Each Spider-Man movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far has seen Tom Holland’s Peter Parker working alongside some Marvel heavy hitters. Iron Man popped in and out during Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Nick Fury and Maria Hill recruited the Web-Slinger during Spider-Man: Far From Home (well, sort of). The yet-to-be-officially-titled Spider-Man 3 will keep this trend going, as word’s come in that Doctor Strange will take part in the threequel.
Accord to THR, Benedict Cumberbatch will reprise the Master of the Mystic Arts for Spider-Man 3, thus having having Stephen Strange fill the same kind of mentor role that Tony Stark and Nick Fury previously held. Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man first met in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, and they briefly shared some screen time during Avengers: Endgame after they and everyone else had been dusted by Thanos’ snap were brought back to life.
Benedict Cumberbatch was already set to reprise the MCU’s Cloak of Levitation-wearing spell-caster for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is expected to begin filming either towards the end of the month or in early November. However, assuming Spider-Man 3 ends up coming out before the Doctor Strange sequel, as is currently the plan, it will mark Cumberbatch’s fifth Doctor Strange appearance.
This is the second piece of Spider-Man 3 casting news to come out since the beginning of October, as it was announced last week that Jamie Foxx will appear as Electro, who he previously portrayed in 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Foxx confirmed his involvement in a now-deleted Instagram post, and also noted that his take on Electro wouldn’t be blue this time around.
Doctor Strange and Spider-Man have teamed up a handful of times in the Marvel Comics universe, and since the MCU iterations of these characters already have a rapport established, it’ll be interesting to see how their relationship develops further. That being said, Spider-Man’s solo MCU movies thus far have revolved around the Wall-Crawler battling villains with advanced technology, so bringing a sorcerer in the mix begs the question, just what is Spider-Man getting himself into this time?
Spider-Man 3 plot details are still being kept secret, but considering that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will see the good doctor exploring alternate reality, perhaps that means there will be some multiverse excitement in the next Spidey movie too. That would lend credence to the theory that Jamie Foxx is indeed playing the same Electro we saw in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, as opposed to playing a brand-new iteration of the character, as was the case with J.K. Simmons’ J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Let’s also not forget that last year, after Marvel and Sony reached a new agreement concerning their joint collaboration with Spider-Man, it was mentioned that in addition to starring in Spider-Man 3, Tom Holland’s Peter Parker would appear in another Marvel Studios movie. If Doctor Strange is showing up in Spider-Man 3, maybe that means Spider-Man could participate in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. If that happens, that means director Sam Raimi would get to put his stamp on another iteration of Spider-Man, having previously helmed the Tobey Maguire-led Spidey trilogy.
As things stand now, Spider-Man 3 will reportedly begin filming later this month in Atlanta, and will swing into theaters on December 17, 2021. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on its progress, and check out our Marvel movies guide to learn what else the MCU has coming up.
