In a recent interview, the director of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, sam raimidiscussed his return to the Marvel Universe with the sequel, after directing a Spider-Man trilogy quite a few years ago.
Raimi comments that Doctor Strange never had the cache of other great Marvel Comics heroes, and that other characters like the X-Men or the Avengers have always been a higher priority for fans. However, for him it is a great opportunity to be able to direct a film by a guy who never thought he would end up having a film.
He was a second or third row character for Marvel. Obviously the most popular big names of his were Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Captain America, Thor. And because none of those other movies were being made, I never imagined they would make a Doctor Strange movie. It seemed more than impossible.