Benedict Cumberbatch To Play Marvel's Dr Strange

It seems we can't go a week without DC or Marvel dropping a fresh nugget of comic adaptation news - understandable, given that they've pencilled some 40 films into the next five years.

As the glamour of the new Avengers: Ago of Ultron trailer begins to wear off, word comes from Deadline that Marvel is set to announce that Benedict Cumberbatch has fought off some strong competition to land the role of Doctor Strange in an upcoming standalone adaptation. The studio is yet to give an official statement on the casting.

The creation of Stan Lee Ditko, the neurosurgeon-turned-guardian-of-Earth made his comic début in 1963. Possessing vast intellectual prowess and an ego to match, Doctor Strange is versed in the 'mystic arts' of supreme sorcery after a car accident ends his medical career.

Having already shown himself capable of handling roles of extraordinary intelligence (Sherlock Holmes in the BBC's Sherlock, Khan in Star Trek: Into Darkness and Alan Turing in this year's The Imitation Game), Cumberbatch would appear well suited to the role of Marvel's foremost sorcerer. Deadline suggests the British actor is in final negotiations for the role, after Marvel failed to land Joaquin Phoenix. 

According to Marvel's master plan, we can expect the Doctor Strange film to arrive in cinemas in 2016.

(Images: Rex; Wikicommons)

[Via: Deadline]