Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness: Strange And Wong Meet America Chavez – Exclusive Image

If anything has the internet ablaze today, it’s that trailer for Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness – with tons of trippy visuals, reality-bending sequences, and a voice cameo from a very recognisable Professor. But among the the multiple variants of characters, the tentacle monsters, and the fantastical battles, there’s something else that leaps out: this really is a Sam Raimi movie. The director of the ‘00s Spider-Man trilogy and the Evil Dead films is well and truly back – bringing Zombie Strange, ghostly dimensions, and flinging the camera around like nobody’s business.

As Benedict Cumberbatch tells Empire, that’s precisely the point. “Once it became Sam, it was always about making it a Sam Raimi picture,” the actor says, referencing the change in director from Scott Derrickson, who directed the previous Doctor Strange. “Your head’s going to be spun,” he promises. If you want a little extra head-spinning, see a brand new exclusive image from the film above, with Xochitl Gomez’s America Chavez having an important conversation with Doctor Strange and Wong (who has a fancy new get-up here).

Marvel fans last saw Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange in the non-stop box office juggernaut that was Spider-Man: No Way Home – a film whose gargantuan financial success caught even a man who can see through millions of different realities off guard. “I think when Kevin Feige first said, ‘We’ll know about the future of cinema, or the cinemagoing experience, after this film,’ I was like, ‘Okay, everyone’s drinking too much of the Kool-Aid around here,’” Cumberbatch admits. “My ignorance was showed up.” From the looks of things, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness could be just as colossal.

Read Empire’s full Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness story in the upcoming Moon Knight issue, on sale Thursday 17 Feb and available to pre-order online here. Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness comes to UK cinemas from 6 May.