Spider-Man: No Way Home
is the talk of the town right now, but Marvel has a few Phase 4 projects that might top all that Spidey excitement. One of them is Eternals, which will be released before No Way Home. The ambitious MCU story will introduce a team of mysterious superheroes. Also, it has a fantastic ensemble cast and an Oscar-winning director. After No Way Home, we have Doctor Strange 2, which is easily the most exciting film of Phase 4 so far. It’ll also feature a massive cast and a director whose Spider-Man trilogy is widely praised. But perhaps the best thing about Multiverse of Madness is the cameos. We heard all sorts of rumors about the Doctor Strange 2 surprises. The newest one claims that a few characters with “glorious purpose” will have cameos in the film. Mind you, some minor spoilers follow below.
The early rumors
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige unveiled most of the MCU Phase 4 titles in late July 2019, just as the Infinity Saga had concluded. From the moment he revealed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the film became one of the most anticipated movies of Phase 4. Marvel hinted that the multiverse will be a central theme going forward.
The Doctor Strange 2 rumors in early 2020 further hinted that the sequel will be a must-see Phase 4 movie. At the time, we heard the sequel would be a horror story featuring a surprising villain. Then the “madness” started. An increasing number of Doctor Strange 2 reports came out claiming the wildest cameos. Wolverine, Deadpool, Spider-Man, and X-Men made the list. Even some of the dead or retired Avengers might show up in the sequel — with a multiverse twist, of course.
Those leaks hit the web long before Multiverse of Madness production had started. That’s to say things were still in flux and could change. But the Doctor Strange 2 cameos that appear in 2021 leaks are a lot more believable since the movie has already been filmed.
The latest rumors about Doctor Strange 2 cameos
Marvel has already completed principal shooting for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. And Marvel has already confirmed the film’s main characters: Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen), Wong (Benedict Wong), Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), and Mordo (Chiwetel Ejiofor). That’s why the cameos that appear in reports these days are a lot more exciting. A few days ago, we heard that some X-Men from the Fox movies will appear in the film. And one of them will battle the film’s villain — that’s Professor X fighting Wanda.
Fast forward to early September, and the folks over at The DisInsider Podcast dropped an exciting Doctor Strange 2 cameo rumor. Two Loki cast members will supposedly appear in the movie, Mobius (Owen Wilson) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino).
Why having a Loki in Doctor Strange 2 makes sense
That’s incredibly exciting on multiple levels. For starters, Loki is the best MCU TV show so far, so we definitely want to see more from the characters in it. Secondly, Loki has a massive cliffhanger for season 2 and for the entire multiverse. The TV show opened up the Sacred Timeline’s multiverse. It’s all thanks to Sylvie that the multiverse is going nuts. If there’s anyone who Strange should interact with while trying to figure out how to control the multiverse, it’s the TVA and Sylvie. That is, it’ll be interesting to see how Strange discovers the TVA and the person responsible for unleashing all this chaos.
Also, let’s not forget that Loki writer Michael Waldron also co-wrote Doctor Strange 2. So he’d be the best person to place these Loki cameos in the sequel.
Finally, Marvel confirmed a long time ago that Loki ties directly into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. We thought at the time that Loki (Tom Hiddleston) might appear in Doctor Strange 2. But we now know how the two titles are connected and why a Loki cameo isn’t necessary. I mean, do we really need more than one Loki to show up in the movie? Sylvie might be in denial about her identity, but she is a Loki variant. And the way she handled the meeting with Kang (Jonathan Majors) further proves it.