2022 gave us Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the sequel to the much underrated 2016 Doctor Strange film. While the sequel was successful on a box office level, many fans including myself found Doctor Strange 2 to be underwhelming. I think the true culprit of the film was its marketing that promised us a mind bending rather than a simple MCU story. I mean for a film titled Multiverse of Madness, the film majorly takes place only in 3-4 universes. The other universes only popped up in the 39 second long sequence at the start of the film. The film had faced some creative differences with Scott Derrickson quitting the project as he had a much darker version in mind. Then Sam Raimi took over the reigns and gave us the film we have today.
After the release, the director revealed that about 40 minutes of the film was chopped off and I was infuriated by this as to why? Were more shows in a day worth the underwhelming result? Well, what can we do. The film also promised us a taste from horror genre. Well, we got something to say the least. However, I can say that we did get a crossover type of events with a few characters appearing played by some reputed actors which was fun to see. Although, it appears as if we were originally going to see a completely new comer to the MCU- Daniel Craig. The original concept art for the same.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Daniel Craig was Supposed to Play Balder the Brave!
After we’ve gotten almost everything from the film’s pre-production, we’ve gotten one of the earliest concepts that were almost confirm to happen but due to an unfortunate incident it was shelved. Daniel Craig who has just taken retirement from his role as James Bond was supposed to appear in Multiverse of Madness as Balder the Brave. However, the Knives Out Franchise actor had to walk out of the film due to the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020.
After his exit, his character who was supposed to be a part of the Illuminati was replaced by John Krasinski’s Mr. Fantastic aka Reed Richards, someone fans were pining for and fancasting for years. Balder is an Asgardian and a brother of Thor and Loki. I don’t think so he will appear in the MCU anytime soon as bringing in another Asgardian sibling would be repetitive. Mr. Fantastic was a better choice for a cameo than Balder although, Daniel Craig’s inculsion adds towards Balder in this argument.
In a recent post on Instagram, concept artist Darrell Warner revealed a new and first look at Daniel Craig’s Balder the Brave, who was originally set to appear as a member of the Illuminati in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
The post has a caption: “BALDER THE BRAVE | Shame this character went no further than this watercolor | Y’all know the story and if not just go and look it up online……”
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is currently available for streaming on Disney+
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