Benedict Cumberbatch Reacts To Doctor Strange 2 Bans For LGBTQ+ Content

Benedict Cumberbatch reacts to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness being banned in certain countries for its inclusion of an LGBTQ+ character. The English actor is still fresh off his Academy Award-nominated role as Phil Burbank in The Power of Dog (his second nomination after 2014's The Imitation Game) and his appearance as Doctor Strange in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Now, Cumberbatch is back on the press tour gearing up for the release of Stephen Strange's second solo film on May 6, which tasks the titular sorcerer with a dimension-hopping adventure of his own.

Cumberbatch leads the cast of the Multiverse of Madness alongside Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff a.k.a Scarlett Witch. Returning from the first Doctor Strange film are Chiwetel Ejiofor as Karl Mordo, Benedict Wong as Wong, Michael Stuhlbarg as Nicodemus West, and Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer. Xochitl Gomez makes her MCU debut as America Chavez, a teenager with the ability to travel between dimensions by punching open doorways. The Marvel film also acknowledges that Chavez is an LGBTQ+ character, which resulted in Multiverse of Madness being banned in several Gulf countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar.

Now, the face of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Cumberbatch, is reacting to the film being banned in several overseas countries. In a video posted by @DrStrangeUpdate on Twitter, Cumberbatch called the decision an "expected disappointment," but is glad Disney and Marvel are continuing to push for LGBTQ+ inclusion and equality. Read his full comments below:

It is, I’m afraid, an expected disappointment. We’ve come to know from those repressive regimes that their lack of tolerance is exclusionary to people who deserve to be, not only included, but celebrated for who they are and made to feel part of a society and a culture and not punished for their sexuality. It feels truly out of step with everything that we’ve experienced as a species, let alone where we’re at globally more as a culture, but frankly it’s just even more reason why this isn’t tokenism to include an LGBTQ+ community member. This character is that from the comics. It’s not something we’ve created for the sake of diversity. We’ve included her because of how awesome she is as a character. And that’s just one aspect of her character and that’s all it should be, but sadly, it’s also now, politically, very charged. And I wish it wasn’t. I wish we could be having a normalized conversation about this where it wasn’t an issue but we’re not. So we still have to fight. We still have to push for inclusion and equality and I’m very glad in a small, but on a very big canvas, Marvel and Disney are doing that.

Despite a request from Saudi Arabia, Disney refused to censor a Doctor Strange 2 scene which includes an LGBTQ+ reference for release overseas. The film recognizes that America Chavez is a lesbian, as she is in the comics, though the scene in question is "barely 12 seconds" in which Chavez talks about her "two moms." Nevertheless, Disney held their ground and refused to censor the reference, which will likely lead to the Doctor Strange film being banned in Saudi Arabia and several other Gulf countries.

As Cumberbatch says, Saudi Arabia's request is an "expected disappointment," as homosexuality remains illegal in the kingdom and several other Gulf countries. The last Marvel film to feature LGBTQ+ references was Eternals, including the MCU's first openly gay superhero and same-sex kiss. Disney refused to kowtow to certain intolerable countries' demands by not censoring Eternals, and them standing firm for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a continued step in the right direction.

Next: Disney Needs To Properly Fix Its LGBTQ+ Mistakes In All Franchises

Source: @DrStrangeUpdate/Twitter