Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange was originally set to make a cameo in the finale of WandaVision, Marvel boss Kevin Feige has revealed.
The Disney Plus series starred Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff (AKA The Scarlett Witch) and Paul Bettany as Vision, reprising their roles from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
While Bettany had warned fans to expect a cameo in the series finale, viewers were disappointed when the guest star turned out to be Bettany himself, playing White Vision, an alternate version of his existing character.
However, speaking in the May 2021 print edition of Rolling Stone (per /Film), Feige revealed that Marvel had “finalised a deal with Cumberbatch to appear in the season’s final episode”.
The bizarre fake advertisements which appeared throughout the series were meant to be revealed as coded messages sent from Strange to Wanda, as he tried to “break through her sitcom fabrication”.
The cameo was eventually vetoed to avoid having a male character arrive at the end and save the day.
“Some people might say, ‘Oh, it would’ve been so cool to see Doctor Strange,’” said Feige. “But it would have taken away from Wanda.
“We didn’t want the end of the show to be commoditised to go to the next movie — here’s the white guy, ‘Let me show you how power works.’”
Olsen will appear as Wanda in the forthcoming MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, due to be released in 2022.
We may earn commission from some of the links in this article, but we never allow this to influence our content.
WandaVision is streaming now on Disney Plus.
