Benedict Cumberbatch became a world-famous actor after his career breakthroughs in BBC’s Sherlock and his long-running role as Doctor Stephen Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With the announcement of two upcoming Avengers films, namely Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, Benedict’s potential involvement in them has come under renewed attention, and in a January 2025 interview with Variety, Benedict finally gave some answers on his future at the MCU.
The actor revealed that he will no longer be present in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday, thanks in part to the retooling the movie received after Jonathan Majors‘ firing. He will, however, have a major role in Avengers: Secret Wars. The conversation wasn’t limited to his future in the MCU, however. Benedict also spoke about his upcoming film, The Thing With Feathers, and how he approaches acting.
Doctor Strange Will Show Up In Avengers: Secret Wars, But Not In Avengers: Doomsday
Benedict Cumberbatch revealed that his prospects in the Marvel Cinematic Universe were heavily impacted by the retooling of the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. The upcoming 2026 film was originally conceived as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, focusing on Kang The Conqueror, who was introduced in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and the Disney+ Loki series.
Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe had been building up towards a major battle with the multiversal conqueror and his many variants. Still, those plans came to a screeching halt after Kang’s actor, Jonathan Majors, was involved in a domestic abuse scandal. The Multiverse Saga films teasing the Kang dynasty also ended up being reasonably divisive among audiences and critics compared to the Infinity Saga films and series.
This culminated in a massive retooling after Jonathan Majors was found guilty of domestic violence charges and fired by Disney. The planned confrontation between the Avengers and Kang the Conqueror was written out, meaning that his defeat in Quantumania and Loki season 2 would be permanent. To replace him, Doctor Doom was introduced as the new villain for Avengers: Doomsday. Robert Downey Jr. will return to the MCU in that role.
Consequently, Doctor Strange’s role in the upcoming Avengers film has also been written out. However, Benedict confirmed that he would return in the follow-up to Doomsday, known as Avengers: Secret Wars. He also teased the possibility of Doctor Strange appearing in another solo film down the line. He spoke approvingly of his relationship with Marvel: “They are very open to discussing where we go next. Who do you want to write and direct the next one? What part of the comic lore do you want to explore so that Strange can keep evolving? He’s a very rich character to play.”
Aside from his work with the MCU, Benedict also spoke about lower-profile projects he has been involved with off late. These include the film The Thing With Feathers, a family drama about a father struggling with his wife’s sudden death, a Netflix series titled Eric that deals with an alcoholic puppeteer whose son goes missing, and the historical drama Roses, based on the real-life War of the Roses.
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