'Avengers: Endgame' Spoilers: How a 'Doctor Strange' Sequel Changes the MCU
by Corey PlanteA Doctor Strange sequel has been rumored and even talked about by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, but now the dead wizard’s return has been totally confirmed. What does that really mean for Avengers: Endgame and the future of the MCU?
The Hollywood Reporter revealed Monday that “Scott Derrickson, who directed and co-wrote the mystical Marvel hero’s initial 2016 outing, has quietly finalized a deal to helm the new installment.” THR also reported the return of Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange and Benedict Wong as Wong. There’s no screenwriter yet, but Marvel will have someone finish the script in 2019, start production in early 2020, and release the film in the middle of 2021.
Based on the dates that Disney already has booked for Marvel movie releases over the next several years, that means Doctor Strange 2 should release on May 7, 2021.
And yet, when Cumberbatch was on The Tonight Show in November, Jimmy Fallon asked outright, “Will you be in Avengers 4?” The Doctor Strange star responded by saying, “I’m dust, baby. I’m just out there. I’m in the ether. I’m probably part of your food chain. I’m in your stomach somewhere.”
So clearly, he was lying to protect inevitable Endgame spoilers.
Doctor Strange is turned to dust.
Much like how the upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home focuses on a dead superhero, Doctor Strange 2’s confirmation only further proves that Avengers: Endgame will undo all (or, at least, most) of the destruction wrought by Thanos in Infinity War.
That’s a huge spoiler because unless we’re moving into alternate realities for Far From Home and Doctor Strange 2, the surviving heroes in Endgame will have to use some form of time travel.
“We’re in the endgame now,” Strange said to Tony Stark towards the end of Infinity War. Then, “Tony, there was no other way,” were his last words before turning to ash. Strange had previously used the Time Stone to see 14,000,605 possible outcomes for the conflict against Thanos, and we assume that the only one where they succeed is the current one. So we always knew what was going to happen in Endgame, as it was the only way to win against Thanos … eventually.
“Whenever we do another [Doctor Strange] which we will do, it will be a number of years from the first Strange,” “ Marvel President Kevin Feige told Cinema Blend in June, “and yet he’s a very big part of Infinity War.”
Avengers: Endgame has a huge gap to fill by resurrecting at least Stephen Strange and Peter Parker, but probably all of the other characters lost in the Decimation as well. So is this really a huge spoiler — or just an indication that Marvel Studios should stop pretending all those heroes are actually gone for good?
Avengers: Endgame is scheduled for release on April 26, 2019.
Related video: Check out this mind-blowing ‘Avengers: Endgame’ theory.
