After months of reports declaring that Marvel has at last found its Doctor Strange, multiple new reports are declaring that Marvel has at last found its Doctor Strange. This time it’s Benedict Cumberbatch, whose name has been inscribed in the Burke’s Peerage Of Doctors Strange for months now, right next to Joaquin Phoenix, Jared Leto, Tom Hardy, and details of their respective feudal antecedents in this, among the most exhaustive ancestry of Marvel’s movie casting—a history that dates all the way back to the realm of Patrick Dempsey. Nevertheless, Deadline, Variety, The Wrap, and other blog-papers of record insist that this time Marvel has found its very strange man to bestow with its honorary medical degree in advanced strangeness.
If it all actually works out this time, Cumberbatch will star in the Scott Derrickson-directed film as Stephen Vincent Strange, who abandons his go-nowhere career in neurosurgery to take on steady work as the Sorcerer Supreme. According to reports, Cumberbatch’s schedule is the only remaining stumbling block, with Marvel having to accommodate Sherlock and numerous films, an upcoming play, and the one to two hours set aside each day just for skipping jolly stones across the Thames. Nevertheless, every report says this deal is close to being final. And if not, we’ll just meet back here in a month to start over.