Marvel Studios has yet to announce a director for what could well be shaping up to be the biggest MCU movie of all time, Avengers: Secret Wars, but a new rumor is now claiming that Kevin Feige and co. might be zeroing in on the filmmaker behind a recent MCU sequel.
A previous report indicated that the studio may have been looking at tried and tested directors behind some of the most popular and successful movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to ensure the hugely ambitious project is in safe hands, including Jon Favreau (Iron Man) and Ryan Coogler (Black Panther).
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton - who is set to helm Avengers: The Kang Dynasty - is also said to have pitched them on him staying on to handle the follow-up.
However, according to MTTSH, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' Sam Raimi has emerged as the studio's "top choice."
The Doctor Strange sequel was met with pretty good reviews (73% on Rotten Tomatoes), and while it did prove to be somewhat divisive among MCU fans, it went on to take in over $950 million worldwide. Of course, Raimi also helmed the original Spider-Man trilogy, which proved to be incredibly successful.
In the Multiverse of Madness screenwriter Michael Waldron was hired to pen the script late last year, but we have no idea how much - if any - progress has been made since then, and a recent rumor indicated that he'd actually parted ways with the project.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania's Jeff Loveness is also said to have stepped away (or asked to step away) from with The Kang Dynasty, so, if accurate, it sounds like the studio may be going back to the drawing board on both massively-scaled Avengers movies.
We still don't know what to expect from the plot of Secret Wars, but some pretty wild rumors have been doing the rounds.
In Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the MCU unlocks the Multiverse and pushes its boundaries further than ever before. Journey into the unknown with Doctor Strange, who, with the help of mystical allies both old and new, traverses the mind-bending and dangerous alternate realities of the Multiverse to confront a mysterious new adversary.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, with Michael Stühlbarg, and Rachel McAdams. The film is directed by Sam Raimi, and Kevin Feige is the producer. Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Eric Hauserman Carroll and Jamie Christopher serve as executive producers. The screenplay was written by Michael Waldron.
The Doctor Strange sequel is now streaming on Disney+.