With Doctor Strange being an integral part of the last Avengers 2-parter, a lot of people are expecting him to stick around for the next two movies. As it turns out, he’s only going to be in one.
Talking to Variety, Cumberbatch has confirmed that he’ll be sitting out Doomsday to play a major role in Secret Wars. The reason for Strange’s absence from the movie is said to be “the character not aligning with this part of the story.” He does confirm that he’s going to be in Secret Wars ‘a lot’ and that Strange is “quite central to where things might go.”
We don’t know what that means officially, but a lot have been speculating that Marvel is trying to future-proof their stories from canon inconsistencies and actors’ contracts expiring by establishing a multiverse after Secret Wars and just having multiple timelines running parallel to each other.
Since Strange is one of the first characters to jump the Multiverse in the MCU, it’s possible that he would have something to do with the change of the status quo by the end of Secret Wars; but then again, this is just speculation on the fans’ part.
With Cumberbatch sitting out Doomsday, some are guessing that the next Doctor Strange movie could release right before Secret Wars to fully establish his role in the second film. We don’t know exactly what they have planned for Cumberbatch, but it does seem like he’s in no hurry to leave the MCU anytime soon.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to release in theaters on May 1, 2026. Secret Wars comes out May 7, 2027.
