Dr. Strange has always been an underutilized character from my perspective and it seems as if Kevin Feige believes something similar or at least he's willing to move forward with the Dr. Strange property because it's one of the least legally tangled Marvel properties in the war chest. I suspect that's the reason for Marvel Studios tackling the virtually unknown Marvel characters for Phase 2 movie projects like
Guardians of the Galaxy and
AntMan. The next question arises "Who will play Doc Strange?"
Rick Yune is the first actor that comes to mind. He has youth on his side, he's an exceptional character actor that can bring the necessary physicality to the role that will add the punch to make the franchise successful in a heavily action steeped genre. Having the experience of graduating from Wharton business I think he can perfectly play or channel the arrogant researcher character cold. There's no denying Dr. Strange hasn't been a huge hit with fans in comics and people can speculate on the reason for it...being Korean, Rick Yune can can bring some plausible authenticity to a character that operates in an environment that is so clearly imbued with ancient Asian folklore, mysticism and fantasy elements.
Next up: Viggo Mortenson. It's in the rumor mill that Viggo will get a call for this role. Hopefully that's true since he's such a tested actor capable of pretty much anything thrown his way. Since Lord of the Rings he's stayed away from anything fantasy/sci-fi and I don't know whether it's intentional or whether nothing's been offered or nothing good has been offered. He has the chops and and can grow a great bushy mustache to be a great Sorcerer Supreme. Not enough can be said about having good face follicles to play Dr. Strange, I've always seen the Doc as somehow being more of a Victorian era blue blood displaced in time, but that's just been my take.
David Strathairn....This guy. Ok, Straithern is the archetypal actor to play Doctor Strange. He looks like he was born to play the role, but being the serious character actor that he is I wouldn't have thought about him playing the role because I would have assumed he would just turn it down immediately. After seeing him in Alphas I don't think that anymore. My main concern with David Strathairn as Dr. Strange is his age. Even thought he looks to be in top shape at 64 can he do the incredible amount of action that's required of a lead character in a Marvel Studios feature length film or will a writer/director/producer have to curtail the project to accommodate him? It's also known that Dr. Strange will probably eventually have a role in the Avengers:
“Dr. Strange! I love the aura of mystery that surrounds this superhero and the magical world that surrounds him. We’ve never faced anything like this and there is a lot of material that we could exploit. I would love to also see a new superhero in the ranks of the Avengers. We shall see!”
Kevin Feige (tor.com)
Knowing the Doc is definitely part of Marvel Studios "Phase 3" for both a solo film and possibly in the Avengers would make me want to lean towards the youngest guy that could pull the character off, just so that good action can be discussed and if there's something that would come up that add a great sense of dynamics to the story the filmmakers wouldn't be held back from adding it because of the actor involved. More news about Phase 3 will probably start trickling out before the end of the summer I suspect.
As for Directors, I'd personally like to see either Tarsem Singh or Spike Jonze direct it. Both directors tend to make more believable/plausible VFX heavy projects because they ground the digital effects in practical and optical effects.
So...what do you think of a Dr. Strange film franchise and Dr. Strange as part of the Avengers film universe? Who would you like to see play Dr. Strange?