Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnesscame with its fair share of twists and turns. The first film to traverse through the multiverse was like a 101 lesson for fans concerning how alternate realities would factor into the MCU from now on. The film first gave a major turn of events when Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch was revealed to be the true villain of the film. In the movie, Wanda wishes to take America Chavez’s powers to travel to another reality to reunite with her kids. This sends Strange and Chavez on a course through the multiverse to stop Wanda.
And just as we thought, the Multiverse of full of surprises. Not only does the film feature multiple variants of the film’s central characters, but also the famousIlluminati from the comics. The sequence set on Earth-838 involvedseveral cameos, with a particular one the most surprising. When Strange is taken in cuffs, he is introduced to the group’s members. One of them is Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic of The Fantastic Four. Giving fans a delight, the character was portrayed by John Krasinski. The actor, whofans wanted to play the character for years, also shared the screen with Elizabeth Olsen in a “very crucial scene”.
However, turns out that the two have never met. In a recent interview withVanity Fair, Elizabeth Olsen went under a lie-detector test. In the test, she was shown a picture of Krasinski and asked ifhe was the smartest man alive, to which she replies that she doesn’t know him or had ever met him.
I hate to say it, I hope I don’t sound ridiculous, I don’t know who this man is. I mean, he could be walking down the street, and I wouldn’t know a thing. Sorry to this man. I’ve met his wife, though.
Catch the part where Olsen discussed Krasinski in the interview here.
Turns out, despite sharing the screen, the actress never met any of the actors who played the members of the Illuminati. Calling it “Movie Magic”, Elizabeth confirmed truly in the lie detector that the sequence was put together through visual effects. It could be the differences in actors’ schedules or maybe Marvel wanted to keep things truly secret this time, to avoid leaks as happened withSpider-Man: No Way Home.
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The Illuminati Sequence Made Things ‘Crazy’ For MCU
The Illuminati members included several surprise appearances. Krasinski’s appearance as Reed Richards possibly confirms that he’ll play the character in the upcomingFantastic Four. I personally would have likedFantastic Fourto be an exciting origin film, but Marvel decided to show Richards as Mister Fantastic in advance for a small glimpse, therefore, casting shadows on where and howFantastic Fourwould take these characters and the franchise.
As for other facets of the franchise,the Illuminati sequence also featuredPatrick Stewart as Charles Xavier in an alternate version of the character from that in theX-Men Franchise. That may or may not lead to the introduction of mutants in the MCU. Also appearing in the scene was Anson Mount as Blackagar Boltagon/Black Bolt, reprising his role fromInhumans. With that, the film also gave the canceled TV show a place in the multiverse. The scene also featured Lashana Lynch as Captain Marvel and Hayley Atwell as Captain Carter; the latter reprising her role fromWhat If…?
Marvel Studios marketed the film well on the secret concerning these appearances pretty well but none of them gave any concrete evidence of their future in the MCU andneither promised a storyline to continue. Marvel decided to kill every single one of them, including Krasinski’s Richards, leaving fans distraught. The studio kept the secret well hidden until the premier and the audience was thrilled to see these characters on-screen, though they didn’t meet each other.
Marvel Studios has too many stories to fit in now given Kevin Feige and the team now have all the rights to Fox’s characters as well as creative control over storylines that we saw in Marvel Television productions.Multiverse of Madnessgave a glimpse of how Feige wishes to continue these stories under his banner, and hopefully, it won’t be too long before these characters take shape again.
