'Doctor Strange 2' Deadpool Cameo Was Considered, but It 'Didn't Feel like the Right Place'

Screenwriter Michael Waldron said that timing and actor availability may have led to some high profile cameos being changed.

‘Doctor Strange 2’ Deadpool Cameo Was Considered, but It ‘Didn’t Feel like the Right Place’

In the months leading up to “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” speculation ran rampant about which Marvel stars could potentially make cameo appearances in the film. After “Spider-Man: No Way Home” broke down the floodgates with its multiverse reveal, leaving the door open for just about anyone to show up.

Over time, one name began to take priority over all others: Deadpool. Certain fans became convinced that Ryan Reynolds would play his beloved foul-mouthed superhero in the film, although the actor adamantly denied his involvement whenever the topic came up.

“I’m really not in the movie,” Reynolds said. “I’m promising I’m not in the movie.”

But in true superhero fandom fashion, Marvel’s most online fans remained convinced they knew the situation better than Reynolds. If anything, his denials only poured gasoline on the rumor fire. After all, Andrew Garfield admitted to blatantly lying about his appearance in “No Way Home,” before the movie was released, citing a desire to surprise fans.

“I would want the actor to do an incredibly good job at convincing me he wasn’t in it,” Garfield said. “And then I would want to lose my mind in the theater when my instinct was proven right. That’s what I would want.”

But “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” finally arrived, and Reynolds was not in the film. But while those fans’ predictions did not come true, they may have been more accurate than people thought.

Speaking to Comicbook.com, screenwriter Michael Waldron revealed that the fans hoping for a Deadpool cameo were not entirely wrong. While nothing was ever filmed, the Marvel team did discuss asking Reynolds to suit up for the movie.

“Yeah, we talked about it,” Waldron said. “I think we talked about everything in this movie. So, [it] would’ve been crazy to not raise that, but it ultimately didn’t feel like…It just didn’t feel like the right place. But yeah, of course, we talked about it.”

While the lack of Deadpool in the film was undeniably disappointing to some fans, the character is expected to return to multiplexes soon. Reynolds recently revealed that a third Deadpool movie is “coming along,” with Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin on board to write the script.

Speaking to IndieWire’s Kate Erbland, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” writer Waldron revealed that he considered plenty of other cameos for the film’s Illuminati twist, but “couldn’t [include them] or we decided for other reasons to go in different directions, [there was] actor availability,” Waldron said.

“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” is now playing in theaters.