Benedict Cumberbatch says Doctor Strange ‘is not’ an Avenger: ‘I’m not at Stark Tower with Nick Fury’

Benedict Cumberbatch spoke about why Doctor Strange has always been a ‘slight outsider’ as an Avenger, and how that might change in the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Cumberbatch appeared on The Treatment podcast, where he spoke about his Oscar-nominated turn in The Power of the Dog. He also touched upon the upcoming Marvel movie, which he teased in a recent interview, is going to be as big as Spider-Man: No Way Home.

That film made nearly $1.9 billion and broke pandemic era records. It also featured an on-screen union that delighted fans across generations. Cumberbatch played a pivotal supporting role in the movie; he was the one who makenly ripped apart the multiverse, and then helped stitch it back towards the end.
In the new interview, he spoke about the possibility of Strange having to team up in the upcoming film, directed Sam Raimi. He said, “People say that you were in the Avengers, but you’re not an Avenger, right? No, I’m not. I’m not at Stark Tower with Nick Fury. No, he’s sort of outside of that realm, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a character trait. I think that is just a job title. He’s there to protect the reality of the Avengers in a different way to what they have been fighting up until the point that everything collides in the last two Avengers movies, so he holds his position as an adult on the periphery of that, but I think only for so long. There’s always a moment where he has to work with people and team up. And you know, we might see that in the next film; you have to wait and see.”
While Cumberbatch didn’t reveal who all the ‘team’ will include, one could either assume that he is referring to his old friends, or perhaps there is a surprise in store for us that we didn’t see coming. As the title suggests, the multiverse will play a key role in the film’s plot, and it has been rumoured that Tom Cruise might appear as Tony Stark/Iron Man. Cruise, as fans of the MCU would know, turned down the character before Robert Downey Jr was hired.
Co-starring Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Rachel McAdams and others, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is slated to be released on May 6.