Marvel Studios announced a Doctor Strange 2 release date and title in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con today, along with one other surprise. Benedict Cumberbatch reprises the title role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which will co-star Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch. Scott Derrickson returns to the director's chair having helmed the first Doctor Strange, but he promised the Hall H crowd he's going to make "the first scary MCU film."

This movie will be directly tied to the upcoming Disney+ series WandaVision, which stars Olsen opposite Paul Bettany's Vision and debuts on the streaming service in Spring 2021. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said the events of WandaVision lead into and impact what happens in Doctor Strange 2.

The title suggests that yes, the multiverse is very much real (contrary to that Mysterio trickery) and this sequel will find Doctor Strange venturing into said multiverse with a witchy companion. Derrickson's background is in horror having helmed fright fests like The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Sinisterbut his Doctor Strange movie was far more restrained in that regard. It appears he's convinced the powers that be to make a true MCU horror movie, and what better characters to do that with than Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch?

It's unclear who else will be in Doctor Strange 2, but Chiwetel Ejiofor's Baron Mordo was set up as a villain at the end of the first movie, while Tilda Swinton's now-dead Ancient One reprised her role for a key multiverse-involved scene in Avengers: EndgameThere's also Rachel McAdams as Christine, a human character that grounded Doctor Strange in the real world. Right now, however, all we know cast-wise is Cumberbatch and Olsen.

Check out the official Doctor Strange 2 logo below. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will hit theaters on May 7, 2021.

For all of the Marvel news that broke during the studio's Hall H panel, click on the links below:

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