While it didn't break any box office records, Doctor Strange was yet another successful and exciting MCU origin story. The movie effectively introduced magic and mysticism within the ever-expanding shared universe, and introduced an extremely powerful superhero. He hasn't yet joined the Avengers; he met with Thor, but that's about it.
So in Avengers: Infinity War, one very powerful superhero will join the team roster. And, as we all know, the charismatic Benedict Cumberbatch will return as Doctor Strange.
Recent rumors had said that a stand-in would appear for the actor, meaning that Cumberbatch won’t actually appear in the movie. These rumors were based on the fact that Marvel had ditched their plan to shoot Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers 4 back to back, causing some confusion among fans about which characters would actually appear.
Cumberbatch had said that he’d read the script before the rumors of a stand-in popped up, and now a tweet by Jay Funk (Cumberbatch's movement coach) has confirmed that the actor will appear in Infinity War:
The Doctor is in. ? pic.twitter.com/sXrA3FVgwj
"” JayFunk (@JayFunk_JD) June 15, 2017
Of course, it’s relatively late in the Infinity War filming process, which could indicate that Stephen Strange’s role will be small and then expand in the fourth Avengers movie. This actually makes sense, since we last saw the Avengers after the events of Civil War, when they were split into two factions. We assume that a portion of Infinity War will be devoted to getting the team back together.
Who knows? Maybe Doctor Strange will have the final word that reunites The Avengers. After all, it’s been said that Strange could be a suitable replacement for Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) as leader of the Avengers.