An offhand statement from Sam Raimi appears to have just confirmed his involvement in the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness film.
Raimi, known for his work on the Evil Dead series and the original Spider-Man film trilogy (pre-dating the MCU), hasn’t touched superhero films in a long time. However, if a statement he made in an interview with ComingSoon.net is to be believed, he may finally be returning to the world of Marvel films.
“I loved Doctor Strange as a kid, but he was always after Spider-Man and Batman for me, he was probably at number five for me of great comic book characters,” Raimi explained. “He was so original, but when we had that moment in Spider-Man 2 I had no idea that we would ever be making a Doctor Strange movie, so it was really funny to me that coincidentally that line was in the movie. I gotta say I wish we had the foresight to know that I was going to be involved in the project.”
“We” would be making a Doctor Strange movie? Where did that come from? Well, back in January of 2016, director Scott Derrickson left the film’s production over creative differences. A month later, Sam Raimi entered talks to take over directing the sequel. This is the first we’ve heard about his involvement since then. If Raimi’s remark is to be believed, he’s stayed on the project and will be in the director’s chair once we hear more on the film.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness comes to theaters November 5th, 2021, assuming no delays take place. Raimi’s most recent directing work has included the Ash Vs. Evil Dead TV show and the short film The Black Ghiandola, so he hasn’t lost his chops just yet. Let’s hope that he leads the film well, and that his crew can stay safe.