Despite the fact that Doctor Strange was a huge box office success, we’ve heard nothing official about a sequel yet. Of course, with Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sorcerer Supreme set to appear in both Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War, the extremely busy actor not being able to immediately commit to a follow-up does make sense. So, with plenty of Doctor Strange in Phase 3, chances are that another solo adventure is at least a few years away, but director Scott Derrickson still sounds very keen to return to take the helm.
Asked in a recent interview to promote the movie’s home video release whether the next Doctor Strange movie could make use of horror elements seen in his other films, he replied with the following:
“I wouldn’t necessarily rule anything ou. That’s certainly where the comics went in the ’80s but I also think that was probably the weakest era of the comics. The alternate dimensions and possibilities of the multiverse that we set up with the first film already give limitless possibilities.
What I will say is that the goal would not be to underutilize that, or to create something that was less innovative than the first ‘Doctor Strange.’ The comics, especially the Lee/Ditko comics, were always pushing into unexpectedly weird places and storylines. That has continued on into the current Doctor Strange comics, which are really great. So anything’s possible with Doctor Strange, I wouldn’t rule anything out.”
There really are countless directions that Doctor Strange could go down after the debut of the Marvel Multiverse, but Nightmare has been mentioned enough at this point that it’s highly likely that we’ll see him make an appearance of some sort in the sequel. Should he make his presence felt, common sense says that Derrickson will get the opportunity to delve into some more horrific elements of the character, which would be a lot of fun for fans.
Of course, the studio may have other ideas, so we’re going to have to wait and see. After all, the sequel hasn’t even been announced yet, and if we aren’t going to see it until Phase 4, then everyone involved has plenty of time to figure out which direction to take things in when the Doctor Strange follow-up finally does reach the big screen.