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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness featured a diverse cast of villains for the sorcerer to face, but one did not make the final cut. Now, author Michael Waldron explains why Nightmare was cut from the original script.
The long-awaited sequel follows Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange through the alternate realities of the multiverse as he tries to protect teenager America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) from enemies seeking to steal her dimension-hopping powers and wreak havoc on several universes.
The film featured a slew of antagonists, including the octopus alien Gargantos, the evil Strange corrupted by the Darkhold, and, of course, the Scarlet Witch. Waldron, who spoke with Den of Geek, explained why Nightmare was eventually cut from the script. "There was a variety of things. I believe there was some talk about Nightmare and other such things once upon a time. But when I arrived, it was a Multiverse story. "So it was always about figuring out who that multiversal adversary was going to be," Waldron explained. Waldron joined the sequel in 2020, hoping to work through the script that former director Scott Derrickson and writer Jade Barlett had already written. However, due to the numerous delays and setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, he and Sam Raimi decided it was time to start over.
Nightmare, a demon who rules over the Dream Dimension, is one of Marvel's most dangerous characters, capable of bringing someone's astral form out of their physical body to torture them. While this would have fit the dream walking concept presented in the film, numerous setbacks, such as Spider-Man: No Way Home sharing a release date with Doctor Strange 2, forced the sequel to rework many story elements. As a result, there simply wasn't enough space to accommodate such a character while dealing with so many other multiverse storylines. However, as the MCU continues to grow, Nightmare's appearance in the future cannot be ruled out.
Critics generally praised the 29th MCU film, with many praising director Raimi's unique vision and performances while others criticized the pacing and writing. The film also stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo, Benedict Wong as Wong, Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer, and Michael Stuhlbarg as Nicodemus West, in addition to Cumberbatch in the lead role.
