Recent reports Sam Raimi may be directing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness may open doors that were once thought closed forever. Most notably is the age old rumor that Raimi wanted actor Bruce Campbell to play Mysterio, which the actor denied last year.
Fans of the Raimi Spider-Man films should be familiar with Campbell's frequent cameos. Given the director and actor's prior relationship filming the Evil Dead series, his appearance in the Spider-Man films served as a cute wink to the audience. In the first Spider-Man, Campbell played the wrestling announcer who gave the titular hero his name, and in the second film, he was the snooty usher that kept Peter Parker from appearing at Mary Jane's Broadway show. His appearance as a French waiter in Spider-Man 3 completed the trifecta, but his appearance in a fourth film was rumored to be the biggest yet.
In early drafts for Spider-Man 4, Mysterio was intended as a throwaway gag villain for Spider-Man to dispose with somewhere toward the opening of the film. Portrayed in concept art with a potbelly and his signature fishbowl helmet, the natural choice for Mysterio was always rumored to be Campbell himself. Unfortunately, the film fell through and audiences never got the chance to see just what Campbell may have done in a stint as the villain.
With Raimi possibly directing the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel, a film that already promises the Multiverse of Madness, the floodgates are open for any number of cameo appearances and fun with alternate dimensions. Avengers: Endgame introduced the concept of alternate timelines, and the upcoming Loki and What If... series are set to springboard off of that theme, so the next phase of Marvel is certain to center around reality-crossing shenanigans. And who could be a better shenanigan-maker than Bruce Campbell himself?
The connection is not totally baseless. In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Mysterio appeared, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. Initially touting himself as a superhero from an alternate dimension, Mysterio's story turned out to all be an elaborate ruse put together by a team of scientists. But in an infinite multiverse of possibilities, it's easy to say that some world exists in which Mysterio's story had more merit than audiences may currently believe. Under such circumstances, there would be no need to re-use Gyllenhaal when they could just as easily bring something different to the character with Campbell.
There is still plenty of time for such a plan to come together, and whether he's featured as a major plot point or not, a Bruce Campbell cameo is too much fun to pass up. After all, Sam Raimi already referenced Doctor Strange in Spider-Man 2 -- it would only be natural for him to reference Spider-Man in Doctor Strange.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen. The film hits theaters May 7, 2021.