Sam Raimi could be returning to the world of Marvel. “Variety” is reporting that Raimi is in talks to replace Scott Derrickson as director of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Derrickson, who helmed the first Doctor Strange, departed the project in early January over “creative differences”. There were no plans to adjust the pending release date so Marvel likely had ideas on who could replace him. Production is still slated to start in May on the project.
It would be a full circle choice if these talks work out for Raimi. The director brought Spider-Man to the big screen for the first time in 2002 to big box office & critical acclaim & followed that up with Spider-Man 2, with some saying the film is one of the best comic book films of all-time. Raimi also helmed Spider-Man 3 but the less said about that, the better. After directing Spider-Man 3 Raimi worked more as a producer rather than a director but he did direct Drag Me to Hell in 2009 & Oz the Great and the Powerful in 2013.
Benedict Cumberbatch is returning as Doctor Strange after his 2016 debut, and subsequent appearances in Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. Benedict Wong and Chiwetel Ejiofor are also expected to reprise their roles from the original film as, respectively, fellow sorcerer Wong and Strange’s compatriot-turned-nemesis Karl Mordo. Elizabeth Olsen has also been slated to reprise her role as Scarlet Witch, aka Wanda Maximoff, for a storyline that Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige has said will link up with her Disney+ series WandaVision, which will debut in December.
