Earlier in the year, before his slate got loaded with The Hobbit, Frankenstein, Drood, Slaughterhouse-Five and Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, all of which will take him up to 2017, Guillermo del Toro told Empire exclusively that he had designs on turning Marvel’s Sorceror Supreme, Dr. Strange, into a movie.
Well, Del Toro may no longer be involved, but it looks like the moustachioed Master of the Mystic Arts might be getting his own movie after all. At least, that’s if Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige has his way.
“Dr. Strange? This is one of the best characters we have. [He represents] this amazing cosmic universe to Marvel that we haven’t played with in films yet and I think could be amazing to play with,” Feige told MTV. “I love the idea of tapping into the magical realm of the Marvel Universe, which is fairly significant and hasn’t yet seen life on screen.”
He’s absolutely right. Dr. Stephen Strange, in case you’re wondering, is a major player in the Marvel Universe, even though he’s struggled over the years to sustain his own title. But he’s one of the most powerful and complex heroes out there, with an interesting back story (Cliff Notes version: he was a surgeon who had his hands ruined in an accident; turning to mysticism as an answer, he became more and more powerful, until he became the Sorceror Supreme, Earth’s principal defence against demons and evil spells etc.) and a constantly-challenged morality.
Plus, he’s got an awesome ‘tache.
“I’d say in the next year, year and a half, as we start putting together our film slate for 2012 and 2013, I would not be shocked if we saw Dr. Strange on those lists,” added Feige. Which places Dr. Strange in the post-Avengers Marvel Universe – but will he be involved in the Avengers movie? No answers yet, readers – we’ll do our damndest to get them for you.
No director is yet attached to the project. Although, consider this: Del Toro was going to co-write his Dr. Strange with the godlike Neil Gaiman. Gaiman has openly been looking to get into directing. We spy a match made in heaven – or, at least, some unearthly dimension.
Thoughts, readers?