It’s Official: Benedict Cumberbatch Is Doctor Strange
By Nick Tylwalk
So reports started coming out prior to Halloween that Benedict Cumberbatch was going to play Doctor Strange in the upcoming Marvel movie of the same name. It’s now three weeks from Christmas, but Marvel has finally announced that yes, Cumberbatch will be playing Stephen Strange.
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Genre fans probably know the 38-year old British actor from starring in the BBC show Sherlock, playing the villainous Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness or as the voice and motion capture behind Smaug in The Hobbit movies. But it’s safe to say that Cumberbatch is a star of both stage and screen, and you could certainly make an argument that he has the hottest career at the time of his signing of any actor Marvel has tapped for one of its movies so far.
That could come in handy, because as a character, Doctor Strange falls into the “I’ve heard of him, but I’m not exactly sure who he is” category for most casual fans. Marvel has proven that it doesn’t need big names for its movies to succeed, but it certainly can’t help. Doctor Strange won’t even have the colorful ensemble thing going for it like Guardians of the Galaxy did, so in that respect, getting Cumberbatch for this role seems like a smart move.
Doctor Strange will be directed by Scott Derrickson from a screenplay by Jon Spaihts, and will open on November 4, 2016.