We were sure of so many things about WandaVision back in the day — Evan Peters was 100% back as the Foxverse’s Quicksilver, Agatha would turn out to be working for Mephisto and, oh, Doctor Strange was definitely going to turn up in the finale to tee up Scarlet Witch’s return in Multiverse of Madness. Well, we were wrong on all three counts, but in our defense, there were plans for Benedict Cumberbatch to cameo as Stephen Strange.
The exact nature of his cut cameo has always alluded us, however, until now. Thanks to some whip-smart detective work from Marvel fans, we now know how Doctor Strange’s appearance in the WandaVision finale would’ve come about. Dedicated Scarlet Witch lovers studied the Elizabeth Olsen episode of Marvel’s MPower series (which can sadly no longer be viewed on Disney Plus in the U.S.) and discovered that some behind-the-scenes footage from the WV writers’ room reveals more than Marvel realized.
A closer look at one of the notes pinned to the wall, that breaks down an early version of the series finale reveals that the synopsis states that “Agatha puts Monica in basement, binds her with dark magic.” Then, “Agatha hears same sound as twins, opens mirror dimension in closet and reveals Dr. Strange trapped!”
Kevin Feige has previously admitted that Cumberbatch was contracted to make a small appearance in WandaVision, but the Marvel prez ultimately felt this would’ve done a disservice to the character of Wanda in her own show. “It would have taken away from Wanda, which is what we didn’t want to do,” Feige explained. “We didn’t want the end of the show to be commoditized to go to the next movie — here’s the white guy, ‘Let me show you how power works.’”
On the back of this new information, though, it seems likely that story clashes with Doctor Strange 2 may also have played into the decision, as Strange being trapped in the Mirror Dimension by Agatha for a stretch of time would have to have affected where he starts out in his sequel. And we all know that the movie has enough continuity issues with WandaVision as it is.
All in all, crossover cameos are fun, but in this case, Marvel Studios was probably right to take a good look in the mirror (dimension) and delete Doctor Strange.