Doctor Strange 2 Writer Reveals the Truth Behind Tom Cruise Cameo Rumors

By Charlie Ridgely

Marvel's latest movie, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, delivered on quite a few popular cameos that fans had been asking for and theorizing about. One cameo that didn't happen, despite many online rumors suggestion otherwise, was Tom Cruise appearing as another universe's Tony Stark. It's widely known now that Cruise was a finalist to play Tony Stark in the first Iron Man, with the role ultimately going to Robert Downey Jr. 

After Doctor Strange 2 arrived in theaters, without a Tom Cruise cameo, some folks online began suggesting that a scene with the Mission: Impossible star was left on the cutting room floor. That didn't happen. Screenwriter Michael Waldron spoke with Rolling Stone about the Cruise rumors, and he confirmed that the cameo never went beyond internal conversations at Marvel.

"Yeah, that was totally made up. I mean, there's no cut footage of Tom Cruise," Waldron confirmed. "But I love Tom Cruise, and I said to [Marvel Studios president] Kevin [Feige] at one point, I was like, Could we get Tom Cruise's Iron Man? I remember reading about that in Ain't It Cool News back in the day, that Tom Cruise was going to be Iron Man."

Waldron went on to say that he definitely wanted to try and get Cruise in the movie, but the actor was filming back-to-back Mission: Impossible movies. "It just wasn't ever an option," according to Waldron, "because of availability."

A Tom Cruise Tony Stark wasn't part of the Illuminati in Doctor Strange, but the group was filled with multiple exciting characters that had plenty of fans shocked. Waldron was surprised Marvel allowed such a prominent team-up.

"The final lineup in that group is beyond my wildest dreams of who we could get," the writer said. "I never dreamed we'd be able to do that. But the lineup is close to, I think, who was originally in my first draft, which was: 'Okay, I know it can't actually be this.' And then it ended up being close to that. It was just a moving target of who's available and who's right. It became, 'All right, if you're putting together an Illuminati, who would actually need to be in it?' You'd have people with certain power sets. And we tried to be true to what kind of characters were represented in the Illuminati in the comics."

What did you think of the Illuminati Marvel Studios put together in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? Let us know in the comments!

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