The month of March will bring Marvel fans more content, starting with the Spider-Man: No Way Home digital release and ending with the Moon Knight premiere. It’ll also deliver plenty of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness rumors since that’s the main MCU topic right now. And it so happens that we have another Doctor Strange 2 rumor that details the highly anticipated Iron Man cameo.
Iron Man showing up in Multiverse of Madness isn’t a surprise for fans who have seen the second trailer for Doctor Strange 2. The Ultron drones guarding Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) are an indication that a Tony Stark variant might have successfully completed the Ultron defense plan, which failed in the primary MCU reality.
But there might be spoilers in what follows below that go beyond what the Super Bowl trailer showed. Now’s the time to stop reading if you want to be surprised when Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness premieres on May 6th.
Will Iron Man return in Doctor Strange 2?
This is one of the biggest questions concerning Doctor Strange 2. Multiverse of Madness is a movie that will let Marvel expand the character development of Doctor Strange. But it’s also a big crossover project with a multiverse theme.
From the early days of Multiverse of Madness production, we saw rumors that Iron Man could return in the sequel. Doctor Strange 2 is the perfect place to deliver the cameo many fans crave. We lost the MCU’s main Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), but the multiverse lets Marvel explore other variants of the character.
It might be too soon to bring back RDJ, but Iron Man can still return. We saw a few Tony Stark/Iron Man variants in What If…?, and RDJ didn’t voice those. Granted, we have yet to get a What If…? story when Iron Man is the main character.
Getting back to Doctor Strange 2 cameos, Iron Man is easily at the top of the list when it comes to expectations for the film. It’s not just the trailer that hints an Iron Man might be helping the Illuminati. It’s also the rumors that claim that we’ll see a specific version of Iron Man in Doctor Strange 2.
The Superior Iron Man rumor
We’re talking about Superior Iron Man, of course. Some leaks say that Tom Cruise will play the superhero rather than RDJ. That takes the MCU full circle since Cruise was Marvel’s first choice for the role.
Other rumors say that Cruise will show up in the MCU in the future, but not as Iron Man. Also, he might not necessarily be in Multiverse of Madness.
Unlike No Way Home where everything leaked several months ahead of the premiere, we don’t know the central narrative for Doctor Strange 2. That’s because the film underwent massive reshoots in the fall. Reports said at the time that Marvel was fixing the story and adding several cameos.
If any Iron Man version is in the movie, it might have been added during the reshoots. That’s just speculation, however.
The newest report on the matter claims that the film’s final cut has Iron Man appearing for only a few seconds in the movie. He’s reportedly wearing the Golden Mark XXI armor, and he won’t be involved in the Wanda battle or the Illuminati trial.
There’s no way to verify any of this, however. So don’t get too excited about Iron Man showing up in Doctor Strange 2. But we do expect the film’s cameos to be limited in scope, as Strange moves between various realities.
We’ll also point out what Marvel insiders have said in previous leaks. Marvel might not show the cameos during test screenings in an effort to ensure that they don’t leak.
Also, notice how the new leak doesn’t say whether or not we’re looking at the Superior Iron Man in Doctor Strange 2. It also doesn’t specify whether or not Tom Cruise will play this variant.
What about the Illuminati?
What seems clear is that there will be an Illuminati trial and a Wanda battle in the movie. We know this from the trailer. The Illuminati will judge Doctor Strange’s actions in the multiverse until Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) interrupts them. A fight will ensue, and a big plot leak says that’s where Strange makes his exit.
The gory details of that plot leak never mention any involvement from Iron Man.
With Ultron sentries running into battle, we have a reason why Iron Man might not want to engage Wanda in the first place. Why risk anything when the robots can do the job? That assumes Iron Man will indeed appear in that pivotal Doctor Strange 2 scene.
We’ll have to wait until May 6th to find out whether or not Iron Man is in Doctor Strange 2.
