Benedict Cumberbatch Reveals How Turning Down 'Thor' Villain Role Led to Doctor Strange
“I wanted to hold out for something more.”
Benedict Cumberbatch recently sat down with BBC Radio 1 to discuss his titular role in Marvel‘s latest film, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
The Sorcerer Supreme reveals that Marvel initially recruited him for a different part of the universe. He was first offered the role of the villain Malekith in the 2013 Thor sequel, The Dark World. The surgeon turned sorcerer ultimately passed on the role which later led to him becoming Doctor Strange. Cumberbatch breaks down how this happened in the interview recalling,
“[The Doctor Strange role] happened as an idea muted after, funnily enough, another little dance I did for another character in the MCU, a very brief character.
I was bold enough to say, ‘I’m really flattered to be invited to the party, but I’d rather hold out for something a bit more juicy.’”
Cumberbatch also explains that when he received the role, he was uncertain he was even part of the conversation. When he was first pitched to play the role of Doctor Strange, he was not completely sold explaining, “Because he’s quite old school, a bit of a misogynist, very bound in the ’70s. I thought, ‘It’s a bit cornball. I’m not sure this is a great MCU [role]. I don’t get it.’” He shared that he was later convinced when Marvel said that they wanted to bring the character to the modern world, “They went, ‘No, it would be today. It would be very much a man of today. Yes, with some of those qualities, but like a man of today would have those qualities where he thinks he’s the business,’ because he has to have that arrogance.”
Watch the full interview above and start at around the 3:47 mark for the portion of the interview where Cumberbatch discusses how he landed the role of Doctor Strange.
Elsewhere in entertainment, Stranger Things debuts its season four ensemble poster.
