When Scott Derrickson abruptly left the production of “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” many Marvel fans were concerned. Despite the character’s seeming lack of name recognition amongst casual Marvel Cinematic Universe fans, the original “Doctor Strange” film, directed by Derrickson, was adored by many and turned into a box office hit for the studio. But fans who were concerned about the sequel had their worries largely put to bed when it was reported that Sam Raimi was taking over.
READ MORE: ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Taps ‘Loki’ Show Creator To Rewrite Script
However, despite the reports and most people just assuming that Raimi was going to take over the job, it was never officially announced and the filmmaker never confirmed. Until now.
Speaking to Coming Soon, the filmmaker talked about a moment from his previous film, “Spider-Man 2,” which actually name-dropped Doctor Strange. Raimi explained his love of the character and the coincidence of him now directing a ‘Strange’ film.
“I loved Doctor Strange as a kid, but he was always after Spider-Man and Batman for me, he was probably at number five for me of great comic book characters,” Raimi explained. “He was so original, but when we had that moment in ‘Spider-Man 2’ I had no idea that we would ever be making a ‘Doctor Strange’ movie, so it was really funny to me that coincidentally that line was in the movie. I gotta say I wish we had the foresight to know that I was going to be involved in the project.”
So, there you have it—Raimi confirms that he’s “involved” in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” Obviously, that means he’s directing the film, which marks his first feature since 2013’s “Oz the Great and Powerful.” Recently, ‘Multiverse of Madness’ was delayed due to the ripple effect that found “Black Widow” unable to premiere next month. But soon enough, fans will get the chance to see if Raimi was the right person to take over for Derrickson and if the reference in ‘Spider-Man 2’ was just an unintentional tease of good things to come.