Bad news for Marvelite fans of Joaquin Phoenix! The Oscar nominee is not going to play Doctor Strange, after all.
To many fans’ dismay, Marvel Studios has reportedly stopped talks with Joaquin Phoenix about playing the title role in Doctor Strange. These rumors began circulating during San Diego Comic-Con.
“He never had a deal, but Marvel is already getting into it with other actors to play that superhero in a free standing film,” according to Deadline. “Don’t believe these talks that Boyhood‘s Ethan Hawke has made a deal to play the character; I’m told reliably that that is speculation run wild.”
According to reports, Joaquin was uncomfortable with the level of contractual commitment demanded by Marvel. He was also disturbed by the nature of how effects-heavy movies are made (think the Batsuit. Ouch.), and chose not to partake.
While there’s no word yet on who Marvel will pick to play the Sorcerer Supreme yet, we can guess that their wish list includes Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Jared Leto.
Scott Derrickson of Sinister is directing Doctor Strange from a script most recently written by Jon Spaihts. Earlier drafts of the script had been written by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer.
Doctor Strange was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Strange made his first appearance in 1963’s “Strange Tales” #110, which follows the adventures of Stephen Strange, a neurosurgeon who loses precision in his hands following a car accident. He becomes the ‘Master of the Mystic Arts’ while attempting to regain his former skills.
Tell us who you think should play Doctor Strange in the comments below!
