Doctor Strange 2 Deleted Scene Reportedly Featured Thor’s Brother

When Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hit theatres earlier this month, it featured some exciting surprises. One big name on the list included John Krasinski as Mister Fantastic, which was a longtime fan cast come to life. However, it was recently revealed that Krasinski was not the original choice to be a part of the movie’s Illuminati. It was revealed that James Bond star Daniel Craig was going to be a part of the powerful group, but he was unable to film due to COVID concerns. This led to some confusion among fans, who thought Craig was cast as Mr. Fantastic. However, it has been reported that he was actually supposed to play Balder the Brave, Thor’s half-brother. A recent video from Heavy Spoilers on YouTube claims to have insider info about the Craig cameo that could have been.

“There was also supposed to be an appearance by Balder the Brave, which I’ve seen certain elements for,” the host explains. “In the Illuminati scene, we, of course, saw that there were six chairs and a space for Professor X. Balder was originally supposed to be the 7th member, but this has now been kind of brushed to the side with the empty chair being chalked up to belonging to Supreme Strange. However, Mordo overtook his position and this is because he wasn’t in the Illuminati beforehand, which is why he didn’t appear on Titan with the rest of the group.”

He continued, “During the fight with Wanda, Balder was going to be talked into ending his own life by the witch, but this was apparently taken out so that the focus of this can be given to Black Bolt. Again, it’s probably the better way to do things, and there are already enough Illuminati members as there is, so I can see why they removed things for the final cut.”

“Now today there was a report from Deadline which said that Daniel Craig was originally supposed to be playing Reed Richards,” the video continues.” However, my sources told me about six months ago that he was actually playing Balder the Brave, and they sent some photos of props across as evidence. I think Craig as Balder, aka Thor’s brother, makes way more sense, and recently when stuff was cut my sources said they couldn’t understand why this was as he’s such a big name. However, apparently, Craig dropping out was due to a spike in pandemic cases, so I think that’s why he was removed and also replaced.”

When Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron spoke with ComicBook.com earlier this month, he suggested fan service never factored into any of the studio’s decision-making when casting the Illuminati.

“Of course, I guess,” Waldron revealed. “It’s easy to be seduced by the cheap laugh, the cheap cheer, whatever. But that’s never what Marvel or Sam [Raimi] were interested in. It was always about what’s right for the story, what’s right for Stephen Strange, what’s right for Wanda. It was never about fan service, really. It was like, ‘If these Illuminati characters are here, they should be here because that’s who’s in the Illuminati in the comics, and that’s who would actually be in the Illuminati.’ That was our north star.”

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now playing exclusively in theatres.