Not going to post any spoilers, but I'm going to tell you right now don't go into this movie expecting a bunch of cameos or anything big reveals on the level of No Way Home. There is only one legacy cameo and it's already been spoiled by the trailer. The movie is much more concerned with telling a story than trying to shove a bunch of cameo's and fan service and for this reason a lot of MCU fans are probably going to view the movie as a dissapointment.
One YouTube short of an immediate out of the theater thoughts/reaction I watched pretty much confirmed what was said by GingerbreadPimp. A lot of people are going to be letdown with the theories they created about the movie and will be letdown by the lack of appearances in the movie since what they want to happen won't happen Lucky for me, I haven't been theorizing at all, and there is no one I really hope to see. I'm not an X-Men or Fantastic Four fan, so I'm not "dying" or demanding to see X-Men or Fantastic Four appearances like a lot of people are, or hoping this movie is what brings X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool into the MCU. If they are going to bring them into the MCU, I want it to be a fresh start. No Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, no Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool, no Jessica Alba's Invisible Woman, and so on. Just start fresh/hit a reset button on those characters. I already wasn't all that thrilled that they brought Tobey Spider-Man and Andrew Spider-Man into the MCU. But after WandaVision, I don't really speculate or theorize. It's pointless. Plus MCU marketing likes to use misleading footage now. Stuff is altered or edited out to hide spoilers. So no point in speculating and theorizing using trailer and TV spot footage when the footage probably isn't in the movie anyway, they dicked with it by editing out characters (maybe even editing in characters), or because of green screen/CGI backgrounds, they can swap out where the scene is set and the scene's setting is completely different in the actual movie than what we keep seeing in trailers and TV spots. That's part of why I haven't really being following Doctor Strange's marketing. I've only seen like two trailers and maybe 3-4 TV spots at the most. There is no point when I'm more than likely looking at fake footage or altered footage or something not even in the movie at all.
I've seen the movie. There really is no big appearances other than what was shown in the marketing. Professor X IS in the movie and pretty much the only mutant/X-Men related character, but let's just say he won't be THE Professor X of the MCU's movies. Plus I don't think he's the same Professor X from the 20th Century Fox universe. Just another random variant.
So yeah. I've seen a lot of theories and who people want to see make an appearance. Everyone is going to be MASSIVELY let down with the theories they have and hope to see. No 20th Century Fox X-Men/mutants except Professor X (as I said, but he probably isn't same Professor X), no Tom Cruise Iron Man, no Tobey Spider-Man, no Andrew Spider-Man, no Fantastic Four that Jessica Alba is a part of (or the Fantastic Four movie everyone calls Fant-4-stic). no Tom Spider-Man, and no other MCU character.
The movie is pretty much Doctor Strange, Wong, American Chavez, Scarlet Witch, Rachel McAdams, Mordo (I want to say it's a variant Mordo and NOT the Mordo from the first Doctor Strange movie), and variants of Strange, Scarlet Witch/Wanda, and Rachel McAdams. Plus all the appearances that were given away in the marketing. The only special appearances I think being saved for the movie are Wanda's kids and Bruce Campbell. But Bruce Campbell was kind of expected since Sam Raimi likes to have him pop up a lot in the movies he directs. I just won't give further details about his appearance, although it's not too amazing to begin with. It could've been cut, in my opinion.
So your assumption is that it will be like the previous 27 films-- focused on telling a story and developing characters rather than forcing fan service? I'm gonna have to say I agree with you. However, as that has been the recipe for success all along, I don't think there will be very many disappointed fans.
Good, I don't want them to get the wrong idea from No Way Home's success. I'd rather they focus more on the story than cameos.
I'm more concerned on whether they're gonna be woke and ruin Doctor Strange in order to prop up Wanda and America Chavez. People already like Wanda; as for Chavez, who nobody cares for, as long as she's not insufferable, people will tolerate her for the movie's sake.
I've watched the movie. Don't worry. It's not all that woke. The most woke it is, is the entire movie, American Chavez doesn't want to accept her powers or use them. Plus Strange is trying to keep American Chavez safe. But Strange didn't feel dumbed down in the movie or anything. He was a lot better in the movie than in No Way Home where they turned him into a goofball and made him appear weak so Spider-Man could look stronger. I felt Strange, American Chavez, and Scarlet Witch/Wanda were all equal. The only character I felt got ruined in the movie was Scarlet Witch/Wanda since they turned her into a villain. Was hoping the movie would be a Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch team-up movie. There is more I want to say about her, but it might be too spoiler-y.
You can black out the spoilers by using the formating help. You put the words you want to black out between the spoiler brackets that you'll find when you click on formatting help that's located under the orange "add reply" or "submit" button.
Sounds just like Spider-Man: No Way Home then which is good to hear.
Although not gonna lie I would have loved to have seen Hugh Jackman as a Wolverine variant in the classic yellow and blue costume and perhaps Tom Cruise as a Tony Stark/Iron Man variant even if Wanda ends up killing them or something it'd be fun to see.