Doctor Strange cameo cut from WandaVision to avoid 'white guy' saving the day
The change also led to a rewrite of the Doctor Strange sequel.
- Best New Journalist 2019 Australian IT Journalism Awards
Wanda and Doctor Strange will get their team-up in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
If you were disappointed by the lack of a Doctor Strange cameo in WandaVision, especially after it was teased by Vision himself, Paul Bettany, Marvel has now given a pretty good explanation.
"Some people might say, 'Oh, it would've been so cool to see Doctor Strange,'" Marvel chief Kevin Feige said in an interview with Rolling Stone. "But it would have taken away from Wanda. We didn't want the end of the show to be commoditized to go to the next movie -- here's the white guy, 'Let me show you how power works.'"
It had been thought the WandaVision finale would set the stage for the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, in which Wanda has a starring role. Marvel had even finalized a deal with Cumberbatch to appear in the Disney Plus series' finale, according to Rolling Stone.
But the WandaVision team nixed the idea, allowing Wanda to develop her powers and master her newfound chaos magic before joining the Sorcerer Supreme. She's also dealing with guilt for the mental gymnastics she put the residents of Westview through.
"She had to get away before the people who have to hold her accountable got there," Olsen told Rolling Stone. "And where she went is a place that no one could find her. Because she knows that she is going to be held accountable, and I think she has a tremendous amount of guilt."
As a result of the changes, the Doctor Strange sequel had to be tweaked. Which part is all speculation, but how Wanda and Strange are linked in the flick is probably the key area.
Benedict Cumberbatch even apologized for the lack of a Doctor Strange cameo in WandaVision. "If it didn't happen, then I am sorry about that," he said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Apparently, in one version, the Twin Peaks commercial breaks were originally coded messages Wanda would send to Doctor Strange as he attempted to break through her sitcom fabrication. In another, Strange appeared in the commercials himself.
See Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch, and Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness when it hits theaters March 25, 2022.
