For the longest time, we heard that Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange would be a huge part of the next Avengers movies. Supposedly, the Sorcerer Supreme's actions throughout the Multiverse would lead to him being branded a threat to all reality by Kang the Conqueror.
The tepid response to Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and Jonathan Majors' firing following an altercation with his now-ex-girlfriend led to Marvel Studios scrapping plans for Kang. Instead, Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom will serve as the Multiverse Saga's big bad.
As a result, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty has become Avengers: Doomsday...and Doctor Strange has been dropped from the movie!
Talking to Variety, Cumberbatch confirmed that he won't appear in the 2026 movie before saying, "Is that a spoiler? F*** it!" He'd later tell the trade that plans changed after Majors' firing and the former Sorcerer Supreme's absence from Doomsday is down to "the character not aligning with this part of the story."
On the plus side, Strange will be "in a lot" of Avengers: Secret Wars, the Russo Brothers' follow-up to Doomsday and the Multiverse Saga's grand finale. We'd bet on that having something to do with him and Clea heading off to deal with an Incursion.
The piece also confirms that Doctor Strange 3 is officially in the works, with Cumberbatch revealing, "He’s quite central to where things might go... They are very open to discussing where we go next. Who do you want to write and direct the next one? What part of the comic lore do you want to explore so that Strange can keep evolving?"
"He’s a very rich character to play," the actor continued. "He’s a complex, contradictory, troubled human who’s got these extraordinary abilities, so there’s potent stuff to mess about with."
It's been widely assumed that pretty much every MCU character will be part of these movies. However, if even a major player like Doctor Strange is absent from Doomsday, we can't discount the possibility that this battle with Doctor Doom will be a little smaller in scale than first imagined.
Then again, the casts of Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps have both been confirmed for the movie, as has Tom Holland's Spider-Man. With that in mind, it really may be as simple as Strange just not having a place in a story most fans expect to end with the creation of Battleworld.
The big question now is whether Marvel Studios intends to get Doctor Strange 3 in theaters before Avengers: Secret Wars. You can hear from the actor about his reaction to learning Downey had been cast as Doom by clicking here.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released in May 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive in May 2027.