As we gear up for MoM, there are a lot of rumors that are flying around.

Now, we love rumors here, as rumors lead to theories, and what’s Let’s Talk: Marvel Fan Theories without some good theories? But it can also be a confusing time for fans and it is easy to hop on the train of a rumor, allow the expectations to rise, and then watch the film and be disappointed when that one person didn’t show up (which would’ve been me if Andrew Garfield hadn’t shown up in NWH). So to help y’all out, we are doing a who is confirmed and rumored for Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.

Confirmed

To start off easy, let’s go with who we know. Now don’t hate me, but obviously, Dr. Strange is confirmed for his own movie. I just want to say it out loud so that no one questions me for not pointing it out. But on top of Dr. Strange, we do have a confirmed Evil Strange, soooo things just got complicated. It is unclear how many versions of Strange we will see, or if Evil Strange is similar to the one we see in What If?, so sit tight because it’s going to be insane.

The second big confirmation is Wanda returning as the Scarlet Witch. This one is obviously very interesting, as it will be her first film since we saw what took place in Westview. Her fate in this film, along with the side she takes, is certainly up for interpretation, but she will most definitely be playing a large role secondary to Strange.

Next, the Sorceror Supreme himself, Wong, is confirmed for the film. This is another clear one, as he was shown in the trailer, but c’mon, he’s the Sorceror Supreme! While this is going to be Strange’s movie, you couldn’t have Wong left out of the chaos of the Multiverse and whatever Wanda lets loose.

Two faces returning from the first Dr. Strange film are those of Christine and Mordo. Now, I have to say I was a little surprised that both were returning, especially for this film. Christine and Strange have been broken up (at least in this timeline), so at least here, her character seemed like it could be phased out. However, we may be seeing different versions of Christine, which very much would explain her return. As for Mordo, I didn’t expect him to be present yet in this film, but more so be the big bad of an additional Dr. Strange movie. There just seems to be so much happening with the Multiverse that Mordo being involved seems a little off, but doesn’t make me less excited to see him return with his evil agenda.

Finally, a new face added and confirmed by the trailer is America Chavez. Now her introduction makes sense here, as she is known for moving about the Multiverse. It will be even more interesting to see the role she plays past this film, as we right now have to assume the Multiverse is going to be coming to its’ culminating point in this movie.

Rumors

So I am just going to do this one off the bat, but obviously there is the huge rumor of Tom Cruise making a cameo as a variant of Tony Stark. This has been a very disputed topic, as many fans (especially Iron Man fans) would rather see RDJ return as a different version of Tony. In all honestly, I think the concept of having a variant of Iron Man would be cool, but I would also prefer RDJ taking a different route from his usual Tony. Although, one could argue that using Tom is a way to help distinguish him as a different Tony better and would fit a little more with most of the Loki and Spider-Man variants that we have seen so far.

Another running rumor is the appearance of one or more of the mutants. Now, these will most likely be the most recent set, as they are the most relevant and it doesn’t super matter because Hugh Jackman plays Wolverine in all of them. Personally, I would love to see Hugh as Wolverine one last time. There has also been a big rumor circling about a mutant taking on Wanda, which leads me to either Jane, Professor X, or Magneto since I truly think these are the only ones powerful enough to take her on. I think the most interesting of the bunch would be Magneto since in the comics he is Wanda’s father. This storyline may not hold true for our timeline, but it could easily be a storyline in a different one. The mutants making an appearance here would also most likely be how they make their official entrance into the MCU, as there has been no concrete proof that other mutants exist in the MCU at this time.

Since I already partially brought up NWH, a running theory has been the reappearance of either Tobey’s Spider-man or both his and Andrew’s. As a big Spidey fan, I would love to see it, but as a logical MCU fan, if you are going to bring in people for a massive movie full of cameos, I wouldn’t think they would bring back two they already had six months prior. They made NWH for the Spidey fans, and I think that it should live in its own bubble. As much as I love Tobey and Andrew, I think we should leave MoM cameos for some other characters that would blow our minds just as much as their cameos in NWH did.

An additional group that is rumored (and already slated to appear later in the MCU) is the Fantastic Four. Now, this is a weird rumor because it tends to run two different ways. One direction is that we will see the old Fantastic Four (aka the good one from the 2000s) and would feature Chris Evans again as the Human Torch. I, personally, would love this after having Chris as Cap all these years. Cap’s ending was less than desirable, so it would make me feel better about Chris’s ending in the MCU. But the other route is that the new cast of the Fantastic Four would make their debut, which I’m not sure how I feel about that. I just think that there is already so much that is going to be happening in this film that introducing the new Fantastic Four could just become muddled in everything else.

Lastly, some rumors have circulated around the return of Ghost Rider and the Punisher. While these would be some interesting cameos to see in MoM, I do think these would also be better set somewhere else or in their own guaranteed return. Of course, putting them both in for the most random 5 seconds like Daredevil in NWH would work like a charm, so we will see if that’s the route Marvel goes. I do think going about these two cameos any other way could just come across as awkward when you have so many other cameos to give more time to without taking away from the future possibilities of their characters.

I know I said ‘lastly’ but I guess I should probably mention one final cameo that has continued to be rumored since pretty much the beginning of MoM shooting. Loki. This man quite literally does not go away (and that’s totally okay). Loki’s cameo would make a ton of sense since he pretty much helped open the Multiverse completely. We have a mischievous god who is wandering around in time and storylines, it seems that his appearance in a film where both are heavily involved in the plot would be obvious. Out of all of these possibilities, I will say I actually think Loki would be the most likely cameo we will see. For one, Marvel doesn’t have to do any background with his character, he is already established and in (but not technically) our universe. Two, his show buts right up against everything MoM is about and he already has met Strange (except not this Loki, also technically). And honestly, there’s about a whole essay I could write on why in general he would make sense over some of these other rumors, but I’ll leave that for another time.

Now there are various other rumors that have circulated MoM, but there just simply isn’t enough time to talk about and entertain them all. I tried to talk about the biggest of the big, the ones who have the most footing and would be fitting to the film. Who knows what we are going to get, but we do love speculating. As we start to gear up for an exciting two months with Moonknight, Morbius, and MoM, remember to keep up with all the content and all of our own material to be gaining the full experience, as Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”, Cooper Hood, Screen Rant