No Doctor Strange For Spider-Man: Far From Home

As Spider-Man: Homecoming featured Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark and Iron Man helping out the Wall Crawler, it was speculated by some that the sequel, Spider-Man: Far From Home, would feature Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, especially considering the villain of the film will be Mysterio, a magician in the comics.

While both Cumberbatch and Tom Holland have stated they would be up to be in a movie together, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige shoots down Doctor Strange for Spider-Man: Far From Home.

“No,” Feige replied when asked about Doctor Strange. “I could be coy about it, but no.”

Kevin Feige did confirm that Spider-Man: Far From Home will be set in the MCU (as Sony owns the rights to Spider-Man).

“It’s in the MCU so yeah,” Feige said, possibly teasing a different Marvel Studios character cameo.  

Doctor Strange seemed to be a good choice as not only is the Spider-Man: Far From Home villain magic-based (at least a master of hypnotism and a magician), but Strange also has a Sanctum Sanctorum located in London where part of the movie takes place.

So with no Doctor Strange appearing in Spider-Man: Far From Home, then who? It is presently unknown, and the movie does take place (said to be minutes) following The Avengers 4, so the cameo could be anybody. Feige also addresses the marketing.

“I think we’ll very much feel like a return to the fun of Homecoming and Peter with his class and going places we don’t usually see Peter Parker and a new villain and that will be the focus both of the movie but certainly of the marketing,” Feige said.

My own thoughts: I actually wouldn’t have a problem if there was no MCU cameo as I would like to see Spider-Man on his own. I felt like having Robert Downey Jr. and Tony Stark took a lot away from Spider-Man in the first film as Tony basically gave Spidey everything he needed and even showed up to save the day. I like Spider-Man as a sort of everyday hero who creates his own costume and webbing, etc. I also don’t want to see any of the tech suits from the first film or Infinity War in Spider-Man: Far From Home as well.

Some other details mentioned about the film include that it will be funnier and grander in scale than the first.

Spider-Man: Far from Home has a July 5, 2019 release directed by Jon Watts, and said to feature Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio and Michael Keaton as Vulture.

(via Slash Film)