The Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness press tour has moved onto London, where Benedict Cumberbatch and Elizabeth Olsen did another photocall and this is MUCH better than their showing in Berlin. That shade of yellow is really working for Cumbybuns, and his suit! Is actually! Pressed! Maybe it’s the sunglasses, but he’s giving me RDJ vibes, and given that Marvel wants Doctor Strange to be one of the cornerstone Avengers bringing newbies into the fold—America Chavez will make her debut in Madness—it’s not a bad association for Cumberbatch to evoke. As for Olsen, I don’t super love this outfit, but it IS a much better version of a sparkly pantsuit than that satin hell number from Berlin.
Absent from the tour so far is Rachel McAdams, who is returning as Christine Palmer, a character whose name I had to double-check on IMDb. There’s been a low-level rumor for a while that she will also appear as Clea, Stephen Strange’s eventual wife from another dimension. Way back when McAdams was first cast, I thought she’d play Clea, a major character in the Marvel universe. Instead, she played Christine Palmer, a minor character who flits around New York and patches up various heroes (she’s the Night Nurse character embodied by Rosario Dawson in the Netflix shows). It’s not like McAdams gave a bad performance or anything, and she and Cumberbatch had decent chemistry, if not bowl-you-over romantic like Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell, or RDJ and Gwyneth Paltrow, but Christine Palmer seems below McAdams’ standards. I really hope Madness makes being in the MCU worth her time, Rachel McAdams should not be wasted.