Bruce Campbell's Doctor Strange 2 Cameo Explained

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Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Bruce Campbell briefly appears in Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and here is what his cameo role means. As the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand, its films have introduced new characters, character variants, and a scattering of cameo appearances. The legacy of Stan Lee’s cameos continues with guest spots in MCU movies — some occur as blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments, while others minimally contribute to the narrative. Even Doctor Strange 2 has yielded to this tradition, as it gives its audience high-profile cameos and a minor yet humorous role played by Bruce Campbell.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness follows Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) on a multiversal journey to protect America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) and her powers from the corrupted plans of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen). Under the leadership of Sam Raimi, who created the Evil Dead franchise and directed the Spider-Man trilogy, the movie has gained a positive critical reception. While critics have praised its distinct cinematography, visual effects, and action sequences, they have also pointed out how it suffers from the burden of continuing the well-established franchise.

After Scott Derrickson’s departure from Doctor Strange 2, Sam Raimi replaced him as the director, with ​​Michael Waldron as the screenwriter. As the filming progressed, the actors, especially Olsen, Cumberbatch, and Benedict Wong, shared just how collaborative Raimi’s creative process was. Aside from crafting a tension-filled horror vibe, the director also encouraged improvisation on set, depending on the actors’ rich knowledge of their own characters. Interestingly, Raimi, who had unmade comic-book films under his belt, did more than just impart his signature style to the MCU; he also brought in his longtime friend and collaborator, Bruce Campbell.

Bruce Campbell Plays The Pizza Vendor In Doctor Strange 2

Bruce Campbell has an amusing cameo role in Doctor Strange 2. Following Wanda’s attack on Kamar-Taj, America’s ability to travel through the multiverse gets triggered, accidentally transporting her and Doctor Strange to Earth-838. There, the two meet Campbell, who appears as the vendor of Pizza Poppa, an alternate universe restaurant that sells ball-shaped pizza. After confronting America for taking an unpaid meal, the pizza vendor has his face squirted with mustard. He is then bewitched by Strange to beat himself up. Campbell also appeared in the final Doctor Strange 2’s post-credits scene.

Bruce Campbell’s History With Sam Raimi & Marvel

Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell have decades of history and collaboration between them. The duo first met in high school, where they started making movies together. Not long after, they created Within the Woods, a 30-minute proof of concept for the first Evil Dead film. With this project, Raimi and Campbell managed to attract investors and begin working on the actual movie. Released in 1981, The Evil Dead was positively received, earning its reputation as one of the greatest horror films in history. Raimi and Campbell’s work expanded into a media franchise, spawning sequels, reboots, a TV series, comic books, and video games.

Although The Evil Dead franchise was arguably the most popular among their joint works, Campbell also appeared in several of Raimi’s other films. In fact, in the Spider-Man trilogy, Campbell made three separate appearances, donning a new character in each superhero entry. In Spider-Man, Campbell was the ring announcer in the underground tournament that Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) joined. Since the iconic superhero did not have an official name yet, he went by “The Human Spider” — unimpressed, the announcer decided to change into Spider-Man. Despite Campbell’s screen time being relatively low in the movie, his character still left an impact by naming the web-slinger in-universe.

In a different role, in Spider-Man 2 Campbell played the role of a snooty usher. During the premiere of Mary Jane Watson’s (Kirsten Dunst) play, Peter arrived late. He then encountered the said usher, who was rigidly insistent on blocking his way into the venue. At first, Campbell advised Peter to straighten his tie and fix his shoes, but the latter’s efforts turned out to be futile, as he was still denied entry. Lastly, in Spider-Man 3, Tobey Maguire’s Peter plans to propose to Mary Jane were put into motion by the maître d’, portrayed by Campbell. Unfortunately, communication issues arose, and the scene was filled with confusion and jealousy, pushing MJ to walk out. Regardless, Campbell stayed true to his role, remaining on standby in case Peter wanted to pursue his plans.

What made Campbell’s relationship with Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy amusing was the fact that the movies never quite explained those cameos. There was no explicit mention of the connection among those brief appearances, so they could have simply been Easter eggs left for eagle-eyed viewers. However, Campbell’s Spider-Man 3 cameo was supposedly not his last outing in the franchise; it was rumored that he would have debuted as Mysterio in Spider-Man 4. Sadly, the film was scrapped and the role eventually went to Jake Gyllenhaal in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Even though this rumor was personally debunked by Campbell years later, it was undeniable how his presence then became a trademark of a Raimi film. Consequently, his cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness served as an Easter egg for those who have been following him and Raimi over the years.

Doctor Strange 2’s End-Credits Joke With Bruce Campbell Explained

After more than two hours of gripping multiversal drama, Doctor Strange 2 ended on a lighthearted note. While its mid-credits scene introduced Charlize Theron as the sorceress Clea, the film’s end-credits scene revealed Campbell still under Doctor Strange’s spell. After a while, the vendor came to a stop, broke the fourth wall, and exclaimed “It’s over!” to the audience. This joke doubled as a way of announcing his freedom from the spell of punching himself and declaring that Doctor Strange 2, which arguably ruined the Scarlet Witch, had already come to an end. Bruce Campbell’s appearances in the MCU were brief yet entertaining, and although those did not necessarily contribute much to the narrative, they helped cement the status of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as distinctly Sam Raimi’s work.