Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Marvel’s most recent film, delivers on a number of notable cameos that the viewers had been anticipating.

However, despite several internet speculations, the cameo of Tom Cruise as an alternate Tony Stark did not materialize. Take a look at what the writers of Doctor Strange now have to say about it:

The controversy around Tom Cruise’s role:

American actor and producer, Tom Cruise.

Everybody knows that Tom Cruise was a frontrunner for the part of Tony Stark in the first Iron Man film. However, things happened and the job finally went to Robert Downey Jr. Following the release of Doctor Strange 2 in theaters without a Tom Cruise appearance, numerous fans speculated that a sequence featuring the Mission: Impossible actor had been removed. However, that did not occur. The appearance never proceeded beyond insider Marvel discussions, according to screenwriter Michael Waldron, who talked with Rolling Stone about the Cruise allegations.

The truth about the Iron-Man cameo:

Tom Cruise, an alternate version of Iron-Man.

“Yeah, that was totally made up. I mean, there’s no cut footage of Tom Cruise,” Micheal Waldron confirmed. “But I love Tom Cruise, and I said to [Marvel Studios president] Kevin [Feige] at one point, I was like, Could we get Tom Cruise’s Iron-Man? I remember reading about that in Ain’t It Cool News back in the day, that Tom Cruise was going to be Iron Man”.

Waldron went on to claim that he wished that Cruise could be in the picture, but that the actor was shooting back-to-back Mission: Impossible films. “It just wasn’t ever an option,” according to Waldron, “because of availability”.

Superior Iron-Man may return someday:

Superior Iron Man, another variant of Tony Stark.

As certain as Patrick Stewart’s return to the character of Charles Xavier for Multiverse of Madness looked, so did Tom Cruise’s portrayal of some other version of Iron Man. However, it’s not yet confirmed that it will never happen. Anything appears to be possible when the Marvel Multiverse is involved. It seemed like a utopian dream only a week ago that John Krasinski would ever appear on screen as Reed Richards, yet look what took place! Thus, we have good reason to believe that the Multiverse can work in surprising ways. All we can do now is cross our fingers and hope for the best.