Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has revealed why Doctor Strange was cut from WandaVision - and what the sorcerer's role was intended to be. The ultimate superhero sitcom, WandaVision was unlike anything Marvel Studios had made before. It vastly expanded Wanda Maximoff's powerset, revealing she is in fact the Scarlet Witch - a woman destined to destroy the world.

There were persistent rumors Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange would have a cameo in the final episode of WandaVision, which made sense; the Masters of the Mystic Arts are supposed to protect the world from magical threats, and Scarlet Witch's turning an entire town into her puppets surely qualified for their attention. Paul Bettany added fuel to the fire by talking about some significant cameo, but in the end, he was simply referring to getting to play opposite himself through the wonders of cinematography. Doctor Strange was entirely absent - but it turns out Marvel did originally intend to feature him.

Related: WandaVision Episode 7 May Have Foreshadowed A Doctor Strange 2 Plot Point

The latest issue of Rolling Stone features an in-depth interview with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige (via MovieWeb), and he reveals Cumberbatch even got so far as to sign a contract for the last episode. In fact, WandaVision's mysterious "commercial breaks" in each episode were originally intended to have been cast by Doctor Strange himself, as he attempted to penetrate the Hex and reach Wanda. But Marvel ultimately decided they didn't like the idea of using Doctor Strange like that, because they felt it would distract from Wanda herself. "Some people might say, 'Oh, it would've been so cool to see Doctor Strange,'" Feige observed. "But it would have taken away from Wanda. We didn't want the end of the show to be commoditized to go to the next movie - here's the white guy, 'Let me show you how power works.'" Apparently, the late course-correction also required rewrites to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Scarlet Witch Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme

The comments from Feige are fascinating, confirming persistent rumors Marvel intended Strange to appear; by the sound of it, the rewrites were last-second. But Feige's instincts are sound, because he's right that a Doctor Strange cameo would have dominated the conversation in the same way Luke Skywalker's surprise cameo in The Mandalorian season 2's finale is now the only thing people discuss about that show. What's more, Doctor Strange just coming in to explain everything would have been something of a cop-out. Ironically, Strange served a similar role in the Avengers: Disassembled story that loosely inspired elements of WandaVision, but there he was later retconned to have been deceived by agents of the Elder God Chthon.

It is, however, possible to deduce just how much WandaVision was rewritten. Presumably, Doctor Strange was originally supposed to be the one who explained Wanda's Chaos Magic, and revealed she is in fact the Scarlet Witch; he may even have been the one to possess the Darkhold, which could have been one of the books of dark magic the Ancient One had locked up in Kamar-Taj. It's safe to assume Agatha Harkness's motives would have been the same, but she'd have been an even more potent threat, able to take on both Wanda and Doctor Strange before she was depowered through the use of those mysterious runes. WandaVision's last-minute rewrites were clearly significant, but also wise.

More: WandaVision Ending Explained: Biggest Reveals & MCU Future Setup

Source: MovieWeb

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