Sam Raimi to direct Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

After months of speculation and rumours, it has now been officially confirmed that Sam Raimi will take over as director for Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

The sequel to the hit 2016 movie will take place after the epic events of Avengers: Endgame and sees Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) continuing his research on the Time Stone, but an old friend turned enemy is seeking to destroy every sorcerer on Earth, messing with Strange’s plan and causing him to unleash an unspeakable evil.

Scott Derrickson (Sinister) was set to return to the director’s chair after his work on the first film but ‘creative differences’ forced his departure from the project in January.

Not long after, Sam Raimi (Evil Dead) was rumoured to be in talks with Marvel Studios about potentially taking over. This has now been confirmed by the former Spider-Man director himself in an interview with ComingSoon.net.

In the interview, Raimi talked about his love of the character and states the Master of the Mystic Arts as his “5th favourite comic book character”, and that he had “no idea we would ever be making a Doctor Strange movie”.

He even briefly joked about a moment in Spider-Man 2 (2004) in which J.K. Simmons’ J. Jonah Jameson throws out the name of “Doctor Strange” when trying to decide what to call Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus with Sam Raimi’s brother Ted Raimi.

Aside from a brief plot synopsis, little else is really known about the movie. Elizabeth Olsen is set to appear, reprising her role as Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch. The movie will also tie into upcoming Disney+ shows: WandaVision (2020) and Loki (2021).

This will also reportedly be the first horror-themed movie in the MCU and will feature Nightmare as the main antagonist.

Sam Raimi is a fantastic choice to helm the new movie, given his background in horror and superheroes. We’re anticipating a sequel even better than the first film and the possibility of another great Bruce Campbell cameo.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be released 5th November 2021.