A couple of months back, we got word that ‘Conan the Barbarian’ writers Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer had turned in a script for a ‘Doctor Strange’ film to Marvel Pictures. Since then, we’ve only heard rumors including one that Johnny Depp was interested in playing Marvel’s Sorcerer Supreme with Guillermo del Toro directing. While the Depp and del Toro story is almost certainly just a rumor, Marvel executive Kevin Feige confirmed in an interview during this past weekend’s New York Comic-Con that the ‘Doctor Strange’ film is definitely in production.
‘Doctor Strange’ will join ‘Iron Man 2’ and ‘Thor 2’ as part of what Feige is calling “Phase 2” of the Avengers. The first phase includes ‘Iron Man’, ‘Thor’ and ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’ and will come to a close when ‘The Avengers’ hits theaters on May 4, 2012. The second Avengers phase, like the first, will feature a build up of heroes in their solo films before culminating in ‘Avengers 2’ at some point in the future. There’s no word yet as to where ‘Captain America 2’ fits into phase 2. And, of course, there’s the other long-rumored Marvel heroes that have yet to see the light of day like ‘Ant Man’, ‘Luke Cage’, ‘The Inhumans’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. I can see Ant Man and Luke Cage being added to the Avengers roster but I’m not sure about the others. Also… I’d like to see Spider-Man join the team as well but that’s a long shot since Sony Pictures still owns the film rights to everyone’s favorite wall-crawler.
What do you think? Do you think the mystical adventures of Doctor Strange will make for a good film? What would your dream cast be for the film? Will Doctor Strange fit into The Avengers or should Marvel start working on a Defenders movie as well?