming his way, Strange will likely end the movie very much changed from how he starts it.