Benedict Cumberbatch is staying tight-lipped about his presumed return to the MCU in next year’s Avengers: Endgame, but however the Russo Brothers plan to get him back in one piece after his unfortunate fate in Avengers: Infinity War, Scott Derrickson will be waiting to helm the Sorcerer Supreme’s next solo outing with Doctor Strange 2.
THR reports that the director of 2016’s Doctor Strange has “quietly finalized a deal” to work on the impending sequel, and that the search for a writer is about to get underway. And while the details pretty much end there, fans will probably be glad to see the same talent behind the first movie’s dazzling visuals back on board.
In the period since the Sinister helmsman first introduced Cumberbatch’s character to the MCU, the character has continued to draw attention for his role in the latest Avengers flick, with his talk of endgames and multiple futures helping to inspire approximately 14,000,605 fan theories.
What’s more, while Stephen Strange was a no-show in the recent Avengers: Endgame trailer, it’s already been confirmed by Cumberbatch’s co-star Tom Holland that he’ll have some dialogue about the Quantum Realm in next year’s release, which only figures seeing how the character briefly visited this mysterious place in his own movie. But putting all that aside, the fact that Endgame takes its name from one of Strange’s own lines is surely evidence enough that he’ll be showing up somewhere in the picture.
In any case, once Anthony and Joe Russo have had their fun with our hero, Derrickson will be taking things from there, and though we still have much to learn about Doctor Strange 2, don’t be surprised if the character plays an even more prominent role in Marvel’s Phase 4. After all, someone’s going to need to fill the void left by the inevitable casualties of Endgame.