Comingsoon.net has inadvertently confirmed that Spider-Man director Sam Raimi is officially taking on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The news was rumored a few months ago following Scott Derrickson‘s departure from the first Strange movie and rightfully set nerd-dom ablaze with excitement.
Raimi let the word slip in the most casual way possible in an interview with Comingsoon that was primarily focused on his new Quibi series, 50 States of Fright. Asked about the scene in Spider-Man 2 where someone suggests Doctor Strange to J. Jonah Jameson as a name for Doctor Octupus and he responds saying it’s already taken, Raimi elaborates and smoothly slides in the official confirmation. Here’s his full response:
“I loved Doctor Strange as a kid, but he was always after Spider-Man and Batman for me, he was probably at number five for me of great comic book characters,” Raimi described. “He was so original, but when we had that moment in Spider-Man 2 I had no idea that we would ever be making a Doctor Strange movie, so it was really funny to me that coincidentally that line was in the movie. I gotta say I wish we had the foresight to know that I was going to be involved in the project.”
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, aside from being one of the MCU’s first horror-leaning ventures, is also unique in its heavy ties to Marvel’s upcoming TV slate, including Loki and WandaVision. Although those, along with the Strange sequel, are currently on pause given the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a massive shift in the MCU’s release schedule. Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will hit theaters on November 5, 2021.
Benedict Cumberbatch is joined in this second round by Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch, with Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo and Benedict Wong as Wong, yet to be confirmed for their role reprisals.
