Doctor Strange, the latest superhero to dominate the big screen, is taking Walt Disney’s Marvel universe in an unconventional direction, lead star Benedict Cumberbatch said on Monday.
The actor plays surgeon Stephen Strange, who harnesses mystical magic powers drawn from Eastern cultures. Cumberbatch said the new film intentionally takes a different path to Marvel’s other cinematic superheroes such as Iron Man, Captain America and Ant-Man, who draw power from technology.
“It was a real left turn for the comic universe, let alone the cinematic one,” said Cumberbatch, of the original 1960s Doctor Strange comics at the film’s London premiere. “It was very dark and mischievous and psychedelic and otherworldly and to try and replicate that in modern cinema is one of the great challenges,” he added.
Doctor Strange, out in theatres on November 4, follows Strange, a cocky and brilliant surgeon – much like the billionaire Iron Man Tony Stark, whose glamorous New York life is taken away from him when his hands are crippled in a car accident.
“It’s toying with a lot of new things like parallel universes and kind of philosophical ideas and working on a deeper level … the metaphysical is just a whole new world that’s opened up for Marvel,” co-star Rachel McAdams added.
The film has received positive early reviews, with critics praising the plot, the visuals and the performances. “It does feel like a new chapter for Marvel and it’s definitely a new direction for me. I definitely enjoyed playing this character so if people are enjoying it, then we’ve done something right,” Cumberbatch said.
