The original writer of Doctor Strange has shared some exciting details about what he and director Scott Derrickson originally had planned for a sequel, as well ideas that were dropped during development on the first movie. C. Robert Cargill has been a frequent Derrickson collaborator, having written the screenplays for Sinister, Doctor Strange, The Black Phone, The Gorge, and the upcoming Black Phone 2. When Derrickson departed Marvel Studios, it appears he took with him an interesting pitch for what the Strange sequel might have been.
Speaking with The Direct at the Black Phone 2 premiere, Cargill revealed that he and Derrickson’s original plans for Doctor Strange and the planned sequel that eventually morphed into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness centered on the villain Nightmare. Stressing that he “was not involved in ‘Multiverse of Madness'” and pointing out that “I hadn’t been brought on yet before Scott decided to part ways,” Cargill shared that he and Derrickson discussed including Nightmare in a sequel early on, as it would have opened up the film to some incredible visuals. At one point, they considered Nightmare for the villain of the first Doctor Strange movie, but Marvel convinced them to hold off, saying, “That’s more of a second movie character.” Cargill said:
“Me and Scott [Derrickson] like playing around with alternate realities and dream logic and things like that. We’re big fans of that kind of psychonaut kind of space, going deep in your own dreams and the like. And so, we wrote some stuff for the first film [that] we wanted to try to incorporate in the second film of just that dream world, and Doctor Strange having to do battle with this guy who is the master of dreams, and the reality is his whims. And so, we were playing around with that kind of stuff…But yeah, Nightmare is such a great character, and I hope they get to play around with him someday. I’d love to go back and write a Nightmare script for them.”
How ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Could Have Turned Out Differently
Nightmare was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and first appeared in Strange Tales #110 in July 1963, and has been one of Doctor Strange’s most consistent enemies ever since. One of the Fear Lords, along with the Dweller in Darkness seen in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Nightmare is the ruler of the Dream Dimension and can drain the psychic energies from the subconscious minds of dreaming beings. It seems that for the first Doctor Strange movie, he was intended to be the shadowy big bad who, in the finished film, eventually became Dormammu.
It seems that the idea of Nightmare as a villain was one of the major elements lost when Derrickson departed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The villain was part of Derrickson’s initial pitch when he was announced as the director at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, and the original plan was for him to be the primary antagonist before Scarlet Witch turned up in the third act. Derrickson departed the film in January 2020, replaced by Sam Raimi. During the production delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, screenwriter Michael Waldron reworked the script and dropped Nightmare, instead making Scarlet Witch the main villain from the beginning.
Nightmare is still on the table for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though it might be some time until the franchise brings him to the big screen. With all attention focused on Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, fans are wondering whether Doctor Strange 3 will be the MCU film released in July 2027, between the two Avengers films, or delayed until after the Multiverse Saga concludes. It’s currently unknown whether Benedict Cumberbatch will appear in Avengers: Doomsday, though given his character was last seen in the Multiverse of Madness mid-credits scene, where he went with Clea (Charlize Theron) to explore the Multiverse, it seems likely he’ll be a major player. Nightmare is certainly a large-scale threat that could be saved for whatever’s being planned for the films after Secret Wars.
- Release Date
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May 6, 2022
- Runtime
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126 minutes
- Director
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Sam Raimi
- Writers
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Michael Waldron
- Producers
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Jamie Christopher, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Scott Derrickson, Victoria Alonso
- Sequel(s)
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Doctor Strange 3
