Marvel’s announcement tour continues despite San Diego Comic Con ending one week ago and D23 coming up in the future. Sandwiched between the recently announced MCU movies Avengers: Doomsday on May 1, 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027, is a Nov. 6, 2026 release, a surprise third chapter in one superhero’s multiversal story. That’s right, Marvel wants another taste of that strange. For now, it’s simply titled Doctor Strange 3, a much less cumbersome (but still Cumberbatch) title than Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Check out the new release timeline posted by Marvel on X (formerly known as Twitter) below:
It was less than three months ago that star Benedict Cumberbatch was seemingly clueless about the fate of his caped superhero. During his May 26, 2024 interview on The Playlist podcast, Cumberbatch expressed his uncertainty regarding the timing and context of Doctor Strange’s next MCU appearance. His response to questions about a potential third Doctor Strange film and its placement relative to the forthcoming Avengers lineup was noncommittal at the time:
Who knows! We will see. We will find out. I’m not sure where he’s been and what he’s been up to and who with, but yeah, I know as little as you.
Since his last appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in 2022, there have been considerable rumors about when Cumberbatch’s sorcerer would return to the silver screen. Marvel Studios has hinted at Doctor Strange’s involvement in Multiverse Saga entries, yet provided few concrete details until their X post today, Aug. 2, 2024.
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How Benedict Cumberbatch Was Fated to Play Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Doctor Strange teams up with a mysterious teenage girl from his dreams who can travel across multiverses, to battle multiple threats, including other-universe versions of himself, which threaten to wipe out millions across the multiverse.
- Release Date
- May 6, 2022
- Runtime
- 2hr 10min
- Studio
- Marvel Studios
- Franchise
- Marvel
In late April 2024, Scott Derrickson, director of Doctor Strange, revealed how Benedict Cumberbatch was cast as Stephen Strange. The director’s recent interview with /Film shed light on the meticulous process that ensured Cumberbatch would don the cape of the mystical superhero.
Doctor Strange marked a significant change in the MCU, introducing audiences to its mystical dimensions — a bold move that diverged from its predominantly cosmic narratives. According to Derrickson, while the film was designed as a standalone feature, it inadvertently laid the groundwork for future multiverse storylines, much like Iron Man set the stage for the broader MCU.
I certainly didn’t have my eyes on that target specifically, of how it would be used in the future.
Derrickson emphasized that, unlike many of his peers, he was fortunate to helm a film without the pressure of aligning it closely with predetermined MCU arcs, allowing for a more creative and focused storytelling approach.
“But I was very fortunate in that not very many Marvel directors get to step up to the plate and make an MCU movie that doesn’t have any obligations to the MCU… There was nothing that we were deliberately setting up for future movies. It was its own film.”
And much like how Robert Downey Jr. was meant to play Tony Stark, Derrickson asserted that Benedict Cumberbatch was the perfect Stephen Strange. Derrickson said they also considered Joaquin Phoenix for the role after finding out Cumberbatch was committed to another project. Derrickson had his heart set on Cumberbatch for the role, believing unequivocally that he was the ideal choice.
What happened, just to be clear, we offered the movie to Benedict. I wanted Benedict… I flew all the way to London to try to talk him into doing it. What it came down to was that it was a summer movie, and Benedict had committed to doing Hamlet in London theater.
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The turning point came when Derrickson proposed delaying the film’s release to accommodate Cumberbatch’s schedule, a move that required the approval of top Disney executives. “I just went back to Kevin [Feige] and I just said, ‘We have to move the date because it’s got to be Benedict.’ Kevin went to Bob Iger and Alan Horn, and told them what I said,” explained Derrickson. “To their credit, they moved the date and it became a fall movie.
Derrickson’s insistence on Cumberbatch being the linchpin for the role was vindicated when Doctor Strange opened to a successful $85 million domestically, culminating in a nearly $678 million global haul.