Kevin Fiege tried to cast a memory spell to make us forget all the scenes that we know were gonna be in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness, but the memory still remains. Throughout this, we’ll be going through all the leaks that line up with the final release, the cameos that the creative team have talked about and the scenes that didn’t make the final cut. We know from interviews with both Sam Raimi and writer Michael Waldron that there were 40 minutes cut from the film and that the reshoots also did some things differently from what we got in the film.
Full spoilers ahead for what we got in the theatre as well so if you haven’t had a chance to check out the movie then I highly recommend that you click away now.
Plot Leaks Disclaimer
Now you might remember that last year we did a big video discussing the plot leaks for the film and now that the movie’s released, having gone back to these they were pretty much 90% right with some minor inconsistencies and added scenes. All the cameos, variants and how they die and the journey is there it’s just different details put in place for some parts that you can go check out if you want.
Just as a disclaimer for this stuff, in the build-up to a movie it’s actually not considered fair use to report on leaks that you know to be true which is why a lot of plot leak videos tend to have people in them saying ‘this apparently happens,’ ‘rumour has it’ and so on. However, if you say that things should be taken with a grain of salt you’re normally in the clear which is why a lot of my videos that turn out to be true still have this kind of language in it.
Mordo Deleted Scene
Now that the film is out I can say I know that there was a scene with Mordo in it in which he went to visit Wanda at the start of the movie. If you cast your mind back to the end of Doctor Strange then you’ll remember that the post-credits scene had him going out on a quest to kill the Wizarding World worse than Fantastic Beasts did.
In Multiverse Of Madness, Strange even mentions how Mordo has been trying to kill him when he meets the Illuminati version but this is something that we’ve never seen and it’s definitely not something that he would really know about as Mordo never really said anything along those lines at their last meeting.
Now Mordo was going to be the main villain that showed up in the introduction to the movie and he’d be used to demonstrate Wanda’s new ruthless attitude. He would go to attack her and she’d turn him to Moms Spaghetti, beheading him within seconds of his arrival. It was going to be a big way to start the movie that instantly cemented Wanda as the villain. From here we would then jump to the gap junction which is where we’d be introduced to America Chavez and Defender Strange.
Seeing the movie for myself I can definitely see why they cut this introduction as I much prefer learning the twist as Doctor Strange learns it. I think it would make the movie pretty clunky to have this open it, learn she’s bad, jump to the gap junction, then jump to the MCU then have Strange go to Wanda to learn what we found out 20 minutes before. Now, this also leaves Mordo’s fate out in the open and interestingly both he and the 838 version are still alive. Mordo 838 is the only surviving Illuminati member and perhaps they’ll be doing something with him in the future. Huge shoutouts to Josh from Den Of Nerds for pointing that out and it does leave a lot in the air for the future of the franchise.
Iron Man
Tom Cruise’s Iron Man is probably the biggest rumour that surrounded the movie before its release. Fueled by the Ultron Bots and the quick cut of Captain Marvel, many thought that this was in fact him instead of Lashana Lynch.
I might have said Mephisto was coming but at least I can die happy knowing that I never said Lashana Lynch was Tom Cruise.
Anyway, I’ll let that go, I’ve taken the p*** out of that enough.
Now I actually discussed this in a video and said how I had heard from multiple sources that he wasn’t gonna be in it but that I had also heard from some that I trusted that he was. Writer Michael Waldron discussed this rumour with Yahoo Entertainment. Initially, he said that Tom Cruise was indeed on the cards for a cameo but that they couldn’t get him due to scheduling conflicts with the Mission Impossible movies.
However, he did say that he was happy they got Hayley Atwell who is also starring in the upcoming M:I films.
I have actually heard that there have been conversations behind the scenes and that there are plans to have Cruise appear in some form as Tony Stark down the line. Much like John Krasinski, it’s a fan-casting that people want and with Waldron admitting he was brought up at one point it could be a possibility in a future film.
Deadpool
There were also discussions like this with Deadpool and in an interview with Comicbook.com the screenwriter discussed how they did talk about bringing in the merc with a mouth. However, they realised that due to the tone of the film that this wasn’t the right place to drop him in and ultimately scrapped him faster than Obidiah Stane knocks his tie out the way. Many people even thought they saw Deadpool on the poster for the movie but they got you again punks.
Balder The Brave
Now on top of this, there was also supposed to be an appearance by Balder The Brave which I’ve seen certain costume elements for. The Illuminati scene had six chairs in it and space for Professor X. Balder was originally supposed to be the seventh member but this has now kinda been brushed to the side with the empty chair being chalked up to belonging to Supreme Strange. However, Mordo overtook his position and this is because he wasn’t in the Illuminati beforehand which is why he didn’t appear on Titan along with the rest of the group.
During the fight with Wanda, Balder was going to be talked into ending his own life by the witch but this was apparently taken out so that the focus for this could be given to Black Bolt. Again it’s probably the better way to do things and there are already enough Illuminati members as it is so I can see why they cut things down for the final cut.
This is a similar situation to Captain Marvel who was originally supposed to appear at the end of Age Of Ultron. They even filmed scenes for this with a stand-in but they were removed for the final cut.
Now today there was a report from the Deadline which said that Daniel Craig was originally supposed to be playing Reed Richards. However, my sources told me about six months ago that he was actually playing Balder and they sent some photos of props across as evidence. I think Craig as Balder makes way more sense and recently when stuff was cut they stated they couldn’t understand why this was as he’s such a big name. However apparently Craig dropping out was due to a spike in pandemic cases so I think that’s why he was removed and replaced. Olsen recently dropped an interview stating that she’d never even met John Krasinski and I believe that he was someone propped up in the reshoots which is why his stuff looks a bit out of place. Probably shot on a green screen and then dropped in last minute in order to replace Craig who couldn’t make it to the film.
Other Characters
Namor too at one point was a member and we know that he will be appearing in the upcoming Black Panther Wakanda Forever film. In the comics, he, like Professor X, Reed and Strange, was a member of the Illuminati but Namor was cut for a specific reason. Feige apparently wanted to save his introduction for the upcoming Black Panther sequel and thus they removed him early on in the scripting process so that his debut wouldn’t be ruined.
Now Waldron also discussed how Dr. Nicodemus West was going to be in the Illuminati universe as well. Played by Michael Stuhlbarg, West pulls from the comics and in those he was a villain. In the MCU West was the one who operated on Strange’s hands after the crash and he also appears in this film at the wedding. He somewhat blames Strange for the death of his Cats and also his brother. He seems to accept that there was no other way but mocks Strange a bit by sarcastically saying he was the best surgeon and superhero. Stuhlbargs name even appeared on the poster so it was pretty clear he might have had more of a major role or that they were hiding the cameos.
Waldron stated that he worked at the Illuminati Headquarters in 838 and that he would mock Strange. When Wanda arrived to grab America he would be ripped apart with the rest of the Illuminati but he’d be killed offscreen.
Waldron said that he died like Samuel L Jackson in Jurassic Park and not like in Deep Blue Sea, though he said that would have amazing. Much like how Jackson’s Ray is killed off screen by a velociraptor only for a body part to later show up, West was going to be killed by Wanda and as Christine and America fled to an elevator the door would open and his head would roll out of it.
Newbies at Karmar-Taj
Now upon arriving at Karmar-Taj we get a whole host of new characters including Rhintrah and Sara.
These aren’t really expanded upon all that much in the film and if you didn’t know what comics they pulled from you’d probably be like ‘giant minotaur walking around…weird.’ There’s Funko Pops for them even though they probably get about 2 minutes of screen time combined.
The pair had much more expanded roles originally and Sara was actually teased at being a love interest for Wong. We do get somewhat of a nod towards this as it seems like the pair could be a bit close but any romantic feelings between them is completely skipped over. I dunno if it would be too much of a distraction to have in the movie and if we’d even have enough time to fully flesh out the feelings between the two.
It kinda also changes up the dynamics for the ending of the film as Wong says that he is pretty content with the way things are. He’s somewhat Happy, Happy Hogan in a way…wait bad example.
Deleted Scenes
Now Raimi did say that there would be three of the many deleted scenes included in the home release of the film and that he knew what there were. However, he wouldn’t tell us and I’m guessing that they’re still finalising what to put out there.
What would you have liked to have seen in the movie? Comment below and let me know.
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