We’re still a little more than a week away from watching Doctor Strange in theaters, but the critics have already watched it, and they seem to have fallen in love with the movie. It stands with a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes at the moment, and it’s been highly praised for its visuals and acting performances.
So it’s safe to assume that like any superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe who's gotten a standalone movie (other than the Hulk), Doctor Strange, too, will get sequels. And Scott Derrickson, who has directed the November 4 release, has already started planning a sequel. That's what he himself reveals in a recent interview with Den of Geek:
I love the character, I love the visual possibilities, and I know the comics so well – [the first movie is] the tip of an iceberg. There’s so much progress that can be made.
If the audience loves Doctor Strange as much as the critics have loved it, Marvel Studios will surely want Derrickson to take his place behind the camera for a sequel. While speaking about what direction he is planning to take with Doctor Strange 2, the director cites Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy as an example. He says:
What made The Dark Knight so great was that the origin story of Batman had been well-told, and then it was time to bring in a villain where you really got to go deep. And not just the Joker, also Two-Face. It was a more visceral experience; I’d love to be able to do that for Doctor Strange.
While a Doctor Strange sequel seems pretty much inevitable, it is highly unlikely that it will arrive ahead of Avengers: Infinity War, which will not only feature Benedict Cumberbatch's Stephen Strange but also Benedict Wong's Wong from the Derrickson venture.
