Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch Are in the Running to Play ‘Doctor Strange’
'Doctor Strange' has found its director in Scott Derrickson, and so now Marvel and company are moving on to casting and at the top of their lists for the titular Doctor are geek favorites Tom Hardy and Benedict Cumberbatch. Or -- in nerd terms -- Bane versus Khan.
That’s the news coming from Deadline, where no mention is made of Jared Leto, who has been recently rumored as a possible Strange. As this is a wish list it's hard to put much stock in it, and considering how well loved both performers are by the geek community we wouldn't put it past Marvel that this is simply red meat to distract from the bad buzz that was created when Edgar Wright left 'Ant-Man.' Still they're great actors who would probably be excellent choices for the material.
Of the two, we'd say the more likely candidate is Cumberbatch. He was supposedly in the mix for 'Star Wars: Episode 7,' but that didn't (or hasn't) come to pass. On top of which it doesn't feel like 'Star Trek Into Darkness' did that much for his film career, so he might be hungrier. Whereas Tom Hardy, who has already played a comic book character in 'The Dark Knight Rises,' has two possible franchises on the horizon: 'Mad Max: Fury Road' and the 'Splinter Cell' movie. But we'll see. We're guessing that Marvel is targeting a 2016 launch for the film.