Daniel Craig Was Originally Sought for Key Marvel Cameo in ‘Dr. Strange 2’

If you haven’t watched Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness yet, you’re in rare company, and you’re dangerously close to spoilers. Don’t read further if you want to avoid any significant reveals, or, please do read forward if you’re saving your money.

For those who took in the Sam Raimi entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you likely noticed a cameo as part of the Illuminati that gave into some fan service for down the release calendar for Marvel. Last warning for spoilers.

According to TMZ, John Krasinki wasn’t the first choice for the cameo role in Dr. Strange 2. Tipping the hat to a tweet from Deadline reporter Justin Kroll, the outlet shares that Daniel Craig was the initial choice and was set to play the role before COVID cases rose and he was in London, far from the American shoot.

The news follows an exciting interview with Elizabeth Olsen about the film, revealing she never met Krasinski to Vanity Fair. Is it the truth? Is it a seasoned Marvel vet having a bit of fun? Is she just used to being completely mum on any major tentpole release she’s a part of in a role? We’ll never honestly know, which may be the point.

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But as the report continues, Kroll dropped an answer to those asking why Craig would travel to film his role in Knives Out 2 around the same time but wouldn’t budge for Marvel. “For those asking about why he was able to shoot KNIVES, that was months of shooting and if he got COVID, he would be the only one infected. STRANGE was maybe a day of shooting and worry was he could head back home and not know he had it and give to daughter who was 2 at the time,” Kroll wrote.

This story’s actual piece of speculation is what character Craig was set to play. Was he meant to be Mister Fantastic instead of Krasinski, or was Craig pegged to be another heroic character entirely.

If Craig was going to be a version of Reed Richards, this is the type of cameo you’d expect for the James Bond star. Others claim that Craig was someone with a closer connection to Thor, portraying Balder the Brave. TMZ says this makes a little sense given Craig’s blonde hair, but at the same time, blonde hair can be colored digitally in a film where a character is turned into spaghetti while another fights a giant tentacle creature.

There’s also a lot of Norse mythology standing against the Balder the Brave rumor, but it doesn’t matter. Craig isn’t the film, Krasinski is, and he’s playing a character that fans have wanted to cast him as for a while.