The Tom Cruise Iron Man rumor is one of the craziest Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness reports out there. It’s a roller coaster ride, as we’ve seen all sorts of takes on the matter. Of course, Marvel will never confirm such cameos ahead of the premiere. Some say Tom Cruise plays Iron Man in Doctor Strange 2. Others say that the actor will not appear in the sequel. Then we have reports that claim Cruise is heading to the MCU, but he won’t necessarily play Iron Man or appear in Multiverse of Madness.
This brings us to the craziest Tom Cruise-Doctor Strange 2 rumor yet. If it’s accurate, we might get the actor in the movie in the best possible way. But we can’t talk about any of that before we warn you that massive spoilers might follow below.
Is Tom Cruise in Doctor Strange 2?
The Tom Cruise Doctor Strange 2 rumor is probably as big as the Maguire/Garfield leaks that preceded Spider-Man: No Way Home. But there is a big twist in all of this.
Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield played Spider-Man before Tom Holland. Meanwhile, Tom Cruise never appeared as Tony Stark in the MCU. Marvel originally wanted the actor for the role more than a decade ago. Those talks fell through, but it was for the best. We got Robert Downey Jr., and that’s the only Iron Man we can wish for.
While we’re at it, I’ll remind you that some rumors indicated we’d see RDJ’s Tony Stark in Multiverse of Madness. He would be a variant of the character, but it would be the same actor. However, we have yet to see any confirmations. And the Tom Cruise rumor has had a lot more chatter behind it.
Unlike the Maguire/Garfield leaks, we don’t have definitive proof that Tom Cruise will play Iron Man in Doctor Strange 2. Or that he is coming to the MCU at all. The Super Bowl trailer doesn’t count, as the big cameo in the clip isn’t the Superior Iron Man that fans want Cruise to play. The trailer does indicate we’ll see a reality in Multiverse of Madness where some version of Iron Man develops a successful Ultron project.
As a reminder, some rumors back in January claimed that Tom Cruise isn’t in the movie. We then heard from an insider that the actor is heading to the MCU. But she didn’t know whether Cruise will play Iron Man or someone else. She also didn’t know if he will be in Multiverse of Madness or some other MCU movie.
Iron Man credits scene leak
In a follow-up, Grace Randolph reiterated her belief that Cruise is heading to Marvel’s cinematic universe. She speculated that the actor might not play Stark. Instead, he could become an alternate Iron Monger in a world where Obadiah Stane beat Tony Stark.
All that context is necessary to understand the Tom Cruise Doctor Strange 2 cameo rumor evolution that brings us to the newest leak.
Marvel is supposedly shooting a credits scene with Tom Cruise for Multiverse of Madness. In the scene, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is said to be projecting himself into another universe as he starts to form a new multiversal Illuminati group. We have no way of verifying the claims in the tweet above, however.
What we do know for certain is that Marvel is still filming scenes for Doctor Strange 2. Director Sam Raimi hinted recently that the studio might still film even more reshoots. That’s in addition to the extensive reshoot campaign that Marvel conducted in the final months of 2021.
Why it makes sense
The confirmation that Marvel still hasn’t finished shooting the film came from Cumberbatch. He dropped the detail casually a few days ago during an interview at the BAFTA.
As one Redditor quipped, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be coming out, “and they’re going to announce reshoots for the Blu-ray.”
That said, we have no confirmation that Marvel is shooting new Doctor Strange 2 credits scenes for the film. Or that Tom Cruise is involved in the reshoots.
We will point out that we already saw some post-credits rumors for Multiverse of Madness. And none of them indicated that Strange will want to assemble a new Illuminati team.
But the big Doctor Strange 2 plot leak that the Super Bowl trailer confirms spells trouble for the Illuminati we’ll see in the movie. Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) will fight them, and some of the members might die.
Those Illuminati aren’t the MCU’s main Illuminati. Not to mention that Marvel confirmed as much while promoting Multiverse of Madness. The studio did not address the Tom Cruise rumor, but reports did say that the Illuminati might drop in the MCU in a different way.
Finally, there’s one more reason why this Tom Cruise Doctor Strange 2 rumor makes sense. What’s the best way to convince RDJ to ink a new MCU deal for some big MCU crossover Avengers multiversal adventure? Have Tom Cruise appear in an Iron Man suit in Doctor Strange 2, of course.
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