Doctor Strange 2: Let's Talk About That Cameo

If you haven’t seen Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, check your local Regal or AMC Theaters and come back to us later. Those of you that have already watched, we’ve got some things to discuss. The next phase in the Disney/Marvel universe has been strongly pushing the multiverse and Doctor Strange is no different. Hints were dropped in WandaVision, Loki and Sylvie broke in in Loki, and Doctor Strange took us on a journey through it. However, there’s one part of the movie that has fans divided.

First, before we even get into the cameo that has everyone talking, Doctor Strange 2 seems to have missed its mark. Not in a way that made it a bad movie, but the trailer and promise of the multiverse had me going in with different expectations. While it did play well to certain horror elements, the trailer touches on Strange’s dreams/nightmares that connect to other multiverses. That’s where it ends though. The movie touches on it briefly but it doesn’t play a big role in the overall plot. Expectations were that he’d keep seeing these dreams and different versions of himself, and it was only a snapshot in the overall plot. Wanda took up more screen time than the multiverse did. But overall, the movie advanced the concept of the multiverse allowing more opportunities going forward.

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Now, on to the multiverse that has everyone talking, we finally get a glimpse of a multiverse that consists of the Marvel Illuminati. While everyone and their brother correctly guessed they would show up in this film, the members were the big reveal. More specifically, it seems most fans got their wish with John Krasinski finally appearing as Mr. Fantastic hopefully setting up the future movie. That’s where fans start dividing.

While there’s been a long fan push for Krasinksi as Reed Richards since he’s almost a dead ringer, some in the fan world claim Marvel gave in to fan service. It’s a weird concept to me because aren’t these movies made for the fans? I get the sentiment that Marvel started off shying away from A-list actors in their roles, but that was before it blew up into a cultural phenomenon.

The problem where the naysayers are wrong is seeing John Krasinski as Jim from The Office still. Those of us who are die-hard entertainment lovers have seen his growth beyond The Office with roles such as A Quiet Place and Jack Ryan. It’ll be nice to see him back in those lighter roles that are more family-friendly and can stretch his legs as an actor, pun intended. The only real problem with Krasinksi in Doctor Strange would be if they set up the role and then pulled it back leaving it just as a cameo from another multiverse. Marvel has a Fantastic 4 movie in the works and there’s no better time to give fans what they want. Fantastic 4 has struggled to find footing in cinematic form, why wouldn’t Disney/Marvel want a fan service to draw interest.