Doctor Strange 2 Writer Explains Which Version of Charles Xavier Patrick Stewart Was Playing

As revealed by Marvel Studios’ marketing efforts, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness served as the live-action debut of The Illuminati. In the comics lore, the group serves as the overseers of the multiverse, taking on threats larger than what the Avengers, X-Men, and Inhumans can handle on their own. In the film, the group is essentially the Avengers of Earth-838, serving as that universe’s go-to superhero group. Quick side note: full spoilers up ahead!

In the picture, Patrick Stewart returns as Professor Charles Xavier. While he’s only appeared as the character in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise — even bringing back a line he said in X-Men: Days of Future Past — the character had an updated look this time around. Xavier could be seen hovering around in the yellow wheelchair the character used in the wildly popular X-Men: The Animated Series. As it turns out, however, the version of Xavier in the Doctor Strange sequel is neither of those iterations.

“A little bit of both. I don’t know if I’m technically supposed to get into specifics about these actors or characters, but I worked with that performer to even talk about making it different, so it was a different version of him,” Multiverse of Madness scribe Michael Waldron said in a recent chat with Variety. “He uses a line from Days of Future Past that he says to Stephen. But also, we drew from the classic cartoon version of that character. He’s a variant who has qualities of a bunch of different versions of those guys from across the multiverse.

As the events of Loki told us, variants across the multiverse can look identical to each other — like Vote Loki — or they can look wildly different, like Alligator Loki, Kid Loki, or Boastful Loki.

Neither Stewart’s return, or the return of any other Illuminati members, has been confirmed. Marvel’s currently working on projects featuring both the Fantastic Four and X-Men, but neither production has announced casting news to date.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now showing exclusively in theaters around the world. What’d you think about the sequel? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!