Doctor Strange 2 was already pretty dark… but Cumberbatch apparently suggested making it even darker. During an interview with Prestige, the Marvel star revealed that he wrote some of the scenes featuring Doctor Strange variants, and that he worked to make some of the scenes less "saccharine."
“I suggested that it needed to get darker at a point,” he said. “There was a slightly more saccharine version at one stage and I’m really happy with the way it evolved. Sam Raimi was so game for it and Michael Waldron really supported me to write it as well.”
One of the more ‘saccharine’ versions may well have been ‘Marvellous Melvyn’ – a rather tame version of Doctor Strange that existed in one of the multiverse’s infinite worlds, where he was little more than a performer of stage magic.
But while concept art of Marvellous Melvyn was produced, the character was eventually cut.
“We turned what was a very small combat between the two into a sort of very bizarre and inventive battle in that moment,” said Cumberbatch. “I really loved it. It was how the original was pitched to me a long while back when Scott Derrickson was still working with us: Strange would meet versions of himself. It was something I wanted to lean into. We could have gone even further, and maybe it will go into the future. Who knows what other versions we might need in the multiverse chapter of the MCU? But it was very enjoyable to play all the variants of myself.”
Cumberbatch also talked about how much he enjoyed playing against versions of himself, and that he even helped to write some of the scenes.
“That was the most fun bit,” he said about acting with himself. “I absolutely loved it, and it sounds so egotistical – but there we go, that’s what actors are – but I loved doing the scenes with myself because of the challenge of it. And I got to write some of those scenes.”
Unfortunately, it’s unknown which scene Cumberbatch wrote himself… but those Strange variants sure were pretty dark. Along with Zombie Strange and Strange Supreme (who was killed by the Illuminati after he became too powerful), we also saw Sinister Strange, complete with a third eye and delusions of grandeur.
Whether or not we’ll eventually see even darker Strange variants remains to be seen… but it looks as though Cumberbatch isn’t so fussed about pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
Want to read more about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? Check out which Marvel character Scarlet Witch wants to team up with and find out more about the scrapped Fantastic 4 post-credits scene.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
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