Benedict Cumberbatch will return as Doctor Strange next year.

The 46-year-old actor has played the character in six Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies since making his debut in 2016's 'Doctor Strange', and teased he's set to don the iconic costume once again, though didn't make it clear if it would be for a follow-up to 2022's 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness', or another film set in the comic book world.

Speaking during the JW3 Speaker Series, he teased: “There are some Marvel capers in the making next year."

It is possible the actor could have been referring to an appearance in the recently-delayed 'Avengers: The Kang Dynasty'.

However, a post-credits scene in 'Multiverse of Madness' saw Doctor Strange told he had "caused and incursion and we're going to fix it" by newly-introduced character Clea, played by Charlize Theron.

And the film's writer, Michael Waldron, later told Gizmodo: “We knew that we wanted to introduce Clea. She’s Strange’s great love in the comics and it was felt to me like Strange wasn’t at the point at the start of our movie where he was ready to meet the love of his life.

"It felt like we had to close the loop with he and Christine Palmer. And so after she gives him her wisdom to not be afraid of loving someone, then it felt like we were right to tease what could be eventually with he and Clea.”

In the 2022 sequel, Benedict took on multiple versions of the character and he relished the challenge.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he previously said: "I think it’s same-same, but different.

"You have to get a correlation so that you know you’re watching an iteration that basically through perhaps choices or circumstance and environment has had a different outcome.

"But it’s a nice sort of loop feeding into self-discovery and self-therapy for the character that we know from our universe, as to how he betters his choices or the situation.

"So it’s a fun thing to explore. It’s one of the paradoxes that a multiversal narrative will throw up, and I was excited by that challenge."