Doctor Strange Writer Celebrates the Success of Wong

By Jamie Jirak

As Phase Four starts to wind down, there's no denying that one Marvel character has stood out in an exciting way: Wong. Over the last year, Benedict Wong played Wong in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law in addition to voicing his character in What If...?. Many have joked that it's becoming the "Wong Cinematic Universe" and the character's most recent appearance on She-Hulk has been a hot topic on social media. Of course, Wong first appeared in Doctor Strange back in 2016, and the movie's writer, C. Robert Cargill, is proud to have contributed to the character's success. 

"One of the breakout characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the past few years has been Wong, aka Wongers," Nerdist tweeted earlier this week. "Creating this version of Wong with @wongrel and Scott [Derrickson] is a top 5 career high for me. It makes me smile wide every time Benny walks in frame in any corner of the MCU. Love to see people consistently talking about a character I love that hasn't had a lead in a movie or show (yet!)," Cargill tweeted. You can check out the post below:

During an interview with Variety earlier this year, Wong talked about his character's new and important title of Sorcerer Supreme.

"When I first embarked on the role, we looked at the old source material and it needed an update," Wong explained. "I remember my opening gambit when I was in the trailer and waiting to meet with Kevin and producer Stephen Broussard, and was vehemently not into doing what was in the old source material. And thankfully, neither were they." He added, "So, we created this no-nonsense, midfield general librarian with hints of Roy Keane [former Manchester United player] in there. This character has progressed now, and I found out when [director] Sam Raimi was on a conference call and talking me through the story. Here was this legend. He said, 'Of course, you're going to be the Sorcerer Supreme,' and as this geek, it's so great what they've done with the character and how he stands toe-to-toe with Doctor Strange."

As for Cargill, he was originally supposed to reteam with Derrickson for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness but they left the project during the development stage. Citing "creative differences," Derrickson Cargill exited the Marvel sequel and ended up making The Black Phone together. 

"It was creative differences. [Derrickson] wanted to do one movie, and Marvel wanted to do another movie. So he sat there and said, 'Well sh-t, I've got this great script that I wrote with Cargill, and I'm really proud of,'" Cargill told CinemaBlend. "We were actually going to go out to other directors for The Black Phone, and Scott was like, he called me up and said, 'Dude, I have to make this movie. It's gotta be my movie, I have to do this. Do you mind waiting until after I'm done with [Doctor Strange 2]?'"

Are you loving all of the Wong attention lately? Tell us in the comments! 

Trending Now: