Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange?

PLEASE let this happen. I am a huge Dr. Strange fan and I cannot think of anyone who could pull this off as well as Sherlockahn. I dont care if they have to change his backstory and make him English it would be well worth it if they could get an actor this good to play Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme. My only fear at the moment is how the writers are going to handle his origin story. I'm afraid that they will want to steer away from the desperate man crawling into the mountains half dead to seek guidance from a master thing because that is how Nolan decided to open his first Batman movie. Most of the people watching won't know that wasn't part of Batmans original backstory but was how Dr. Strange met the Ancient One.

Warlock Wrote:
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> I dont care if they have to change his backstory
> and make him English it would be well worth it
> if they could get an actor this good to play
> Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme.

That would bother me just as much as Michael Clark Duncan as Kingpin and almost as much as Sam Jackson as Nick Fury. If he's such a great actor, then let him fake the American accent and do the movie right. Rewriting it to suit the actor would completely ruin the movie for me.

Thrudjelmer Wrote:
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> That would bother me just as much as Michael Clark
> Duncan as Kingpin and almost as much as Sam
> Jackson as Nick Fury. If he's such a great actor,
> then let him fake the American accent and do the
> movie right. Rewriting it to suit the actor would
> completely ruin the movie for me.

I would bet you dollars to donuts without looking it up you can't tell me where he's from. So whats more important what happened in his past that helped shape him into the man he becomes or where those events took place?

I guess I just cannot understand why strict adherence to relatively minor details of backstory take such precedence over good stories being told well and acted by those most suited to the role.

Because when you start changing details, you change the character... and if enough details are changed, then its not really the same character... just someone else with the same name, and that's not the story I want to watch.

No, changing what town or country someone was born in does not automaticly change the character. Dr. Strange's story is not about the farm he grew up on in Nebraska. Its about him being an egotistical doctor who gets injured and who learns humility and how to let go of his old life from the man who is teaching him the mystic arts. Thats the core, thats whats important about the man who becomes the Sorcerer Supreme, not what his accent is or where he was born. Not to mention I'd bet someone growing up on a rural farm in Nebraska has a very similar upbringing as someone being born on a rural farm in northern England.

You also are making an assumption that because it was in a comic that makes it the best possible way for it to be done and no change could ever be an improvement.

I'm not making an assumption. I'm flat out stating that "improvements" don't need to be made. And yes, changing a character's country of birth does make it a different character. Same upbringing on a farm between different countries? Maybe... how about going to different medical school with different standards? Or different cultural references growing up? You really think these things don't affect who people are and what kind of person they grow into? I think that's just ignorant.

I am not a big fan of Benedict Cumberbatch.
When they rant and rave about an actor, it usually trying to shove him/her down people throats.
So to me, this movie is already sucking a lot of sewer water.
As to changing details, that the new Marvel for you.

Wow, so much enthusiasm! here is a suggestion, how about we all watch the film before we trash it? which I will happily do if its rubbish, Cumberbatch (sp?) did not impress me in the star trek movie, but is great in the BBC Sherlock mini-series, so he is 50:50 for me so far.

Is it just me or have these forums become really unpleasant lately? Or was it always like this and I just joined at a time of relative peace and tranquility?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2014 03:41AM by The_Skycutter.

I don't know how I feel about Cumberbatch playing Doctor Strange. I've only seen him in the newest Star Trek flick (he was okay in that- but I wasn't super keen on the movie over all. I much preferred the first movie to the sequel). I would probably need to see him in some other roles before I could form an opinion.

I do agree, it seems odd that people decide a movie is going to be terrible before they even view it. At least wait until it comes out on blue-ray, rent it on the cheap, and give the guy a chance before you decide he's ruined the movie. Heck, he might even affect an American accent for the thing. We won't know until we see the finished product.

FASERIPPER Wrote:
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> I don't know how I feel about Cumberbatch playing
> Doctor Strange. I've only seen him in the newest
> Star Trek flick (he was okay in that- but I wasn't
> super keen on the movie over all. I much
> preferred the first movie to the sequel). I would
> probably need to see him in some other roles
> before I could form an opinion.

If you haven't seen it yet check out Sherlock from the BBC, Netflix has all 3 series. Its not a traditional tv show with 10-20 episodes per series its done in 3 90 minute episodes so its more like a mini-series. Not only is it a fantastic take on what Sherlock Holmes would be like in modern times, while staying very true to the character, its why, along with Kahn in Star Trek 2, I think Benedict will be an excellent Dr. Strange. Intelligent, brooding and yet still able to be scary as hell when needed.

Really don't have enough viewing of Cumberbatch's work to form an opinion of his acting skills, but I'm hoping for a good movie overall, with Magic (no "It's really just some advanced tech we don't understand." please; Magic may IMO have some quantifiable aspects that can be logically explained and followed, but it's as much intuitive Art as any science..)

Redman II Wrote:
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> Really don't have enough viewing of Cumberbatch's
> work to form an opinion of his acting skills, but
> I'm hoping for a good movie overall, with Magic
> (no "It's really just some advanced tech we don't
> understand." please; Magic may IMO have some
> quantifiable aspects that can be logically
> explained and followed, but it's as much intuitive
> Art as any science..)

Exactly. Anyone can mix two chemicals and make a compound but not everyone can call cast spells.

Until science can quantify souls, "good" & "evil," as well as various other arcane ideas (including judging a person's worth to wield a magic weapon, whether it be Mjolnir or drawing Excalibur from a stone), then I see magic as magic and science as science. And there may be a handful of individuals, like Doctor Doom, who are experts --or at least proficient-- in both, but just because they can utilize both disciplines does not mean the two are completely interchangeable.

NikMak Wrote:
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> wow, so much enthusiasm! here is a suggestion,
> how about we all watch the film before we trash it?
> which I will happily do if its rubbish, Cumberbatch
> (sp?) did not impress me in the star trek movie,
> but is great in the BBC Sherlock mini-series, so
> he is 50:50 for me so far.

I get what you're saying about watching a film before trashing it, but personally I'm not exactly trashing it when I say I don't have any confidence in it based on the way other Marvel movies are trending. Nor am I trashing it by saying I would hate it if they were to do something that changed the nature of the character or story, because I don't know that they're doing that yet. I suspect it, because all movies make changes to the source material, but I have yet to see what kind of changes are being made. I was pointing out that if they were to make such a drastic change such as making Doctor Strange English just to get a specific actor or to allow him to use the British accent, then it would totally ruin the movie for me.


> Is it just me or have these forums become really
> unpleasant lately? Or was it always like this and
> I just joined at a time of relative peace and
> tranquility?

Actually, I think the forums are better now than since I've joined. It may just be a perception thing over the clash of opinions on the movies. Proof that the forums are better, however, can be found in the current True Invulnerability thread --a hot topic ripe with possibility for spilling over into arguments but has maintained a civil level of disagreement so far.

The Marvel movieverse needs a spiritual dimension to it, so hopefully this movie will provide that, since they took all the mysticism out of Thor & Loki.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2014 10:03AM by FTJ.

Yeah, that's another thing... they took all the magic out of the movieverse where it would certainly fit. Introducing magic as magic now with Doctor Strange makes me wonder why? And if its just more magic is science, I'll end up hating on it.

NikMak Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wow, so much enthusiasm! here is a suggestion,
> how about we all watch the film before we trash
> it? which I will happily do if its rubbish,
> Cumberbatch (sp?) did not impress me in the star
> trek movie, but is great in the BBC Sherlock
> mini-series, so he is 50:50 for me so far.

But, but, how will one earn a spot on the 'Complaining about things you've never seen' tvtrope page if they don't do that?

> Is it just me or have these forums become really
> unpleasant lately? Or was it always like this and
> I just joined at a time of relative peace and
> tranquility?

People and there moods are cyclical, people have a good period and then a bad period. If you feel things are on the bad end don't worry they'll swing back up they always do and believe me we've had far worse (just look at some of the last posts in the old archived forum).

Warlock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Redman II Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Really don't have enough viewing of
> Cumberbatch's
> > work to form an opinion of his acting skills,
> but
> > I'm hoping for a good movie overall, with Magic
> > (no "It's really just some advanced tech we
> don't
> > understand." please; Magic may IMO have some
> > quantifiable aspects that can be logically
> > explained and followed, but it's as much
> intuitive
> > Art as any science..)
>
> Exactly. Anyone can mix two chemicals and make a
> compound but not everyone can call cast spells.

Except not anyone can mix two chemicals and make a compound, just like not everyone can bake a cake, because not everyone can understand things to actually do things correctly. It's a poor analogy anyway since the discussion's regarding magic as simply as much a part of reality and science as everything else and one doesn't have to understand science or magic in order to attempt to do either (and we as often get magical mishaps were someone tried to work some spell without knowing what he was doing as we get inept lab mishaps due to someone not knowing what they were doing attempting to do something).

Without the aptitude one won't understand either the conventional branches of science or magic, and it's a bit unrealistic to try and make it out that somehow magic can interact with science/reality but that science can't interact back with it. In spite of such things as people like Reed Richards not having problems tapping into magical artifacts like Thor's hammer as power sources which they couldn't do if science and magic didn't interact and have relate-able factors in common for one to manipulate the other.

Nightmask Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Except not anyone can mix two chemicals and make a
> compound, just like not everyone can bake a cake,
> because not everyone can understand things to
> actually do things correctly.

Not being able to follow instructions has nothing to do with science and more to do with the intelligence level of the person attempting to repeat what someone else has already done, because that's all science is, coming up with rules that someone else can repeat if they take the exact same steps. If they can't do the exact same thing and get the same result then your science is flawed. Reed Richards cannot do magic despite being arguably the smartest man on earth. Therefore if magic and science were the same he'd be just as good at casting the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak as he is at making Unstable Molecules and clearly he is not.

Warlock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nightmask Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Except not anyone can mix two chemicals and make
> a
> > compound, just like not everyone can bake a
> cake,
> > because not everyone can understand things to
> > actually do things correctly.
>
> Not being able to follow instructions has nothing
> to do with science and more to do with the
> intelligence level of the person attempting to
> repeat what someone else has already done, because
> that's all science is, coming up with rules that
> someone else can repeat if they take the exact
> same steps. If they can't do the exact same thing
> and get the same result then your science is
> flawed. Reed Richards cannot do magic despite
> being arguably the smartest man on earth.
> Therefore if magic and science were the same he'd
> be just as good at casting the Crimson Bands of
> Cyttorak as he is at making Unstable Molecules and
> clearly he is not.

That's a fallacy, his being unable to comprehend something doesn't mean it must not be science that's a failure in him, others can and have done so because they don't have the issues Reed has. A common failing in people where he expects reality to conform to what he thinks it should and when it doesn't he can't get over the stumbling block to see the truth of things. He's a genius no question but he's still a flawed human being in the end and those flaws prevent him from comprehending magic (and even Strange has said science and magic aren't that different really).

I ONLY concern with BC is he is TOO big for the role. He could easily jump ship after the first movie.

darkforce Wrote:
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> I ONLY concern with BC is he is TOO big for the
> role. He could easily jump ship after the first
> movie.

I imagine that's what the negotiations are about, how much money they have to offer him to get a 3 movie deal. I read a while back he is doing a run in British theater right around the time the movie is supposed to start shooting, plus he has the next series of Sherlock to fit in there as well. So its certainly not a done deal yet, but here's to hoping it all works out.

The absolutely 100% perfectly ideal cast for Dr. Strange would have been Vincent Price, but he's been dead for a while...

Coco Gun-Bun Wrote:
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> The absolutely 100% perfectly ideal cast for Dr.
> Strange would have been Vincent Price, but he's
> been dead for a while...

Sadly true, this would have been as perfect for him as Xavier was for Patrick Stewart.

Some movies have surprised me, this may be one of them.
I do not mind eating crow if there enough ketchup!

Warlock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange?
>
> PLEASE let this happen. I am a huge Dr. Strange
> fan and I cannot think of anyone who could pull
> this off as well as Sherlockahn. I dont care if
> they have to change his backstory and make him
> English it would be well worth it if they could
> get an actor this good to play Stephen Strange,
> Sorcerer Supreme. My only fear at the moment is
> how the writers are going to handle his origin
> story. I'm afraid that they will want to steer
> away from the desperate man crawling into the
> mountains half dead to seek guidance from a master
> thing because that is how Nolan decided to open
> his first Batman movie. Most of the people
> watching won't know that wasn't part of Batmans
> original backstory but was how Dr. Strange met the
> Ancient One.


Great pick. BC can act, he's athletic and has a commanding presence and voice. I hope there is some horror in the movie.

Taarna Wrote:
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> Great pick. BC can act, he's athletic and has a
> commanding presence and voice. I hope there is
> some horror in the movie.

I assume they will go the horror angle or the cosmic entity angle. A fair share of the cosmic entities had their first appearances in the pages of a Dr. Strange mag. Everything from Eternity to the Living Tribunal so I am leaning towards them using Doc as a way to introduce some of the cosmic badasses of the Marvel U, maybe even the story where the Living Tribunal made Strange prove the Earth was worthy of not being destroyed when the former judged it a threat to the rest of the universe.

Or they could go the more horror route and do something like Dormammu and the Dark Dimension with the Mindless Ones bringing an almost uber zombie feel into the MCU.

Either way if Benedict is Strange they will have a kick ass movie.

Warlock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Taarna Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Great pick. BC can act, he's athletic and has
> a
> > commanding presence and voice. I hope there
> is
> > some horror in the movie.
>
> I assume they will go the horror angle or the
> cosmic entity angle. A fair share of the cosmic
> entities had their first appearances in the pages
> of a Dr. Strange mag. Everything from Eternity to
> the Living Tribunal so I am leaning towards them
> using Doc as a way to introduce some of the cosmic
> badasses of the Marvel U, maybe even the story
> where the Living Tribunal made Strange prove the
> Earth was worthy of not being destroyed when the
> former judged it a threat to the rest of the
> universe.
>
> Or they could go the more horror route and do
> something like Dormammu and the Dark Dimension
> with the Mindless Ones bringing an almost uber
> zombie feel into the MCU.
>
> Either way if Benedict is Strange they will have a
> kick ass movie.


Well said. I think the movie will charm the pants off the pre production critics!

There is a small backlash of too many super hero movies that are " cookie cutters ". With Doctor Strange Anything is possible. Oh the creativity.

Taarna Wrote:
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> There is a small backlash of too many super hero
> movies that are " cookie cutters ". With Doctor
> Strange Anything is possible. Oh the creativity.


That is a fair point. And unless the creativity goes horribly awry, like reducing sorcerers to sword fighting like in the Dr. Strange animated feature, I'd say they have a lot of wiggle room.

Thrudjelmer Wrote:
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> That is a fair point. And unless the creativity
> goes horribly awry, like reducing sorcerers to
> sword fighting like in the Dr. Strange animated
> feature, I'd say they have a lot of wiggle room.

I would have loved the Dr. Strange animated movie if it wasn't the Crouching Strange, Hidden Mordo version. Some of it was pretty good but the whole matrix style of believe its not there and it isn't/leapy jumpy sword slashy...ness just drowned out what was actually good about seeing Strange again.