Daniel Craig dismisses Doctor Strange rumors once and for all as “lockdown craziness”

Now that the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s output has swelled to 30 feature films and an also-growing number of TV shows, it might seem like half of Hollywood has been a part of the comic book franchise. However, that has yet to include Daniel Craig.

Online chatter, fueled by an Instagram post by concept artist Darrell Warner, suggested that the most recent James Bond actor had been tipped to play Thor’s brother Balder the Brave in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness. In a new interview with BBC Radio 1, Craig says that this was all speculation.

“It’s all a rumor,” he says. “I don’t know where these things come from.”

The character supposedly would have appeared in the Illuminati sequence, which primarily nodded to alternate versions of previously seen heroes and other Marvel adaptations that may or may not be part of the MCU’s continuity. This included Patrick Stewart returning as Professor X and Anson Mount appearing as Black Bolt, as well as Hayley Atwell suiting up as Captain Carter in live action.

“There was a lot of lockdown craziness,” Craig continues. “There was a time when you just had to put COVID at the end of every sentence.”

Last month, in a conversation with ComicBook.com’s Phase Zero podcast, Craig responded to the possibility of being in the MCU by saying, “I should be so lucky.” Of course, if he did end up becoming part of the series, he’d be joining his wife Rachel Weisz, who appeared in 2021's Black Widow.

For now, Craig is back on the case as private detective Benoit Blanc in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which arrives on Netflix tomorrow. One mystery that has yet to be solved? Just how these Marvel rumors keep cranking out.