There was much speculation that an Iron Man variant played by Tom Cruise would show up in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but this belief ultimately proved false, as no iteration of Tony Stark appeared. Despite Iron Man’s death in Avengers: Endgame and Robert Downey Jr.’s departure from the MCU franchise, his iteration of the classic Marvel superhero became the iconic face of Marvel Studious’ pop culture-dominating MCU. With this in mind, it was a mistake of Doctor Strange 2 to not include Iron Man in some form, as the multiverse offers infinite possibilities, meaning that Tom Cruise, who was offered the role of Iron Man at the start of the MCU, could have finally played an alternate version of Tony Stark in the multiverse-spanning film.
In addition to being the culmination of Doctor Strange’s characterization in all of his previous MCU appearances, Doctor Strange 2 also features Wanda Maximoff’s ultimate turn to villainy and the introduction of MCU newcomer America Chavez. The film also ties together other Marvel properties, such as the beloved X-Men: The Animated Series and 20th Century Fox’s X-Men films (with the two properties being amalgamated in Earth-838’s Professor X), as well as the Fantastic Four via Mister Fantastic (played by John Krasinski). In both cases, the future of the mainstream MCU continuity is teased, as its mutants and iteration of the Fantastic Four are still forthcoming.
With this in mind, Doctor Strange 2 missed an opportunity for both fan service and a meaningful way of bringing back arguably the MCU’s most important superhero without disrespecting Iron Man’s Endgame sacrifice or Robert Downey Jr.’s exit from the franchise. With its crowd-pleasing Illuminati members (which made a popular Mister Fantastic fan casting choice at least partially canonical), Sam Raimi’s return to Marvel adaptations, and an epic story spanning multiple realities, Doctor Strange 2 would have benefitted from the additional fan service of including Tom Cruise as Iron Man, which would have tastefully reintroduced Tony Stark to the MCU. -Screen Rant
