Don’t expect the Winter Soldier, or even any of his variants from across the multiverse, to appear in Doctor Strange 2. The Benedict Cumberbatch sequel — which sports the cumbersome full title of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — has its work cut out for it in delivering something even bigger than Spider-Man: No Way Home. One way fans are expecting it to do that is to stuff itself full of cameos and crossovers.
This has led to the situation becoming more of a game of “who’s not in the movie?” than “who is?” And it sounds like we have one more to cross off the list, as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier star Sebastian Stan has outright confirmed that he won’t be donning Sergeant Barnes’ bionic arm again in this one. In an interview with Collider, Stan claimed ignorance over when he’ll next be seen in the MCU.
“I’d be curious to see what the next interesting that we could tell with him would be, and as you well know, that is above my pay grade,” the actor said. “There are far wiser men and women who are making those decisions.”
When specifically asked if he might show up in Marvel’s next movie, Doctor Strange 2, Stan was quick to clear up any rumors.
“I am not in Dr. Strange 2,” Stan stressed. “I promise.”
Everyone has been rumored to be in Multiverse of Madness at some point, but Bucky isn’t one of those who has been concretely linked to the film, so Stan’s denial adds up and seems like something we can trust. But, then again, Andrew Garfield continually ruled out the possibility he was in No Way Home, and we now know that was a whopper of a white lie, so who knows, really.
The first trailer was careful not to give away much about the Sam Raimi production. It offered our first look at Scarlet Witch’s return, but we knew about that already. Its biggest reveal was the confirmation of Doctor Strange Supreme making the jump to live-action, but considering this is another character played by Cumberbatch, all of its secret cameos remain under wraps for now.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opens in theaters from May 6.