Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. You can say what you will about Marvel's upcoming Doctor Strange introduction, but you can't say they aren't attracting a hell of a cast. Benedict Cumberbatch at the good Doctor, Chiwetel Ejiofor as the bad guy (Baron Mordo), Rachel McAdams as a so-far unknown female lead, Tilda Swinton in the unlikely role of The Ancient One and the rumored Mads Mikkelsen are a hell of a cast even before you add in the newest (possible) addition.
THR broke the story that A Serious Man's Michael Stuhlbarg is close to signing on and Variety claims that if he does, he'll be playing Nicodemus West, a relatively new character to the Strange world, who debuted in a 2006 mini-series called The Oath.
West was the doctor that operated on Strange's hands after his accident and was able to save them, but not fix the nerve damage. In a very real sense, he's partly responsible for Strange's exploration of magic as an alternative.
I'm not as familiar with Doctor Strange lore as a lot of Marvel properties, but I like what little I know about West as a character. He reads like a good guy that gets caught in a bad situation. He feels guilty for not fixing Strange and tries to study with The Ancient One as well, but abandons his discovery of his magical abilities early in order to try to apply them to real world medicine, which, of course, goes wrong.
Stuhlbarg wears a sympathetic persona very well, so this could grow into something great down the line. I'd bet his darker character arc isn't even touched upon in this movie, but by casting such a great and well-respected actor you can be damn sure Marvel and Scott Derrickson are planting the seeds for something down the line.
Thoughts?
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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