Doctor Strange 2 has been raging across theaters all over the globe. It has brought in some of the classic heavyweights from previous Non-MCU Marvel Movies. reed Richards and Professor X are a part of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Doctor Strange 2 had a plethora of important MCU debut appearances but it could have had a lot more, and we mean the X-Men. According to Doctor Strange 2 writer Michael Waldron, there was a fairly surprising reason why Doctor Strange 2 didn’t have more of the X-Men despite having Patrick Stewart play Charles Xavier.
And to be honest, we find the excuse not up to the mark. Michael Waldron may have tried his best to justify it but there is no way it makes up for the lack of X-Men in Doctor Strange 2.
Why Fans Wanted Doctor Strange 2 To Have The X-Men
Ever since the Disney-Fox merger fused the two greatest Hollywood giants into one entity. the MCU had played coy with the idea of bringing in Fox’s marvel properties to the big screens. Fox Studios owned the rights to various Marvel properties that eventually went back to the Mouse house. The Fantastic Four and the X-Men are all MCU property now. They are free to use them. And all of those superheroes are A-listers in the comic book world. Unlike Iron Man and Thor, B-list heroes Marvel was forced to rely on, Fox had access to premium Marvel property.
Doctor Strange 2 was the perfect movie for the X-Men to finally make their much anticipated debut. Since Professor X was already in it, the movie could have easily shown us more mutant heroes in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Sadly, the X-Men never made it to Doctor Strange 2. And we finally know why.
Doctor Strange 2 Writer Explains Why There Were No Mutants
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Michael Waldron – Multiverse of Madness scribe, opened up about the possibility of mutants and the X-Men in MCU. He opened up about how Marvel was considering adding more mutants into Doctor Strange 2 but decided against it.
Yeah, we talked about House of M, and there’s plenty of examples of Wanda doing bad things throughout the comics in an effort to get her kids back. But ultimately this story didn’t need mutants to be powerful, I guess was our feeling. And, you know, wherever that lies on the timeline for the MCU, it didn’t feel like this was the right place to introduce it — because then it suddenly would have just been about mutants. And this is really a story about Wanda and her grief and her descent into darkness in this movie.
Doctor Strange 2 Almost Featured House Of M
House of M is an iconic X-Men story arc which showed the Scarlet Witch using her reality warping abilities to create a utopia. It was all in her insane quest to deal with the grief of losing her children. The House of M comic book arc is one of the most definitive X-Men arcs in Marvel Comics and would have been a great addition to MCU. Michael Waldron admits that the production team decided not to use House of M because the “story didn’t need mutants to be powerful.”
Michael Waldron Hints The Illuminati Are Coming Back
In the same interview, the Doctor Strange 2 writer also confirms that Marvel Studios is not done with the Illuminati. Universe-838 will return in some form in future MCU movies. But in what way would the Illuminati make a comeback is up for debate. Waldron states and we quote:
“I don’t think there’s anything that’s just a fan service moment. We worked really hard to treat Universe 838 as a real place. I mean, it’s another universe they go to and now there’s going to be real consequences as to what happened in there.
So, you know, is that a universe that we’ll revisit and see other stories in one day? I don’t know, perhaps? I hope so. It was our hope that it felt like a real enough place that it could be. And so, I always felt that the worst way to approach the multiverse was to do it in a way where each different universe felt like a sketch and not a real, lived-in place where there weren’t real stakes for what happened.”
So if professor X is dead, maybe the next X-Men leader (perhaps Cyclops or Wolverine) would take his place in the Illuminati?
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now playing in theaters near you.
