Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Entertainment
  3. News

New Doctor Strange 2 featurette offers a glimpse of madness

By

Prior to various COVID-related delays, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse on Madness was actually supposed to come out before Spider-Man: No Way Home. But flipping the films around in the schedule has proven to be very fortuitous, since No Way Home has given the Doctor Strange sequel a very compelling lead-in. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) was foolish enough to meddle with the fabric of the multiverse itself when he tried to help Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Now, the bill has come due.

Marvel Studios has released a new video featurette for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness that features Cumberbatch and fellow cast members Elizabeth Olsen and Benedict Wong sharing a few teasers about what’s to come. Sam Raimi, the director of the first three Spider-Man movies that starred Tobey Maguire, returned to the Marvel fold to helm this sequel. And his comments in the video are also very intriguing.

Recommended Videos

“Telling these stories was such a gigantic endeavor,” said Raimi. “It had to be large, because we had to not only paint a picture of our universe, but of multiple universes. It was a great opportunity to pair two of the most powerful superheroes together. We wanted the fans to go, ‘Oh, how cool!’ That really was our goal. We wanted to give the fans what they wanted, just not exactly what they expected.”

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Exclusive Featurette - Enter the Multiverse (2022)

Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff was last seen in the Disney+ original series, WandaVision, where she came into her powers as the Scarlet Witch. The teasers have indicated that Stephen and Wanda will both encounter alternate versions of themselves through their journey into the multiverse. And they may not be able to trust each other, especially since their multiverse duplicates are almost identical to them.

Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Chiwetel Ejiofor is reprising his role from the first Doctor Strange as Karl Mordo, a former ally who has turned against Strange. Also returning from the first film are Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer, and Michael Stuhlbarg as Nicodemus West. Xochitl Gomez is making her MCU debut in the film as America Chavez, a teenage girl with the ability to travel throughthe multiverse at will.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will hit theaters on Friday, May 6.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
In the MCU, Marvel’s most important stories are in its Disney+ shows
Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson in Falcon and the Winter Soldier wields Captain America's Shield

At this point, just about everyone is familiar with the entertainment juggernaut that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become. The premiere of a new MCU movie is now a global event, with a long list of box-office records metaphorically incinerated by the ticket-buying crowds that turn out for each installment of the biggest film franchise in Hollywood's history.

But here's the secret that all of those breathless headlines about Marvel movies are hiding: The best storytelling within the MCU is actually happening on a much smaller screen.

Read more
From mighty to meh: the MCU is dying and needs to change fast
The Avengers attend Tony Stark's funeral in Avengers: Endgame.

The summer of 2019 delivered what remains arguably the cinematic event of the millennial generation. Avengers: Endgame was the culmination of 11 years of world-building and 22 films, and audiences ate it up like a big, fat turkey on Thanksgiving Day. The Marvel Cinematic Universe pulled a feat no other franchise had, before or since, delivering spectacular thrills and unforgettable moments while tying all its loose ends in a messy but still attractive bow.

It wouldn't be an overstatement to call Endgame the event of a lifetime, even if the declaration would make some film purists cringe. The film was the perfect representation of the MCU's brand, a collection of jokes, characters, and stories so ambitious and, dare we say it, daring that they changed the way we consume cinema. The film, and the entire MCU concept, was an undertaking of Herculean proportions, and it was successfully pulled off, dazzling audiences and leaving them in shock and awe at the overindulgence they witnessed on the big screen.

Read more
Hollywood is abandoning movie theaters at the wrong time
Tom Cruise flys a plane in Top Gun: Maverick.

After a rough two years in which the COVID pandemic and the rise of streaming services contributed to a record decline in audiences going to movie theaters, Hollywood is seemingly coming back. Franchise tentpoles like Jurassic Park Dominion and Minions: The Rise of Gru posted healthy opening weekends, while Marvel recovered from the pandemic low of Eternals and is once again posting worldwide grosses for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder that flirt with $1 billion (or soon will be). And above all else, Top Gun: Maverick continues to make money week after week, becoming Paramount's biggest hit since Titanic.

All that progress, however, is increasingly likely to stop in August, when a dearth of product will threaten the recovery of the theatrical experience -- and the sustainability of Hollywood's traditional business model. The already dire situation got even worse, with Warner Bros. recently pushing back the Stephen King adaptation Salem's Lot and MGM opting to release the Sylvester Stallone-led genre film Samaritan on Prime Video. While both films are not guaranteed blockbusters, their absence is all the more pronounced with what's left on the theatrical calendar for August, September, and even October: cheap horror films, indie movies with little hope of crossover appeal, and re-releases of past hits like Avatar, Jaws, and E.T.

Read more