Sam Raimi reveals he never thought a Doctor Strange movie would be made given the character's lack of name popularity at Marvel Studios. After making his name in the horror genre, Raimi would try his hand at the comic book world by creating his own hero with 1990's Darkman after failing to secure the rights to both The Shadow and Batman. He would properly establish his strength in the genre with the Tobey Maguire-led Spider-Man trilogy, most of which were critically acclaimed and helped redefine the modern superhero genre.

Raimi is returning to the comic book world with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Phase Four's dive into alternate reality storytelling. The film picks up the story from WandaVision, Loki season 1 and Spider-Man: No Way Home as Benedict Cumberbatch's titular sorcerer grapples with the consequences of opening the doors to the multiverse and must face a mysterious new adversary with the help of Benedict Wong's Wong, Xochitl Gomez's America Chavez and Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is right around the corner, but one creative behind it didn't think it could ever happen.

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With less than a month remaining until the film's arrival, AMC Theaters caught up with Sam Raimi to discuss Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. In looking at the character's history, Raimi says he never thought a Doctor Strange movie would be made given the character's lack of widespread popularity seemingly keeping the chances low. See what Raimi shared below:

"[Doctor Strange] was like a second or third tier character for Marvel. Obviously, their big popular names were Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, The Avengers, Captain America, Thor. And because none of those other movies were being made, I actually never imagined they would make a Doctor Strange movie. Just seemed far from possible."

Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange 2

As Raimi notes, many of the characters the MCU has helped popularize were considered low-tier prior to their interconnected adventures, Doctor Strange being one of them. Marvel Studios started tapping a variety of writers to help develop their lesser-known properties as both the first Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk proved to be successes, with some including Black Panther, Cable, Iron Fist and Vision. Though Cable would ultimately find his way to the screen at Fox with Josh Brolin in Deadpool 2, many of the other characters have become household names thanks to the MCU, save for Iron Fist following the short-lived and poorly received Netflix series.

While Raimi may have never thought a Doctor Strange movie would be made, it didn't keep him from sneaking a reference to the character in Spider-Man 2 as J.K. Simmons' J. Jonah Jameson and Ted Raimi's Ted Hoffman tried to come up with a name for Otto Octavius, initially posing Doctor Strange before remembering it's taken. When first confirming he was attached to direct the MCU sequel, Raimi even mentioned he didn't think a movie based on the character would get off the ground at the time and wished he "had the foresight" to know he'd be involved with the sorcerer in the future. The wait for Raimi's return to the comic book genre is nearly over as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hits theaters on May 6.

More: Sony Owes It To Sam Raimi To Make Spider-Man 4

Source: AMC Theaters

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