Benedict Cumberbatch would like to set the record straight. “I’m not responsible for Peter Parker’s heartache at all,” the Oscar nominee said emphatically during a sit-down at the iconic Rainbow Room in New York Thursday evening. He’s referring, of course, to the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, in which Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange disrupted the multiverse—completely erasing knowledge of Tom Holland’s Peter from the teenage superhero’s friends and loved ones.

“You have to remember, it was Peter trying to add a bill and then making all these amendments to the spell, and that is what corrupted it,” Cumberbatch continues. “That’s Peter’s doing. It’s not Strange’s doing, ultimately. And I’m not responsible for Aunt May dying. Come on!”

Some Marvel fans have railed against Strange in the months since the franchise’s last blockbuster release. To Cumberbatch, though, it’s clear his character always had good intentions. “Strange was trying to protect Peter Parker. He adores the guy. He wasn't trying to show off to Peter Parker and be cavalier with his spells. He was trying to help a kid that he really fell for. A kid who lost his mentor, who lost his way, and lost his life, really,” the actor said. “He looked at this person as a fellow foot soldier rather than viewing him as a teenage kid. Strange just made a human error. He’s still very good at his job. He’s been perfect up until Spider-Man: No Way Home. Doctor Strange is an incredibly powerful figure in the multiverse, and going forward will be increasingly so. Hence this new film.”

That would be Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the 28th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Helmed by Sam Raimi, the film finds Cumberbatch’s former neurosurgeon venturing into a kaleidoscopic series of alternate universes to protect America Chavez (newcomer Xochitl Gomez), a teenager who can punch holes through universes, against the powerful Wanda Maximoff, also known as the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen).

“The movie is really the idea that you are stronger together than you are on your own,” said Cumberbatch, who took a brief break from rehearsing for his upcoming Saturday Night Live hosting gig to join his costars Olsen and Benedict Wong for the film’s Cinema Society premiere screening Thursday. “That’s part of his character arc and his learning. That’s very powerful. But also, your choices have consequences. Strange comes up against alternative realities and alternative beings and alternative selves, and sees what the consequences are [of] their choices and of his. And through that, he has a very accelerated moment of self-realization.”

Across his many Marvel appearances, Cumberbatch has tended to play Strange as a selfish know-it-all or a playful wisecracker. In the latest film, audiences will see the character’s more vulnerable thanks to his former flame, Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), who “cracks his heart a little bit.”

Multiverse of Madness is also the most violent and gruesome MCU movie to date. The film pushes hard against its PG-13 rating, with dead bodies often seen left mangled and bloody and even a human brain imploding. “There’s going to be a lot of shock and horror,” said Wong on the red-carpet arrivals. “It almost doesn’t feel like an MCU movie, with all the blood. There’s nothing like enjoying thrills and screaming, and Sam Raimi delivers both. He’s the master of horror and comedy.”

“I think I’m covered in blood for the majority of the movie,” added Olsen on the red carpet. “It’s something you don’t see in other Marvel movies. But Sam Raimi perfectly blends horror and humor together.”

Since the events of the Disney+ limited series WandaVision, the Scarlet Witch has fully matured into her now villainous persona. She attempts to steal Chavez’s powers to reach a universe where her fake children actually do exist. “Fans are finally going to see her in the most powerful and epic way possible,” teased Olsen. “She is this incredibly strong, mythic woman, and we are finally embracing all of her powers in this movie. When her powers are unleashed, she’s terrifying. But she’s still a sympathetic and even tragic figure.”

All the female characters in the film are vital to the plot, rather than being pushed to the sidelines as supporting characters or love interests. “It’s the way it should be and I’m very proud that our film has that in spades in every turn, really,” said Cumberbatch. After acting as a loner, Strange is “teaming up with women, and he’s leaning back on the real source of strength in our lives, which are the women. There are great trajectories for all of the characters in this film.”

Once Cumberbatch wraps up his promotional duties for Multiverse of Madness, the Power of the Dog star will focus on his humanitarian work by hosting Ukrainian refugees in his own home in the U.K. amid the war with Russia.

“I’m just trying to do what I can. It’s the right time to be able to do that,” said Cumberbatch on hosting refugees. “I began appealing for this cause in 2015, when I spoke about the Syrian refugee crisis. I would have loved to have done it then, but at that point in time I had three very, very young children. Now they are old enough to understand that there might be a guest coming to stay who we are going to help, and have fun with, and incorporate into our family. Before, it just would have been too hard to do with three infants.”

Now, though, Cumberbatch and his family are ready. “I now have the pragmatic ability to actually take people in. It’s not that I feel more or less empathy toward their plight than I did how many years ago. It’s literally [that] I can make it work. Without sounding preachy, that’s what anybody should be doing: doing what they can. If you don’t have a house big enough, if your children are too young, if it’s too complex for your situation, don’t feel guilty about that. Just do what you can, whether it’s holding an auction or a raffle or just sending some clothes that you’ve outgrown that you don’t need anymore.”

Cumberbatch is working with the nonprofit Refugees at Home, which acts as a gateway to the U.K. government’s Homes for Ukraine program. Refugees at Home also provides mental health support for Ukrainian expats.

“The real-life heroes are the NGO volunteers and professionals who are helping people in the borders to assimilate to de-traumatize and get them to safe housing, clothing them, housing them, and feeding them,” he said. “They’re the real heroes. I’m just doing what I can.”

Cumberbatch shared that the refugees he’s planning to host have made it out of Ukraine, and are currently in Germany receiving medical treatments. “They are safe, but going through quite a traumatic moment in their own lives,” he said. Afterward, they will be heading to his home in the U.K. But do they know that Cumberbatch is a famous actor?

“They do. I want to try to normalize that as quickly as possible and get that moment out of the way,” he said. “There were quite a few exclamation marks in the email exchange when they [found] out.”