Benedict Cumberbatch is to star as Doctor Strange.
The ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ actor is in final negotiations with Marvel for the lead role in the upcoming superhero movie, according to Deadline.
He will star as Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange – a former neurosurgeon who serves as the sorcerer supreme and the primary protector of earth against magical and mystical threats – in the live-action film.
The 38-year-old star is said to have been approached by the studio after talks with ‘Walk The Line’ actor Joaquin Phoenix came to an end. However, Jared Leto and Tom Hardy have also been mentioned in regards to the coveted role.
John Spaihts is currently writing the script for the film – which is to be directed by Scott Derrickson – following a first draft penned by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer.
Doctor Strange was hatched by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko during the Marvel Comics heyday of the early 1960s and the studio’s Kevin Feige is to produce the upcoming feature film.
Cumberbatch will next appear in the Alan Turing biopic ‘The Imitation Game’, in which he stars as the genius mathematician tasked with cracking German codes during the Second World War.
Meanwhile, ‘Doctor Strange’ is set for release in 2016.
Benedict Cumberbatch to play Doctor Strange?
