Benedict Cumberbatch Describes 'Doctor Strange 2' As Marvels 'Maddest' Film Ever

Since Marvel reached the peak of its cinematic universe action with "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame," it has gone all out to keep things exciting. "Black Widow" was finally given her movie, "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," was introduced as well as several other Marvel films.

"Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" just got released and seems even more thrilling than the recently concluded Spider-Man trilogy. "Spider-Man: No Way Home" was released in December 2021 and saw Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Peter Parker, played by Tom Holland, wreck more than a bit of havoc on the multiverse.

In a recent interview, Cumberbatch talked about "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," claiming that the movie is the "maddest" as well as scariest and darkest Marvel movie ever. The movie's new director, Sam Raimi, has several works centered around dark themes, so this is no surprise.

"Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" is the 28th movie in the MCU and promises to be the "darkest and scariest," according to Cumberbatch. The actor appeared in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment and talked about the heavily anticipated Marvel movie and what to expect from it.

"It's certainly the darkest and scariest, in comparison to the others," the "Power of the Dog" actor said. "And I think possibly the maddest as well. There's just so much exploding in this film. Characters and storylines and everything the multiverse can throw as potential narratives."

Elizabeth Olsen, who played Wanda Maximoff, alias the Scarlet Witch, felt the same way. The "Oldboy" actress was a lead character in the Disney+ series, "WandaVision." Olsen described the entire movie as "very exciting."

The heavily implied darkest and madness in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" is reportedly tied to the director, Raimi. While he previously worked on the original Spider-Man trilogy with Tobey Maguire, the filmmaker is also known for his darker works like the "Evil Dead" movies and "Drag Me to Hell."

Raimi replaced the original "Doctor Strange" director, Scott Derrickson, after the "Sinister" director left due to creative differences. He revealed that he thought Derrickson's 2016 spin on the movie was "really cool," and the entire film was "so well made."

"I thought that the first movie was so well made," he said. "Both Benedict Cumberbatch's performance and [Scott Derrickson's direction of] the visual effects were really cool, but mostly I love the character of Doctor Strange. He's really an interesting superhero. He doesn't just catch the bad guys. He works on a cosmic scale, protecting Earth and our universe against mysterious, magical threats."

The premise of the "Doctor Strange" sequel reportedly follows the time bender and his trip into different dimensions while meeting several alternate versions of himself. All of this is in a bid to protect America Chavez, played by Xochitl Gomez. Her character has the exceptional power to move across the multiverse. This is a skill that no shortage of evil forces covets.

Cumberbatch said the movie would have several tricky "logic loops." Hence, it's perfectly okay to not stress and "just go for the ride." The actor said, "Just go for the ride. The logic loops are tricky. And I think, especially making these films, you get into a lot of relay races. You're basically another link in the chain —the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a big, one-line story."

He continued, "So how that fits in, how that shifts — we had to take in 'WandaVision' and 'Loki' and then 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' as well. So the only thing that really didn't change in this was the title, and everything else was constantly evolving."

In a previous interview with Esquire, Cumberbatch talked about the horror elements of the Marvel movie and even attempted to go into detail about how scary the film is. While he wasn't the biggest horror fan, the actor revealed that the new addition would have "a lot of shock horror," mainly because of Raimi's involvement in the films.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf8LAYJSOL8

He said, "I'm trying to dumb down expectations a little bit on that. I think almost definitely it is the most frightening Marvel film of all time, but I know that doesn't necessarily put it in the same league as 'The Shining,' or 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose.'"

The actor added that the movie would be "prohibitive for certain people of a certain age because it is scary." Cumberbatch continued, "There are jump scares, there's a lot of shock horror as this is a Sam Raimi film, in tone and execution… I wouldn't say it's an out and out spine chilling horror film, but there are definitely moments that make you jump, definitely moments that do fit into the horror genre."