Patrick Stewart Responds To The “Doctor Strange” Rumors

While were a lot of talking points coming out this of this year’s Superbowl, there wasn’t much to speak of, in terms of film trailers. However, the trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness that dropped during the event did get a lot of folks talking, particularly because it appeared that Patrick Stewart’s Professor X has a role in the movie.

The scene in particular sees Stephen Strange being handcuffed and led into a courtroom of sorts and there are several shadowy figures in the room. It’s not clear who anyone in the room is, though the trailer movies in for a close-up of one of the figures, who actually speaks, and all signs point to it being actor Patrick Stewart.

This immediately led to speculation that Stewart was reprising his Professor Charles Xavier and that FOX’s X-Men franchise was going to be integrated into the MCU. It was even quickly rumored that the tribunal that Strange was being taken to is Marvel’s Illuminati, a secret society from the comics that not only includes Strange and Professor X, but also characters like the Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards and Namor the Sub-Mariner. Lending a little credence to this theory is the rampant rumor that Tom Cruise will appear in the sequel as a Tony Stark variant, and Iron Man is also famously apart of the clandestine group.

For his part, Stewart is remaining mum on the topic, neither confirming nor denying his involvement in the Marvel project. When he was directly asked by Comicbook.com about the possibility of showing up as Professor X again, he replied:

You know, people have been imitating my voice ever since I came on the stage 60 years ago. So, I can’t be held responsible for that.

That does seem like more of a denial than not, which stands in line with what the actor has stated in the past, as he’s been very vocal about Professor X’s swan song in 2017’s Logan being the perfect send off. But just because ’e’s leaning towards ‘no’ now doesn’t necessarily mean now, as Andrew Garfield flat out refuted his involvement in Spider-Man: No Way Home for months, only to pop up in an integral role.

Whatever the case, audiences won’t have long to wait to see if Professor X shows up, as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness arrives in theaters on May 6th.