Daniel Craig was reportedly Marvel’s first choice to play Mister Fantastic in Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, a role which eventually went to John Krasinski. Deadline reporter Justin Kroll broke the news on Twitter in response to a story about Elizabeth Olsen saying she’d never met John Krasinski. 

“Fun fact, Krasinski wasn’t the first choice, the actor originally set to play the role was all set to shoot but when there was an uptick in COVID cases, he backed out as he was living in London and didn’t think the quick shoot wasn’t worth risk of bringing back COVID to the fam,” he wrote adding a gif attachment of Craig.


Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

Marvel fans were quick to ask for an explanation, noting that Craig worked on a sequel to Knives Out during the coronavirus pandemic.

“For those asking about why he was able to shoot KNIVES, that was months of shooting and if he got COVID, he would be the only one infected,” he explained. “STRANGE was maybe a day of shooting and worry was he could head back home and not know he had it and give to daughter who was 2 at the time.”

Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was released on May 6. Directed by Sam Raimi, the film marked the Evil Dead creator’s long-awaited return to the superhero genre 15 years after making Spider-Man 3 in 2007.

Check out Kroll’s explanation of why Craig couldn’t work on Dr. Strange below.

[Via]