Bruce Campbell Hints His Pizza Poppa Marvel Role May Be More Than a Cameo

When Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hit theaters, fans were thrilled to see Bruce Campbell make an appearance in the film as Pizza Poppa, a food vendor who has a brief encounter with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) on in an alternate universe, leading to the latter casting a spell on Pizza Poppa that left the pizza vendor hitting himself in the face for weeks. The appearance marked Campbell’s return to Marvel, having previously had cameos in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies but it sounds like we may be seeing more of Pizza Poppa — and he may be a much bigger character than we think. Campbell recently opened up about his Pizza Poppa appearance and suggested that there is much more to Pizza Poppa than meets the eye.

“Well, the fourth one, it’s not a Spider-Man movie, but it is Doctor Strange,” Campbell told Variety about his Marvel appearances. “I play Pizza Poppa. But ask yourself, in the timeline, in the Marvel timeline, I’m just a Pizza Poppa? Don’t kid yourself. My contract for that movie is [that] thick. Do you think I’d sign that thick of a contract for a simple little throwaway character? What did I do in that movie? I delayed Doctor Strange. We didn’t fight, but I delayed him and saved his life. The Marvel world is really just starting and I can only comment so much.”

The idea that Pizza Poppa might have a much larger role in the MCU isn’t exactly a new concept. Back in 2023, Campbell told ComicBook that not only are his cameos in Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and Pizza Poppa the same character from across the universe, but his real identity hasn’t been revealed just yet.

“The cameos are like, in the Spider-Man movies — if you know anything about the multiverse, you know now, retroactively, I’m in the multiverse now because of Doctor Strange. I’m not a pizza vendor, okay? That would be a massive mistake to think I’m just a pizza vendor, or an usher, or a ring announcer or a maître d’. It’s called the multiverse, my friend,” Campbell said. “So, yes, he is the same character, but we don’t know who he really is. It has not been revealed yet. I just got off the phone with the guys at Marvel, and we’re getting close to finding out.”

Campbell has also previously asserted that Pizza Poppa is a “building block” for the MCU — not merely a cameo.

“If you get hung up on the fact that he’s a pizza guy, you are so wrong — you are so short-sighted in your thinking,” Campbell said. “It’s not a cameo, it’s a building block. Because what did I do to Dr. Strange during that scene? I intercepted him, I got information out of him, I was able to report on his whereabouts, and I delayed him for about 45 seconds. If he’s in one universe, he can’t not be in the others, the way these multiverses work…. Nothing is what it seems like.”

Sam Raimi May Be Returning to Marvel

While the future of Campbell and Pizza Poppa in the MCU is something that fans will just have to watch and see play out, the odds of seeing the actor appear again does seem to be likely. Back in 2022, after he first commented about Pizza Poppa being perhaps more than just a cameo. Earlier this month it was reported that Raimi is rumored to be returning for a third Doctor Strange film, with Raimi having previously taken over Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness from Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson. Given that Raimi and Campbell have been frequent collaborators even beyond Marvel projects — the Evil Dead franchise come to mind — it’s not a stretch to think that Campbell might make his way back to the MCU if Raimi returns as well. And who knows — maybe that’s where the real nature of Pizza Poppa will start to come to light, especially he were to have a larger role.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is streaming on Disney+.