Sam Raimi Surprised Benedict Wong With His Promotion To Sorcerer Supreme
Spoilers ahead for "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness."
Wong (Benedict Wong) is one of my favorite characters in the MCU. He's funny, he's powerful, and he always has the best lines. Not a whole lot of people can stand toe to toe with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in a battle of witty quips. Wong gets him every time! He's involved in underground fighting, and seems to be breaking Abomination out of his prison for the events, and even training him. Now, Wong is the Sorcerer Supreme. That's quite a promotion.
If you've seen "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," you know how it happened. If not, here's the deal: Doctor Strange disappeared when Thanos (Josh Brolin) snapped his giant purple fingers in the Infinity Gauntlet, and dusted half of all living things. Even Stephen Strange's revered powers couldn't keep him from disappearing for five whole years. And you can't have the Sanctum Sanctorum just mouldering and filling with snow. You have to have someone in charge of things, and Wong is clearly better at keeping things in order than Stephen Strange is. He knows the drill, he doesn't have a giant-sized ego, and he knows better than to mess with spells and the multiverse. I'd totally vote for Wong. Don't get me wrong, I love Stephen. It's just that Wong does a much better job.
Time for a promotion!
I was certainly surprised when Wong got the job though, as was Benedict Wong when he found out. He told Ali Plumb from BBC Radio 1 during an interview about the film, how director Sam Raimi surprised him with his promotion to Sorcerer Supreme. Wong said:
"Now how would you like to be Sorcerer Supreme? Come on now, you're well knowledged now in the library..." And basically that was it! You know, I had a conference call with Sam Raimi, and he was there to – you know, it was like a one-man show really, and he was just telling me and guiding me through the story, and then it was like, "And then of course, you're the Sorcerer Supreme," "Excuse me? What? Can we just take a beat?" And yeah, I was in Australia and that's where I found out.
Look, there are leaders and then there are the people who go out and do the dirty work. I like Stephen as the dirty work guy and Wong as the leader. It just works better. He may have gotten it on a technicality, as Stephen said, but it's well-deserved.