The following article contains spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Marvel movies have perfected the art of the cameo, whether it was the late Stan Lee being seamlessly or obviously being put into scenes for comedic effect, or that very first time Samuel L. Jackson popped up in Iron Man to kick off the movie industry’s mightiest force. So perhaps that is why it’s so perplexing to see Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness struggle so much to nail its highly-anticipated crossovers.
It’s here where the first line must be drawn as not all crossovers are cameos the same way not all cameos are crossovers. Hawkeye in Thor is a cameo crossover, Matt Damon in Thor: Ragnarok is a brief cameo, while any team-up film is the definitive crossover; it sounds dumb when said out loud, yet it’s that very simplicity that makes the Doctor Strange’s sequel choices so odd, especially after some very revealing trailers.
What Makes A Good Marvel Cameo
For years, Marvel chief Kevin Feige has said that MCU cameos or crossovers must serve a purpose. In the case of Lee’s past appearances, it was funny fan service, when it was J.K. Simmons in Far From Home, it signaled the impeding mess Spider-Man and Doctor Strange would cause in No Way Home. For the second variety, cameos must serve a specific purpose within the story, it’s the reason why Spider-Man doesn’t lend a hand to Sam and Bucky in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s New York finale as Peter Parker wouldn’t really bring anything to the Captain America adventure.
With that premise in mind, one would think that Professor X’s impending arrival would mean that Doctor Strange 2 was to be the film that finally brought the X-Men to the MCU, if not then why waste the time and talent of Sir Patrick Stewart? Well, as many fans have found out, Charles Xavier’s appearance in Doctor Strange lasts very little, definitely echoing more of an Evan Peters’ Pietro Maximoff in WandaVision, as he is brutally murdered by Wanda.
The rest of the Illuminati lineup suffers exactly the same fate as Wanda effortlessly takes them down like a hot knife goes through butter, resulting in just few minutes of wondering what if the mainline MCU truly adopted the What If…? series. To make matters worse, these are not small cameos. Sure many moviegoers’ might not know who the Inhumans’ Black Bolt even is, but a character like Captain Carter who enjoys growing popularity thanks to the relative cinema drought Marvel endured due to the pandemic perhaps deserves a little more.
Then of course is Mr. Fantastic, played by fan-favorite fantasy casting John Krasinski, whose stringy death has more worrying consequences. It is really epic to see the leader of the Fantastic Four show up in the MCU, but getting killed off so quickly deprives both the audience and the actor to get a real feel for the character.
Everything That’s Wrong With Doctor Strange’s Cameos
In case it’s not sufficiently clear, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness features some pretty inconsequential cameos. The entire sequence where Stephen is briefed on exactly what his variant did in the Illuminati’s universe could have easily been handled by a single living member, say Professor X, thus not robbing fans of the opportunity of seeing these characters in live action for the first time somewhere down the line.
Playing devil’s advocate, one could argue that between Michael Waldron and Sam Raimi’s penchant for horror, they would want to include these beloved characters precisely so that they could be killed off, possibly as a way to illustrate the full might of the Scarlet Witch’s powers, a valid narrative argument for sure. However, that thesis loses some ground when one has to entertain the idea that, for all its creativity, Marvel and Disney sure love indulging in fan service.
Ultimately, the desire to lure fans with the promise of delivering Marvel “Wow” moments is what appears to fuel Doctor Strange 2’s cameos, save for Charlize Theron’s Clea at the end, who mirrors a more typical MCU reveal. In Professor X’s case, it’s fine, as it’s doubtful Marvel Studios would cast him in the role for the long run. Nonetheless, Krasinski’s intro is more worrying.
It’s unlikely that next Krasinski will play the character exactly the same next time, as his Reed Richards screams of a cockier version of Jim from The Office in what little time he had, and the multiversal storyline does allow for him to fine-tune his performance in the future. Nevertheless, first impressions carry a lot of weight, and Mr. Fantastic’s showing features the smartest man in the world failing to properly assess Wanda’s threat and getting literally shredded by her, so not a good look for him.
Out of every not-so-surprising appearance, Lashana Lynch seems like the biggest winner to come out from Doctor Strange, especially ahead of possible flashbacks in The Marvels, because unlike Captain Carter fans don’t have to worry if they’ll ever see her again.
Doctor Strange 2 is still an entertaining movie, its cameos are fun, but regardless of that, Marvel seems to have betrayed itself by giving fans a few minutes' worth of Illuminati that got killed off just for kicks.