Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hit Disney Plus on Wednesday, as well as other streaming services such as Google Play and Prime Video (for an extra fee). Thanks to the digital release’s audio commentary, we have more details about the Doctor Strange sequel’s writing process. It turns out, Ant-Man’s the Wasp originally featured in the script’s first draft as part of the Illuminati.
“I was just trying to get through the first draft of the script desperately in August of 2020. Didn’t really have a second half of the second act and had no idea where the hell I was going. And I just thought, ‘Well, why don’t I take a swing and drop the Illuminati in there?'” head writer Michael Waldron said (via The Direct).
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“And swing you did,” producer Ritchie Palmer said. “Those Jonathan Hickman Illuminati comics were some of the greatest comics ever written, I think those New Avengers comics from the Secret Wars era. But, Michael, I remember reading your first draft of the Illuminati stuff and just bringing in disbelief, going, ‘[Wanda] kills all the Illuminati? He had her kill all the Illuminati. We’re never going to be able to do this. Wait, can we do this? I wish we could do this.'”
Waldron continued: “Yeah, I think I watched Aliens and was just thinking about the way those Marines get massacred, and, yeah, I was glad it worked. I think originally, the Wasp was in a version of the Illuminati, and the Wasp shrunk down and flew at Wanda, and [Wanda] just clapped her hands and just smushed the Wasp in the first draft.”
The Wasp is the alias of Hope van Dyne (played by Evangeline Lilly), who first appeared in 2015’s Ant-Man and then 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp. She’ll next appear in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, scheduled for a Feb. 17 release next year.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the sequel to 2016’s Doctor Strange, received mostly positive reviews and grossed over $900 million at the global box office. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Xochitl Gomez, Rachel McAdams and Benedict Wong.
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The Wasp is known as one of the first key members of the Avengers in Marvel Comics’ history, having appeared alongside Ant-Man, Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk nearly 60 years ago. Although she didn’t end up as a part of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it seems only right that there were conversations about putting her into the big-screen version of the Illuminati with that history.
Waldron didn’t indicate whether this would have been Evangeline Lilly’s Hope Van Dyne or Michelle Pfeiffer’s Janet Van Dyne, although both could have made their presence felt amongst the caliber of heroes in the Illuminati. In a group that already paid tribute to the earliest modern Marvel movies with Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, this could have tied back to the comics in its own unique way.
This also shows just how far Sam Raimi and Kevin Feige were willing to go with bringing the Illuminati into play for the MCU. While the Wasp may not have worked out this time, there’s certainly the option to use the Wasp in future Multiversal stories should the opportunity arise, TheDirect reports.
