Doctor Strange 2 concept art reveals a scrapped Doctor Strange street magician variant named Melvyn. The MCU’s multiverse kicked into high gear with the arrival of 2022’s highly-anticipated Doctor Strange sequel. The wild film from director Sam Raimi was of course highlighted by a showdown between Benedict Cumberbatch’s Stephen Strange and Elizabeth Olson’s surprisingly villainous Scarlet Witch.

But Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness was not always meant to be directed by legendary Evil Dead creator Raimi. Originally, Scott Derrickson was supposed to return as both writer and director of the sequel to his original Doctor Strange. But Derrickson ultimately exited the project for personal reasons, leading to Raimi stepping in to fill the void.

Related: Doctor Strange 2 Cast Guide: Every Marvel Character Who Appears

Obviously a lot of things changed for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness once Raimi took over for Derrickson. Unfortunately, at least one potentially very amusing Derrickson idea went by the wayside after the filmmaker exited the project. This idea, as detailed in the official Doctor Strange 2 audio commentary featuring Raimi, writer Michael Waldron and producer Richie Palmer, would have seen Stephen Strange meeting one of his own variants, a gentle street magician named Melvyn. Now at last fans can see what Melvyn Strange might have looked like thanks to early concept art revealed by Darrell Warner. See the amusing and whimsical image in the space below:

The aforementioned Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness audio commentary says the scrapped Marvelous Melvyn was a non-powered variant who had an “enlightening, sweet” exchange with Strange Prime. But the decision was later made to swap out this nice version of Strange in favor of the evil Sinister Strange who made it into the finished film. Going by the above concept art, it’s a shame Melvyn Strange didn’t make it into the film as well, as it would have been a lot of fun seeing Cumberbatch don that particular costume to portray a much gentler and more mild-mannered Strange variant than fans are used to seeing. Even if he’s not outright evil, the real Strange is definitely imperious if not downright arrogant most of the time, making him not always the most likable character.

Seeing this fun Melvyn Strange concept art only serves as a reminder of how many great ideas are developed during movies’ long gestation periods, and how many of these ideas ultimately don’t make it into the finished work. Perhaps one day Marvelous Melvyn will get to see the light of day in another MCU movie. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t room for this whimsical and silly idea in the over-stuffed and rather dark Doctor Strange 2 that was ultimately delivered by Raimi and company.

Source: Darrell Warner/Instagram