It’s been a week now since Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hit theaters. The film is a real hit at the box office, even making the 11th best start of all time and the 5th for an MCU film, after obviously Avengers Endgame, Avengers Infinity War, Spider-Man No Way Home and Captain Marvel. In France, this Dr Strange 2 has already accumulated more than 1.5 million admissions after its first weekend of operation and we imagine that the success should continue for a few more weeks. This thunderous launch is obviously reminiscent of that of Spider-Man No Way Home which was the first film to explore the Multiverse, a theme which seems to be the new key to the success of the MCU, since it can now integrate many cameos. It is indeed a scriptwriting mechanism inherited from comic books and which makes it possible to achieve the craziest, even the most inconceivable things, such as bringing dead heroes to life, or proposing variants with different actors, for example.
Precisely, concerning Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, many rumors and other theories had anticipated the arrival of known actors in unexpected roles a few months before the release of the film. Patrick Stewart in the role of Professor Xavier for example, Lashana Lynch as a variant of Captain Marvel, John Krazinski in the role of Reed Richards, or Mr Fantastic, but also a certain Tom Cruise who would put on the armor of a new Iron Man, the Superior version. Many clues suggested that the 59-year-old American actor could take over the role, since the latter had been asked in 2008 to become the Tony Stark of the MCU long before the choice fell on Robert Downey Jr. If in the end, Tom Cruise does not appear in Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, his name was however mentioned internally at Marvel Studios, with even an attempt to hire the actor. It was Michael Waldron, screenwriter of Dr Strange 2, who spilled the beans to Rolling Stone magazine by admitting that Tom Cruise was indeed scheduled for the casting, but that many obstacles prevented the star of Mission Impossible from being part of the film, and therefore of the MCU.
Yes, it was totally planned. I still specify that we did not shoot with Tom Cruise and that there is no image of him in the film. But I love the actor, and at one point I asked Kevin Feige if it was possible to have Tom Cruise as Iron Man. I remember reading that in “Ain’t It Cool News” at the time, that Tom Cruise was going to be Iron Man. But Kevin Feige replied that he was unfortunately busy shooting Mission Impossible 7 and 8.
To take the conversation further, the Rolling Stone reporter asked if anyone at Marvel Studios at least took the time to reach out to Tom Cruise to offer him the opportunity, but unfortunately nothing came of it. been considered due to its unavailability. It must indeed be remembered that Tom Cruise takes on the role of actor and producer on Mission Impossible 7 & 8, knowing that he has an eye on other aspects of his diptych. A total involvement which therefore cooled Marvel Studios at the idea of seriously offering him the role. But as everyone knows, nothing is fixed, and with this idea of the Multiverse which has been exploited, nothing tells us that Tom Cruise would not be approached for another film. Nothing is impossible at Marvel…
