As if the 62-year-old acting legend teasing his involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel earlier this month wasn’t enough, Bruce Campbell took to Twitter to share a script page from the highly-anticipated Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness indicating his appearing as the fan-favorite horror icon Ash Williams from The Evil Dead franchise. While it’s entirely likely that Campbell is in the film in some capacity, given his friendship and long-running collaborative relationship with director Sam Raimi and cameos in Raimi’s previous superhero efforts Darkman and the Spider-Man trilogy, some calendar-eyed fans pointed out it is in fact April 1, aka April Fool’s Day, and the actor fooled some fans last year with a fake poster for a sequel series to The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. at Netflix.
Given the current date, a number of grammatical errors and even the page’s number of 69, it seems highly unlikely it’s a real page from the script — especially as it would get Campbell and Raimi in big trouble with the House of Mouse — but if it turns out to be real, longtime fans of the duo and the horror genre are sure in for a treat!
Oops. This slipped. pic.twitter.com/VUG8i5eB8Y
— Bruce Campbell (@GroovyBruce) April 1, 2021
Continuing the story put forth by Disney+’s WandaVision and Loki and in the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man: No Way Home, in which Benedict Cumberbatch will return as the Sorcerer Supreme, Multiverse of Madness‘ plot details are being kept under wraps but will see the Dr. Stephen Strange forced to step away from his research into the Time Stone as he must face off against a friend-turned-enemy and accidentally unleashes an unspeakable evil.
The MCU sequel was originally set to have Scott Derrickson step back into the director’s chair with Jade Bartlett penning the script, though due to creative differences Derrickson departed and Raimi signed on to direct with Loki head writer Michael Waldron also signing on for rewrites.
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Alongside Cumberbatch, the film will see the returns of Rachel McAdams (Sherlock Holmes) as Dr. Christine Palmer, Chiwetel Ejiofor (The Lion King) as Karl Mordo and Benedict Wong (Raya and the Last Dragon) as Wong, with Elizabeth Olsen reprising her role of Wanda Maximoff, aka The Scarlett Witch, and Xochitl Gomez set to star as America Chavez, known in the comics as Miss America and the first Latin-American LGBTQ+ character to star in an ongoing series.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is set to hit theaters on March 25, 2022.
The first Doctor Strange was released in 2016 with Cumberbatch starring in the titular role alongside Ejiofor as Mordo, McAdams as Christine, Wong as Wong, Mads Mikkelsen as villain Kaecilius and Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One, whose origins were changed to being of Celtic origin for the film instead of the comics’ East Asian origins.
