Doctor Strange star Benedict Wong recently left a lot of fans baffled with a new photo taken from the set of the upcoming Avengers 4. The actor took to Instagram with a bizarre image showing the application of prosthetics to the back of his head. As a Master of the Mystics Arts, we’re pretty used to Wong bending reality, but this feels weird even by his standards.
As fans scrambled for an answer to why in the world Wong will need a layer of removable head skin for next year’s release, one theory emerged which suggests that maybe Benedict Wong isn’t really playing Wong, but rather someone who looks an awful lot like him.
See for yourself below:
To expand a little, those keeping track of the upcoming Captain Marvel will know that the big screen debut of Carol Danvers is set to officially introduce Skrulls into the MCU. These shape-shifting creatures have been the cause of many a fan theory due to their ability to take the forms of other living beings. Some are therefore suggesting that Benedict could actually be playing a Skrull disguised as Wong, and that this creepy skin effect will feature as part of a transformation sequence as the extra-terrestrial being moves between forms.
While we’ve had plenty of similar theories that accuse other members of the MCU of being Skrulls, Wong certainly seems like one of the more credible candidates for a sneaky switcheroo, seeing how he’s been off-camera ever since his brief appearance near the start of Avengers: Infinity War. Still, what makes this theory a little hard to buy is that Avengers 4 will already have a pretty formidable villain in Thanos, not to mention a ridiculously huge cast of famed heroes. To bring further villains like a Wong Skrull into the action would likely overcomplicate a movie that surely isn’t going to be lacking in plot threads.
That being said, if this is the route that Marvel plans to go down, and they really do intend on giving us more than just the Mad Titan as an antagonist, then you can bet that Captain Marvel will offer some clues when it comes out on March 8th, 2019, followed by Avengers 4 on May 3rd.