As with previous Avengers movies, the upcoming installments Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are expected to reunite numerous fan-favorite characters. Of course, it’d be impossible to get everyone onboard with how congested the casts tend to be, and now we know one beloved MCU character has been removed from appearing in Avengers: Doomsday.
Interestingly, the reason for their absence is due to the restructuring of the movie. As most fans know, Avengers: Doomsday was originally intended to be Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Plans were changed following the legal issues with actor Jonathan Majors, however, which resulted in a beloved MCU character separate from Kang being removed.
Fortunately, there seems to be a positive for fans who hoped to see this character join up with their fellow Avengers. As it turns out, he will actually be included in the follow-up film Avengers: Secret Wars. Here’s what was shared by the actor while speaking with Variety:
“Is that a spoiler?” Benedict Cumberbatch asked after revealing that his character Doctor Strange was removed from Avengers: Doomsday. “F*ck it!”
It’s unclear why exactly, but Cumberbatch says that the new Doomsday plot is the reason why. Apparently the Doctor Strange removal is due to “the character not aligning with this part of the story.” At which point, however, he does guarantee that Strange will be “in a lot” of Avengers: Secret Wars. This is sure to make up for his absence in the preceding film.
“He’s quite central to where things might go,” Cumberbatch adds. While he doesn’t offer many details on that front either, it does seem to indicate that another Doctor Strange movie is on the horizon. “They are very open to discussing where we go next,” he says. “Who do you want to write and direct the next one? What part of the comic lore do you want to explore so that Strange can keep evolving? He’s a very rich character to play. He’s a complex, contradictory, troubled human who’s got these extraordinary abilities, so there’s potent stuff to mess about with.”
Fortunately, we’re still getting plenty of Doctor Strange in the future by the sound of things. It just won’t be happening in Avengers: Doomsday. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional MCU updates including future appearances for Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange as we have them.