Original plans called for Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson to return for the sequel. The 2016 movie boasted visuals unlike anything we'd seen in the MCU before and delivered a clever final act which, while still heavy on VFX, played around with the concept of time in a way that largely bucked the trend of Marvel Studios' expected VFX-dominated third act battles.
Unfortunately, creative differences led to Derrickson parting ways with Marvel Studios. Fans didn't have long to be disappointed, though, as Spider-Man trilogy director Sam Raimi was soon enlisted to replace him. Loki writer Michael Waldron also came on board to rewrite Jade Halley Bartlett's (Miller's Girl) screenplay...and was still writing when cameras were rolling.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ended up being something of a mess, with reshoots changing the fates of key characters and some - Rintrah, who featured heavily in merchandise, for example - left mostly on the cutting room floor.
As for the Illuminati, that lineup was changed again and again in the build to the sequel's 2022 release.
Today, scooper @MyTimeToShineH has shared some insights into what was originally planned for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (we're assuming this was when Derrickson was still on board) and it sounds a little less divisive.
"As some of you know I have access to early information through concept art. So here's what the original plan was for Multiverse of Madness," they begin. "The movie initially started with Wanda as a hero and not a villain. The original antagonist was Nightmare and Wanda was supposed to help Doctor Strange reach and defeat him."
The prolific leaker adds, "However Feige and Waldron decided to change the storyline. Waldron who hadn't watched WandaVision really wanted to make Wanda the antagonist. This led to a complete overhaul of the plot. At one point, Chthon was also going to play a significant role in the film but Feige wanted to save that for later (possibly for a Scarlet Witch movie)."
This lines up with much of what we've heard about early plans for the Doctor Strange follow-up and arguably sounds like a better movie, even if those Multiversal elements would have been sidelined.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness remains an odd movie in many ways; despite feeling like an important chapter in the Multiverse Saga, it was largely standalone, referencing the events of important stories like WandaVision and Spider-Man: No Way Home only in passing.
Talking last year, Derrickson said this about why he chose not to helm Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness:
"All I can say is that what we said publicly is exactly the truth. We had real creative differences. You know, the movie I wanted to make and how I wanted to make it was different than - it was just increasingly obvious that we were pulling against each other. And that’s how you make a really bad movie, I think. When the producer or the studio and the filmmaker are making different movies, you end up with a monstrosity and, you know, that’s why I had to bounce."
Do you think Marvel Studios made a mistake by not committing to Derrickson's version of the sequel?