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?

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Joss Whedon gets group dynamics. He knows how to play characters and personalities off one another for maximum drama and humor because he understands his protagonists. One minute he has audiences laughing at situations or dialog that both draw from and adds to his characters (rather than handing over jokes that demonstrate how clever the writer is) and moments later he pushes crowds close to tears with indelible moments, also based on the people in the story.

The Avengers movie plays to his strengths with its array of gods, monsters and playboys. Among the menagerie, he even manages to make an acceptable character out of Scarlet Johansson’s Black Widow, making her much more than the token hot woman in leather. With Whedon’s gift with female characters, perhaps this group could use a Wasp or a Scarlet Witch down the road. Or maybe a She-Hulk.

Even without the director’s guiding hand, Marvel Studios has delivered on the seemingly impossible. In a comic book, unrestrained by budgets, its easy to throw characters together and create an all-star team. But to take blockbuster franchise films and stir them all together where budgets and egos can get it the way, is something of a miracle. But Whedon takes the thrilling premise and delivers charm and dimensional characters with conflict and big battles. The talent seems to have bought in, doubtless helped by knowing the plan from the beginning, and the ultimate superhero teams comes alive. Continue reading “Film Friday: ‘Avengers’ movie succeeds despite shortcomings”

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