Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' Savage Land Cameo Was Kevin Feige's Idea
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has been in theaters for almost a month now, taking fans on a pretty wild ride throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe's multiverse. The film traverses throughout a number of different universes and alternate worlds, ranging from major appearances to blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos. That included a prehistoric jungle world that bore a resemblance to the Savage Land, a corner of the Marvel Comics universe that has been around for decades, which was briefly seen as Stephen Strange / Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) tumbled in and out of various universes. In a recent interview with Variety, VFX artist Alexis Wajsbrot spoke about the process behind creating that sequence, and revealed that the idea to include the Savage Land was initially suggested by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige.
"One was an Incan statue world, which ended up in the movie because Kevin Feige thought, 'Well, that could be a great world to put the Living Tribunal in.' So that world became the Living Tribunal world," Wajsbrot revealed. "We proposed a jungle and Kevin Feige said, 'Well, it could be cool if it was Savage World.' It's a world that exists in the Marvel Universe, so we had to add dinosaurs. We had to model and texture and render and animate dinosaurs for two seconds, which is extremely not cost-efficient."
In the comics, the Savage Land is a tropical prehistoric world hidden within Antartica, which first popped up as a location in 1941's Marvel Mystery Comics #22, and was popularized in 1965's X-Men #10. Initially created by a disciple of the Beyonders, the Savage Land becomes a pretty well-known location within the Marvel universe, and sports a number of tribes of people and dinosaurs, including the fan-favorite superhero Ka-Zar. The location is also well-known in X-Men books, with many members of the team — including Magneto — residing there for some stretch of time.
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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now playing exclusively in theaters.