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Tony Todd is on everyone’s mind this week following the release of the Final Destination Bloodlines trailer. The horror icon posthumously reprises the role of William Bludworth, a franchise staple across 25 years. But Final Destination is hardly the only franchise that Todd has contributed to, and thanks to an interview the actor did before his passing in 2024, we know that one of those franchises was very nearly the MCU. 

According to the actor himself, the role of Doctor Strange’s high-dimension baddie Dormammu originally belonged to Tony Todd.

The information comes out of an interview Todd did with Comic Book Resources all the way back in 2017, during which Todd was asked about what exciting things were going on in his career.

"I have to tell you about one recent disappointment," Todd told his interviewer. "I almost did Doctor Strange."

Before you jump to assumptions, the story's a little bit more complex than Marvel Studios throwing out Todd as an option, as though in an effort to give Cumberbatch more to do in the film. In fact, if Todd had landed Dormammu, he actually would've been replacing the one another actor.

"I went in to do a session to play Dormammu," Todd explains, "Benedict had already recorded it but the producers wanted another voice just as an alternative. We did a six-hour session and then, two weeks before the movie came out, they let me know that they went back to the original choice."

But did this set back the career of genre legend Tony Todd? Hardly.

"I say this," he concludes, "just to point out to everybody that you’ve got to roll and sway with all these punches and waves that come at you. Did I cry? No. I understood. I was disappointed at the value that I lost -- people going, 'Dude, are you Dormammu?' [Laughs] But there’ll be another Dormammu."

And Todd was right: there was another Dormammu, in a sense. In fact, Todd eventually did get to play an even more well-known Marvel baddie, lending his gravelly tones to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 as the deadly symbiote Venom. 

If I’m being totally honest, I (and I imagine fans like me) would’ve rather seen Todd as Venom anyway. His performance over hours of the game made for a lot more to appreciate that the 5ish minutes Dormammu appears in Doctor Strange. Still, it’s hard not to wonder about the world in which we got both.

Final Destination Bloodlines (starring Tony Todd) slashes into theaters May 16. 

In the immortal words of Danny Elfman, "Life's no fun without a good scare." We couldn't agree more, which is why we've cobbled together a couple pieces to send a chill up your spine. Join Popverse as we explore:

• The best horror movies of all time, according to horror aficionado Greg Silber
• The most underrated horror movies from the past couple years
• All the new and upcoming horror movies for 2025 and beyond

And much gore. Er, more. Much more.