While Marvel may have lost a director or two on their ‘Ant-Man’ film, another entry in Marvel’s Phase III plans may have found one.  According to sources, Scott Derrickson is in negotiations to helm the ‘Doctor Strange’ film and, if Derrickson’s tweet is anything to go buy, it’s a done deal.

Derrickson may seem like an odd choice for Marvel. After all, he is more known for directing horror films like ‘The Exorcism of Emily Rose’, ‘Sinister’, ‘Hellraiser: Inferno’, and the soon to be released ‘Deliver Us from Evil’. On the other hand, maybe Marvel wanted someone familiar with the dark supernatural aspect of movies to helm a film about this supernatural character.

For those not familiar with the comic book superhero,  Doctor Strange was originally an egotistical but brilliant surgeon who lost the use of his hands due to a car accident. Shattered and broken, he could no longer perform surgeries. Looking for some way to regain mobility of his hands, his search led him to the Ancient One who, after Strange suffers a humiliating experience and then regains the trust of the Ancient One, decides to teach the now good doctor in the mystical arts. Since then, Doctor Strange has become Earth’s primary protector against magical and mystical threats.

With Robert Downey Jr., getting up in the years, there’s been some talk that Marvel is grooming Doctor Strange to become the “hub” of the Phase III Marvel Cinematic Universe and maybe even beyond. With Thor introducing the movie goers to another realm and the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ bringing in the cosmic aspect of the Marvel experience, Doctor Strange would be a perfect person to tie everything all together. After all, with his mastery of the mystic arts and his various magical artifacts, Doctor Strange would be able to appear in any Marvel film wherever the setting may be. In fact, the door was slightly opened to the coming of Doctor Strange in ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’. If you recall, while Captain America, the Falcon and Black Widow were interrogating Jasper Sitwell, he confesses that Project Insight has targeted those who would be considered a threat to HYDRA’s plans. Among those named were Steve Rogers/Captain America, Bruce Banner and Steven Strange!

At the moment, there is no official word as to who is writing the screenplay that Derrickson will be directing from. While a script had already been written for ‘Doctor Strange’, back in January it was reported that Marvel had decided to start all over from scratch (shades of ‘Ant-Man’!). Unfortunately, there has been no word as to who they have decided to do the rewrites.

As for casting choices? We’ll probably hear that once the script is finished (if it isn’t already). Some names that have been thrown in the mix include Johnny Depp and Jon Hamm. However, we still think Matthew Modine would be the better choice!

No release date has been given for the ‘Doctor Strange’ film, but we do know that Marvel has not yet announced who will fill the May 6, 2016 or May 5, 2017 slots at the theaters.

News of Derrickson as director is exciting news indeed! Let’s hope that the making of ‘Doctor Strange’ will go a lot smoother than its Phase III sibling ‘Ant-Man’.