The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s next film, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, will explore the consequences and dangers of tampering with the multiverse. And with surprise appearances by Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man: No Way Home, fans are speculating that the second Doctor Strange film will contain even more multiversal fun.
That belief was more or less confirmed when a new trailer for the Doctor Strange sequel was released during the Super Bowl LVI and showed what appears to be Sir Patrick Stewart's Professor X. And if that wasn't enough, a new rumor claims that Marvel Studios is looking to introduce a new version of Wolverine in the film as well.
Rumors of established MCU characters and new characters appearing in Multiverse of Madness are nothing new. For example, Tom Cruise is rumored to appear as a variant of Tony Stark, and another report claims John Krasinski will appear as Reed Richards, aka Mister Fantastic. And if there is any validity to either of those claims, that means Marvel may go the same route with Logan, having a new actor play a variant of the popular mutant. However, rather than introduce the MCU's version of the character going forward, the powers that be can take a different direction.
By having an actor like Tom Hardy or Taron Egerton, who both have long been fancast as the character, play Wolverine, Marvel can appease fans who have been campaigning for a new take on the character while still taking the time to properly set up its own X-Men universe. In fact, despite Tom Hardy already being Eddie Brock in Sony's Venom movies, Marvel can go the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" route by having the actor play a Wolverine variant, much like how Brandon Routh played both Clark Kent and Ray Palmer on The CW. This would give Hardy the flexibility to play the powerhouse character without having to sign on for multiple projects, which has been an issue for actors.
After finishing up the stories of the original Avengers, Marvel needs to carefully expand upon its world-building. And introducing the X-Men too soon could lead to rushed development of both future films and fan-favorite characters, which will only cause problems. Casting another actor in the role of Wolverine with no long-term commitments will not only satisfy fans of the character but also buy Marvel enough time to build the foundation for his inevitable MCU debut.
To see if Wolverine makes his MCU debut, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hits theaters May 6.