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Bruce Campbell’s Doctor Strange 2 cameo explained

Bruce Campbell's cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was long-rumoured — but now that its happening, here is how it went down

What happened during Bruce Campbell’s Doctor Strange 2 cameo? The iconic horror movie actor was one of many highly-anticipated cameos that occurred during the MCU movie — but for those who don’t know Bruce Campbell, his past work, and his close, collaborative, relationship with director Sam Raimi, his appearance in the movie and what it means may be unclear.

Campbell and Raimi are longtime friends. After meeting in high school, they worked on various movies together. The most well-known collaboration between the two is the Evil Dead franchise, in which Campbell plays lead role Ash Williams while Raimi directed the thriller movie trilogy.

As well as appearing in a number of other Raimi-directed flicks, like ’80s movie Crimewave and ’90s movie Darkman, Campbell also made a number of cameos in Sam Raimi’s trilogy of Spider-Man movies. This means that Bruce Campbell’s Doctor Strange 2 cameo in Raimi’s latest MCU movie shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that it actually forms part of a long-running tradition for the pair. So, let’s unpack what actually happened during his appearance in the movie.

What happened during Bruce Campbell’s DOCTOR STRANGE 2 cameo?

Campbell appears in two scenes during the fantasy movie — one of them being a post-credit scene. We’re introduced to Campbell’s character when Strange and America Chavez crash-land into Earth-838 on account of her multiverse-travelling powers.

After grabbing a plate of questionable-looking pizza balls, Chavez says that most universes don’t make you pay for food. But then comes Campbell, who plays a disgruntled street vendor demanding money from Chavez before accusing Strange of stealing his outfit from Earth-838’s Doctor Strange Museum.

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Unsurprisingly, Strange doesn’t take this criticism well, so he puts a spell on Campbell that forces him to punch himself in the face repeatedly for three weeks straight. When we then catch up with Campbell in the adventure movie’s final post-credit scene, the now-disheveled vendor is relieved to find his face-punching curse has come to an end.

Are there any Easter eggs to look out for?

There are a couple of Easter Eggs and fourth-wall-breaking moments during Bruce Campbell’s Doctor Strange 2 cameo. If you’ve ever watched Evil Dead 2 (which was directed by Raimi and starred Campbell as Ash Williams), you’ll know that a major plot point in the monster movie is Ash Williams’ possessed hand. So, given that Strange’s spell essentially posesses Campbell’s character’s hand, we don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest that his cameo might be a nod to his and Raimi’s past collaboration in Evil Dead 2.

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After the face-punching gag was set up earlier in the movie, the punch-line (sorry) finally pays off when, after the curse finally wears off, Campbell looks to the camera and yells, “It’s over!” This, again, works as a clever tongue-in-cheek moment for audiences because, as the last post-credit scene, we know that the MCU Phase 4 movie has finally come to an end.

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So, there you have it. If you want to catch Campbell’s cameo in Doctor Strange 2, then you’re in luck because its playing in theatres now!