See Benedict Cumberbatch Fracture Marvel’s Multiverse In New Doctor Strange 2 Image
See him break everything!
This article is more than 2 years old
The anticipation for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is currently building to a fever pitch, the like of which has not been seen since well, the last MCU movie. Similar to Spider-Man: No Way Home, part of the fan fervor is trying to figure out which of the many, many rumors are going to be true. Will Deadpool show up? Was that really Patrick Stewart as Professor X in the latest trailer? Will there really be a scene in which Benedict Cumberbatch turns to the camera and says “that sure was some multiverse…of madness!” Okay, while we made that one up, it is still exciting to see Cumberbatch in a new sneak peek at the film. This time, it is life-size standup cutout of the British actor as Dr. Strange, the type you will doubtlessly be seeing in the lobby of a multiplex theater soon. Take a look at it here:
Using much of the same imagery as we have seen in the trailers and posters so far, we see Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange hunched down in a defensive posture, bathed in a red light that looks pretty sinister. He is surrounded by broken fractures of what looks like the very reality of the MCU itself, with each shard showing some aspect of the film. As Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch is set to be a major part of the movie (implicitly co-starring with Dr. Strange in the same way as Robert Downey Jr. was basically the co-lead of Captain America: Civil War), she shows up in multiple shards. But we also see at least one of Dr. Strange’s companion/helper/apparent roommate Wong (Benedict Wong), and his former friend/fellow wizard Karl Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Then, there are also screaming mouths and a close up of the Eye of Agamotto, so get ready for some screaming and some time-foolery.
Benedict Cumberbatch was a major part of the massively successful (even by MCU standards) Spider-Man: No Way Home, which did a lot of table setting for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Along with the Disney+ streaming show Loki (starring Tom Hiddleston’s increasingly heroic Norse god of mischief), that movie has been prepping audiences for some kind of soft reboot of the MCU. After the first major stage of the groundbreaking cinematic universe wrapped up with 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, all indications seem to be that the upcoming plan is to go all in on the multiverse concept. And given that this is a prime opportunity to introduce newly available characters like The Fantastic Four, The X-Men and Tom Cruise, it is pretty hard not to be excited.
Of course, Marvel Studios’ perpetual campaign of disinformation makes it pretty hard to guess what might actually happen. While it seemed pretty certain that we were going to get a Spider-Man trifecta in No Way Home, Andrew Garfield’s press tour of lies always put a little doubt in there. And while seeing Benedict Cumberbatch in chains being brought before a bald guy who sure sounded like Captain Picard makes it seem obvious, you can never know. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is set to be released May 6, 2022.
