In an Avengers: Infinity War set photo, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) wears Iron Man armor alongside Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). Although the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Infinity Saga essentially concluded in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, the beginning of the end was kick-started in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. While the two massive Marvel Studios event films run for a whopping total of five hours and 42 minutes, there are plenty of scenes and story beats that were cut somewhere along the way, whether in the script stage or in editing. One such element was Doctor Strange wearing Iron Man armor in Avengers: Infinity War.

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In Infinity War, the Avengers are split up across the galaxy when Thanos (Josh Brolin) begins acquiring the Infinity Stones, with the group from New York City following Doctor Strange when he’s captured by Ebony Maw. Iron Man and Spider-Man (Tom Holland) stow away on Maw’s ship and eventually work together to release Strange and kill Maw. As seen in concept art, this sequence originally featured Doctor Strange wearing Iron Man armor, which Tony had given to the Sorcerer Supreme to protect him from Maw’s torture. Now a new photo reveals what Doctor Strange in the Iron Man armor would’ve looked like – before visual effects anyway.

While live-tweeting during the Avengers: Infinity War Quarantine Watch Party, writer Stephen McFeely posted a behind the scenes photo of Downey Jr. and Cumberbatch in costume. But although Downey Jr. is wearing the Tony Stark costume as seen in the final film, Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange is outfitted with the Iron Man shoulder, chest and arm pieces. Check out the full photo below.

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Since the photo was taken on set, it doesn’t include the visual effects that would have been added in post-production, which is why Doctor Strange isn’t wearing the full Iron Man armor. Since Iron Man 2, Marvel Studios has used CGI to depict most of Tony Stark’s armor and suits, with Downey Jr. only wearing pieces, like the shoulder pads. As such, it makes sense they wouldn’t create a whole suit of Iron Man armor for Cumberbatch, when they haven’t even done that for Downey Jr. Still, it means fans don’t get to see the full effect of Doctor Strange in an Iron Man suit, since this version of the sequence was scrapped in favor of Strange staying in his sorcerer costume.

It’s unclear why this particular sequence was changed. On Twitter, the official account for Infinity War directors Anthony and Joe Russo responded to McFeely’s tweet saying, “Best one made the movie…I think…” So the Russos certainly chose the version they believed to be better, indicating the one in which Strange wears Iron Man armor didn’t work for some reason. Perhaps Strange needed to be vulnerable to Maw’s torture to motivate Iron Man and Spider-Man to save him sooner, otherwise there was no urgency to the scene. While that may be the case, we won’t know for sure until the writers or directors reveal why they ultimately decided to scrap the idea of Doctor Strange in Iron Man’s armor. Since revisiting Avengers: Infinity War and its sequel has become an event in itself, it’s likely fans will learn the reason for this particular change at some point.

Source: Stephen McFeely/Twitter

Key Release Dates
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  • Black Widow (2021)Release date: Jul 09, 2021
  • Eternals (2021)Release date: Nov 05, 2021
  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)Release date: Sep 03, 2021
  • Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)Release date: Jul 08, 2022
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)Release date: May 06, 2022
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever/Black Panther 2 (2022)Release date: Nov 11, 2022
  • The Marvels/Captain Marvel 2 (2023)Release date: Feb 17, 2023
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About The Author


Molly Freeman
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Molly Freeman is the lead news editor of Screen Rant and one of Screen Rant’s Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved movie critics. She’s been writing for Screen Rant since 2014 and has appeared on the Total Geekall podcast. Previously, she’s written entertainment news for Bustle and had personal essays published on HelloGiggles and Femsplain.

A graduate of Ithaca College’s Journalism program, Molly originally planned to be a music journalist before moving into entertainment journalism after spending so much of her downtime binge-watching all manner of movies and TV during her formative years. Still, she enjoys every chance to put her music and musical theater knowledge to good use, particularly when it intersects with her love of superhero movies.

Beyond that, Molly spends her free time reading young adult and romance novels, rooting for the New York Rangers hockey team (LGR!) and going out to brunch. Follow Molly on Twitter and Instagram @mollyrockit, or contact her directly: molly(at)screenrant(dot)com.

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