The internet was broken today when Mike Fleming announced on Deadline that Marvel had named Benedict Cumberbatch their top choice to play Doctor Strange in a feature slated for 2016, and that they were beginning negotiations. This is still an unconfirmed rumor, and the Strange casting rumors have been brewing for quite some time. Joaquin Phoenix was a confirmed choice up until the beginning of this month, but then they were back to the drawing board.
Over the past months, everyone from Hugh Laurie to Tom Hardy, Keanu Reeves, Johnny Depp, and Daniel Radcliffe have been mentioned in connection with the project. Keen Ringers have tapped Cumberbatch for the role since at least July. It looks like this might be an accurate prophesy. Marvel has been cagey, neither confirming nor denying the report, with Executive Editorial Director Ryan Penagos tweeting about #seeeekrits all afternoon.
We may not have long to wait for confirmation of this particular rumor. Marvel is holding a special press event in Los Angeles tomorrow (which you can follow on their live blog) to make some undisclosed #seeeekrit announcements. TheOneRing.net will be on hand at the event to get the scoop!
So far Middle-earth fans have embraced Benedict Cumberbatch as a villain supreme “The Hobbit” films, in his roles as both Smaug and the Necromancer (aka Sauron). He’s twisted our minds as a cunning genius in the wildly popular BBC “Sherlock” series, and he rolled villainy and genius into one as Khan in “Star Trek Return of the Lens Flare Into Darkness”. Now it looks like he may have the chance to conquer comics as he has science fiction and fantasy.
The “Sorceror Supreme” of the Marvel universe, Doctor Strange is described as “brilliant, but arrogant,” which certainly seems to be a trend in all the characters mentioned above! And who better than the Necromancer to serve as what Marvel President Kevin Feige describes as the “doorway into Marvel’s supernatural side”?
Tell us in the comments what you think about Benedict Cumberbatch taking on the role of the mightiest magician in the cosmos. Who would win in a fight? The Necromancer or Doctor Strange?
LEGO The Lord of the Rings Lord of the Rings gamers will love this, and even if you don’t usually dip your toes into the gaming waters (like me) it does seem to be a remarkably good opportunity to try out a bunch of games for the price of just a few coffees.
Back at the start of the summer, staffer GreenDragon generously asked the publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to send me a copy of Tolkien’s translation of Beowulf to review. While I started the book right away, this review has been delayed by producing Happy Hobbit and attending four conventions, along with writing two books and a script on top of daily life and work, which is a long-winded way to say that I apologize for my tardiness!
While still an undergrad, I took a course in Old English which was an introduction to the language, followed by a semester of translating Beowulf. A year isn’t enough time to master a dead language, and I was attempting to master two at once, for I was also taking Latin at the time (an alternate nickname for me could be Hermione), so I won’t be able to go into the nitty gritty mechanics of the language like Tolkien does in his notes, but I will offer what insight my education allows!
This is what studying two dead languages looks like.
To offer some context, I will say that Old English is the name we have given to the Anglo Saxon language, for after a strong French influence after the Norman Conquest of 1066, Old English morphed into Modern English. It is important to note, as well, that Anglo Saxon is the language of our (even if you aren’t of English descent, you’re reading this in English) conquerors, for the Nordic tribes of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes invaded England after the withdrawal of the Roman Empire around 410 CE. They renamed the island Angle-Land. England. So while Beowulf is attributed as being the first great epic in English, it is significant that it is a story from the culture that conquered the island and that its setting is in the conquering nation’s homeland in the north, not England, even though the manuscript was recorded and found in an English monastery, hidden beneath pages of religious text. All of this would have been known to J.R.R. Tolkien at the time of his translation in the 1920s.
Firstly, I will say that my reason for taking Old English was driven by my obsession with Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings. I was first exposed to Beowulf in seventh grade when I read a version of the poem for one of my classes. Enamored with the culture and the exciting, heroic tale, it lingered in my mind in a way that few stories read for school had. In the Humanities Honors Program in college, we were exposed to the literature that laid the foundations for Western civilization and I once again read a translation of Beowulf (picturing Aragorn as Beowulf this time around, of course) and while in my proceeding English courses I avoided the works I had already read, Beowulf was the one text I would read every time I was asked. As such, I have been exposed to three or four translations, including my own.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition is out today as a download from iTunes!
As we did last year with An Unexpected Journey EE, TOR.n has compiled detailed descriptions and screencaps from the 25 minutes of extended footage in The Desolation of Smaug.
Welcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the past week. If you’ve fallen behind on what’s happening on the Message Boards, here’s a great way to catch the highlights. Or if you’re new to TORn and want to enjoy some great conversations, just follow the links to some of our most active discussions. Watch this space as every weekend we will spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Message Boards. Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join the fun!
We tried to film an episode on how to survive in a city, but we kept getting interrupted by this strange man in a TORn shirt… As a result, here are our attempts at an urban episode, complete with a special guest, Thorongil! And where is he headed? To New York Comic Con, of course! Unfortunately, he’s starting his journey from California. Do you think he will make it to the other side of the country in time?
Note: if you haven’t guessed it yet, this skit was our fun way to get you the NYCC details! 😉 We hope all who go have a blast!
The internet was broken today when Mike Fleming announced on Deadline that Marvel had named Benedict Cumberbatch their top choice to play Doctor Strange in a feature slated for 2016, and that they were beginning negotiations. This is still an unconfirmed rumor, and the Strange casting rumors have been brewing for quite some time. Joaquin Phoenix was a confirmed choice up until the beginning of this month, but then they were back to the drawing board.
So far Middle-earth fans have embraced Benedict Cumberbatch as a villain supreme “The Hobbit” films, in his roles as both Smaug and the Necromancer (aka Sauron). He’s twisted our minds as a cunning genius in the wildly popular BBC “Sherlock” series, and he rolled villainy and genius into one as Khan in “Star Trek 
Welcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the past week. If you’ve fallen behind on what’s happening on the Message Boards, here’s a great way to catch the highlights. Or if you’re new to TORn and want to enjoy some great conversations, just follow the links to some of our most active discussions. Watch this space as every weekend we will spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Message Boards. Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join the fun!