Mad Worlds

Having opened the door to new realities in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the MCU is venturing to worlds unknown in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, putting Marvel's Master of the Mystic Arts on a collision course with... himself? Total Film fires up a portal for director Sam Raimi, star Benedict Cumberbatch and the film's extended cast to talk about a bigger, bolder, barmier sequel.

- By Jordan Farley

When Avengers: Endgame put a cap on Marvel's Infinity Saga, there was one question on everybody's lips: what's next?

For a while there it seemed like Marvel itself wasn't sure. Where all roads once led, inevitably, to an Infinity Gauntlet-wielding Mad Titan, by comparison Phase 4 has been positively meandering. From belated prequels (Black Widow) and origin stories (Shang-Chi), to bewildering cosmic sagas (Eternals) and tangential miniseries (Hawkeye), it hasn't always been clear how all of this serialised storytelling tied into the bigger picture that previously made every instalment in the MCU appointment viewing.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Rachel McAdams return, joined by Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez.

All that is about to change with Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, which, as that doozy of a title suggests, is putting the multiverse at the front and centre of the MCU in a major way. It's a big deal. It's a really big deal, says Benedict Cumberbatch of the importance of the multiverse to the MCU. Speaking to Total Film over Zoom a month into No Way Home's record-breaking box-office run in mid-January, Cumberbatch recalls some wise-beyond-his-years foresight that film's star, Tom Holland, offered during the shoot. Tom was like, 'If the ambition of this film works, it's going to be huge.' And I would echo that sentiment about Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness.