‘Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness’ Mastered The Art Of The Misdirect
Benedict Wongwas on the red carpet last night for theworld premiereofShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.In the film, he reprises his role as Wong fromDoctor Strangeand, apparently, fights the Abominationin a cage match.
We’re still two weeks away fromShang-Chi’s theatrical release, but, as is the case with most movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, inquiring minds want to know about the next one before they’ve even had a chance to sit all the way through this one. People are already looking ahead to next year’sDoctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness,and Marvel Studios knows that. While speaking to Marvel Entertainment on the red carpet, Wong revealed (to Marvel?) that it is taking a multiverse approach with filming theDoctor Strangesequel, to avoid spoilers from leaking.
Below, you’re able to see the full video (viaScreenRant) of Wong jawing with Marvel aboutShang-ChiandDoctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. He talks about how he’s glad to not be the only Asian in the MCU anymore and teases that, in the post-Avengers: Endgamemovie landscape, Wong will “start to relieve himself of his librarian duties.”
Here’s what he had to say about the secondDoctor Strangefilm when the subject of it came up:
“I think it should be called Doctor Strange and the Multi-Schedule. You know, with the amount of…honestly, we literally didn’t know…sometimes you’d have, like, three versions of doing various different scenes, Covid-permitting. So yeah, we’re nearly there, we’re nearly finished.”
A Multiverse of Scenes
Shooting multiple versions of key scenes to throw spoiler hounds off the scent isn’t a new practice in Hollywood. The first time I remember hearing about such a thing was back in 2008 whenLostfilmed alternate takes of the famouscoffin revealin its season 4 finale. Three different actors took turns lying back in the coffin — and if you watched the show, then you know they weren’t all piled on top of each other likestacked dead actorsin a Foo Fighters song. Only one face made the final cut.
There may be other examples of this same practice from productions that pre-dateLost, but it’s something that has become more and more common with the onset of spoiler culture. Marvel itself employed a similar technique withAvengers: Infinity War.If you remember, there were trailers where we saw the Hulk running on the ground during the Battle of Wakanda.
Big surprise, then, when the Hulk was absent for most ofInfinity War.Instead, we saw Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) piloting Iron Man’s Hulkbuster armor.Infinity Wardirectors Joe and Anthony Russo later admitted that the Hulk’s appearance in that trailer was a bit ofmovie marketing misdirection.
As it leans into the idea of alternate realities, it seems likeDoctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madnessmay be going a similar misdirection route. The movie is slated for aMarch 25, 2022release, whileShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringsflies into theaters onSeptember 3, 2021.
