Interesting news indeed: iconic Marvel villain Baron Mordo will be heading to DOCTOR STRANGE played by none other than Chiwetel Ejiofor.
According to Deadline, the actor will be starring opposite Benedict Cumberbatch in Marvel Studios’ forthcoming superhero epic, who looks set to play the nemesis of the doctor himself.
The 12 Years a Slave star, 37, joins an increasingly British cast. Tilda Swinton was recently reported to be in talks to play the Ancient One, a mystical Tibetan mentor to Strange whose traditional powers include astral projection, teleportation and the ability to create energy blasts.
“Deadline has learned definitively what role Chiwetel Ejiofor will play when he suits up for Doctor Strange, the Scott Derrickson-directed Marvel Studios film that will star Benedict Cumberbatch as the title character,” they revealed. “Ejoifor, rumoured to be joining the film, will play Baron Mordo, an enemy of Doctor Strange who first appeared in the comic Strange Tales in 1963.”
Mordo is usually a supervillain figure in Marvel’s Doctor Strange comics, but Deadline suggests the character’s evil tendencies will be toned down for the big screen. The Disney-owned studio is also taking liberties with the Ancient One’s backstory as it transfers the silver age title to multiplexes: the sorcerer has always been male in print. Both Mordo and Strange are students of the Ancient One in the comics, and have similar powers, though Mordo is more willing to use black magic and summon demons in the pursuit of his ambitions.
DOCTOR STRANGE is due in cinemas in November 2016 and will mark Cumberbatch’s debut lead role in a big-budget Hollywood production. Originally an arrogant neurosurgeon named Dr Stephen Strange, the character is transformed into a magically powered superhero following a horrific car accident.
Scott Derrickson, best known for the 2008 remake of sci-fi cult classic THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and 2005 horror THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE, will direct DOCTOR STRANGE from a screenplay by PROMETHEUS’s Jon Spaihts.
