Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have seen Doctor Strange peer into different timelines and realities, 14,000,605 times, to be specific. But it was in the pages of 2016’s The Unbelievable Gwenpool #3 that he caught a glimpse of an entirely new universe - the actual real world – and he seemed pretty pleased with the MCU’s casting choice to play him.
The story finds Gwenpool, the self-aware, fourth-wall-breaking mash up of Gwen Stacey and Wade Wilson working as a M.O.D.O.K. operative, though, having been transported there from another universe, she’s having trouble setting up a bank account for direct deposit. Desperate for a solution, Gwendolyn Poole eventually finds herself turning to none other than the Master of the Mystic Arts for a solution. Strange teleports himself and Gwen into a mind-melting realm that he can only describe as “a space between the atoms of reality.” And it’s here that things get super meta.
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Showing Gwen a glimpse of her home universe, where the various Marvel characters exist only in pop culture. Strange spots a movie theater on which the marquee is advertising his own MCU movie. “Fascinating. The people and events in our world leave… footprints in yours. Little recordings, retellings,” he comments. And when he see who’s playing him, Strange doesn’t seem displeased: “Benedict Cumberbatch, eh? Sure, I could see that.”
Now, this raises a lot of questions. If Strange is familiar with the actor, does that mean Cumberbatch exists in Marvel’s various comic book universes? Can Strange binge watch Sherlock in the Sanctum Sanctorum on a slow day? Can he read his own books? See his own movies? What did he think of Tilda Swinton’s casting as the Ancient One? Since this book came out the same year as his movie, is he planning to watch it? Readers unfortunately never get the answer to any of these questions, as Strange swiftly swaps Gwenpool’s existence from our reality to the one she’s presently occupying, retroactively giving her all the records she needs to get herself on paper. She thanks Strange, calling him her “favorite immigrations lawyer and inter-dimensional travel agent.”
This obviously isn’t the first time that comic book characters have co-mingled with their own movies counterparts. A throwaway joke in Cable and Deadpool #2, wherein the Merc with a Mouth says he looks like “Ryan Reynolds crossed with a shar-pei,” came out in 2004 and helped inspire the actor to take up the role years later, so this is hardly uncharted territory. And despite how solemn and no-nonsense Doctor Strange is generally portrayed, this was a Gwenpool story after all, where there’s a strict no no-nonsense policy.