This could be the beginning of the biggest crossover over in Marvel Cinematic history...
About half a year ago, JOE interviewed Shang-Chi star Simu Liu, and the conversation turned to Liu's co-star Benedict Wong, about which Liu had only one thing to say: "Put. Wong. In. Everything."
Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige was clearly paying attention, because in the space of about half a year, Wong has appeared in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the soon-to-be-released Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
In the run-up to the release of the Doctor Strange sequel, JOE had the opportunity to chat to Wong himself, and pointed out this amazing run of Marvel movies, to which he replied: "I got an email off Kevin Feige, and he said this is fast becoming the Wong [Cinematic Universe], the WCU. And this is Phase Wong, and there's nothing I can do about it, I just have to succumb to it!"
You can check out our full conversation with Wong right here:
During our conversation, considering the fact that Wong has appeared in so many of the MCU movies so far, we asked was there any Marvel character out there that he'd love to share a scene with?
Wong responded: "Oh wow. Yeah, I’d love to work with Samuel L. Jackson... which other worlds are we, we're in the... I mean, if ever the X-Men are around, I’d like to hang out with the X-Men. You know, [I was] a big Marvel comic fan back in the day and obviously, I always remembered the Secret Wars, where everybody was involved against the Beyonder.
"Who else? X-Force. Nightcrawler. All of those. What I love about this and I thank the MCU - 'have portal will travel' - so the more, the merrier."
Quite a bit to dig into from his answers there, but let us start off with the mention of the X-Men. We already know that the Doctor Strange sequel will see the return of Patrick Stewart as Professor Xavier, so this could also see the wider universe of the X-Men being folded into the MCU, too.
Then he mentions the Secret Wars, which including the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and loads more all battling an intergalactic creature known as the Beyonder, who initially pits them all against each other for little more than his own amusement. Could this be the MCU's next big bad after Kang The Conqueror has had his turn trying to destroy the universe(s)?
And finally, he mentions both Nightcrawler (a very specific X-Men character), and the X-Force, who have actually already appeared (kinda) in Deadpool 2. They're rumoured to be at the centre of the upcoming Deadpool threequel, and this mention is likely to continue swirling the rumours that Ryan Reynolds will appear in the Doctor Strange sequel.
Either way, we'll know for sure when Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness arrives in Irish cinemas on Thursday, 5 May. You can check out our interview with Wong's co-star Benedict Cumberbatch right here:
