Benedict Cumberbatch teases Doctor Strange return “next year”

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) may be gone, but Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) has done his best to fill the void as a mainstay of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, tying together stories through his omnipresence.

So far, Cumberbatch has made six big screen appearances in the MCU, including two solo movies. He also made an animated appearance in an episode of What If…? on Disney+.

Currently, there are no new solo Doctor Strange movies in the pipeline, but Strange could still pop up in other projects. For instance, there are two more Avengers movies on the way — Secret Wars and The Kang Dynasty — so it’s safe to assume he’ll have a role to play in at least one of those.

As for exactly when we’ll next see the sorcerer supreme on our screens, we don’t know for sure. However, Cumberbatch recently revealed that he’s got a Marvel project coming in 2024. “There are some Marvel capers in the making next year,” he told JW3 Speaker Series.

Perhaps this upcoming project has something to do with the post-credit scene from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. In that scene, Clea (Charlize Theron) jumped through a portal and requested Strange’s help with fixing something wrong in the multiverse.

Tom Holland “apprehensive” about returning as Spider-Man

So we know Doctor Strange is coming back. We’re still unsure about the future of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in the MCU. With No Way Home, which served as a climax to over a decade of Spider-Man movies, Holland completed a movie trilogy. We know that a fourth outing is in the works… but that’s pretty much all we know.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Holland talked about potentially continuing the series. “The first few meetings were about, ‘Why would we do this again?’ And I think we found the reason why. I’m really, really happy with where we’re at in terms of the creative,” he said.

That said, he’s “a little apprehensive” after the success of the first trilogy. Once you hit the top, there’s nowhere to go but down. “I feel like we hit a home run with our first franchise, and there’s a part of me that wants to walk away with my head held high and pass the baton to the next lucky kid that gets to bring this character to life,“ Holland admitted.

Spider-Man 4 is currently in the works at Sony and Marvel Studios.

Shang-Chi 2 is in development, but keeps getting delayed

We also haven’t heard much about a sequel to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which was a hit when it came out in 2021. The movie positioned Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) as one of the new pillars of the MCU, and a sequel is in the works…it’s just taking longer than expecting.

Per THR, Liu wrote on Threads that Shang-Chi 2 “keeps pushing back due to circumstances beyond my control.”

Those circumstances probably involve the ongoing Hollywood writers strike and possibly the accusations of abuse leveled against Jonathan Majors, who plays Kang, who is supposed to be the franchise’s next big villain. Still, Liu said that another Shang-Chi movie is due out after one or both of the new Avengers films we mentioned above.

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