Sam Raimi in Talks to Direct Doctor Strange 2

Spider-Man trilogy director Sam Raimi, best known for creating the indie horror franchise Evil Dead, will return to the world of artist Steve Ditko to direct Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness for Marvel Studios, ComicBook.com can confirm. The film, which is set to begin production later this year, recently lost filmmaker Scott Derrickson (who directed the first Doctor Strange) due to creative differences with the studio. Raimi, whose most recent feature film was 2013’s Oz the Great and Powerful, has a number of projects in development that Doctor Strange will likely push back. Even while he hasn’t been directing features, Raimi has remained an active producer, and has directed a number of TV episodes and shorts in the last five years.

That Raimi has a long history of successful franchises to his name on film and TV, and over a dozen directorial features, makes him an oddity among Marvel Cinematic Universe directors. The studio has rarely hired prolific directors, choosing instead to work with relatively young filmmakers with bold voices.

Raimi is generally regarded as the godfather of modern superhero blockbusters, with Spider-Man serving as the template for much of what Marvel did after and Spider-Man 2 being considered one of the best superhero movies ever made. Even almost 20 years after their release, any new movie vying for the title of Marvel’s best film tends to be compared to Raimi’s films.

The film is going to tie closely in with the planned WandaVision series for Disney+. Shortly after the first look clip from that series dropped online over the weekend, Scott Derrickson took to Twitter to unveil his excitement for the show, saying it’s something fans should look forward to. “WandaVision is going to be great,” the filmmaker tweeted. While he stepped away as director, Derrickson will remain on board to produce Multiverse of Madness.

WandaVision is set for release later this year while Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hits theaters May 7, 2021.

Other upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1st, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in 2020, The Eternals on November 6th, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, What If…? in Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022.

This story was first reported by Variety.