12 Marvel Movies You Didn't Know Were Secretly Connected
3. Doctor Strange "Is Taken" - Spider-Man 2 (2004)
A throwaway joke in the second Sam Raimi Spider-Man film (2004) indicates that Doctor Strange already exists in the universe and most likely predates Spider-Man.
J. Jonah Jameson is workshopping a name for Otto Octavius when his assistant suggests the name "Doctor Strange". Jameson is thrilled with the suggestion, before disappointedly saying 'it's taken', and then settling on the previously suggestedDoctor Octopus.
Marvel fans must have been delighted at the time as Strange was a more obscure character with little hopes of appearing on the big screen. The closest Strange had come to the silver screen at the time was a 1978 TV movie for a series that CBS passed on, and then the scrapped Guillermo del Toro film mentioned previously.
With Sam Raimi taking over Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, this little reference takes on a new kind of coolness altogether. Time will tell if the Strange referenced in the Spider-Man trilogy is the same as the MCU's or another Sorcerer Supreme, but Marvel could always use an actor previously rumoured for the role in 2016's Doctor Strange, such as Joaquin Phoenix or Ewan McGregor.