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Doctor Strange


The Human Torch
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Marvel Films is pressing on by backing IPs that no one really thought would be potential tentpoles; GotG, Ant-Man and now Doctor Strange. Rumors abound about casting, of course. From the oft mentioned Johnny Depp to a tongue in cheek self promotion by Bendit Cucumbers. The press seems to have settled on The Artist Formerly Known As Leaf. My source material inspired look-alike acts-alike choice would be Eric McCormack.

 

However with the little known, out of left field nature of this character I believe Marvel could successfully free themselves from the source material... I'd keep the gold embroidered collared red cape as a defining visual. I am hoping we get wind of some bold choices coming from the House of Ideas.

 

eg. I think these actors and their types could bring something neat to the role;

 

Andie MacDowell

Carrie-Anne Moss

Chiwetel Ejiofor

John Leguizamo

Salma Hayek

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That's The Artist Formerly Known As Leaf.

 

If Marvel goes the more straight adaptation route then I think Joaquin would work. However the more I think about really going for different the more I love it. Right now my dream picks are torn between Ejiofor and Moss. I think I'm leaning towards Moss, I think she could own this.

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That's The Artist Formerly Known As Leaf.

 

 

I wish I had a Torch-to-English dictionary.

 

Um...gotcha. I like this idea. Much more than the idea of turning Dr. Strange into a woman. What's up with that?!? I can't say I get that at all. If you go that far off the source material, at some point it's not even the same character. So, why even bother? It's like the opposite of the female Thor - couldn't they just put a little effort into making a strong original female character if that's what they wanted? Here, it would be like "Well, here's some mystic chick that we'll call Dr. Strange".

 

I'm fine with the MCU being unique when it comes to stories and having its own character variations here and there. I'm less OK with total makeovers. At the end of the day, I still want to see a recognizable version of the characters that I've been reading all these years. I loved Michael Duncan Clarke as an actor, but why was Kingpin black? Why?!? Stuff like that seems to me to be (at best) change for the sake of change or (worse) cheap gimmickry.

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Let's be honest, much about the world of entertainment and comics especially were created with a Boys Club mentality... add in white too. That isn't saying individual creatives or even generalizing that companies were vile. Of course we can't deny history, socially things were what they were. However from a business standpoint there were also thoughts about who the market was. Whether their analysis was right or wrong is something I don't know the numbers of. Side Note: That type of research is flawed at times, just read about the original Star Trek demographics.

 

With that said change for change's sake can be annoying and at worst can feel dishonest.

 

My first instinct is to adapt the source material as one should a biopic; Lincoln was a tall, rough cheeked almost skeletal white man with a chinstrap beard and a top hat. Casting John Wayne and putting a bowler hat on him just wouldn't cut it. This is why my gut reaction with Captain America was Chris Evans' hair isn't blonde enough. ;-)

 

However these are fictional characters who grow and change to stay relevant over time. As such I have to fight that first instinct and look at changes to characters on each individual basis. I feel the most important thing with changes to characters is it being honest. What I mean is if the change has the right feels, if the pieces all still make sense then it is honest to me. I choose to believe there are creatives in the industries that do that as well, who are not motivated only by quarterly earning goals.

 

In the Fantastic Four Reboot thread I go into more detail about how I think about this stuff; quickly analyzing characters like Batman, Captain America and of course getting deep into the heart of the Fantastic Four characters. Which isn't to say I'm right, just detailing why I thought that way.

 

The more I looked at Doctor Strange nothing in anything screamed that it must be a white guy. As such I fell in creative love with the idea of The Sorceress Supreme.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yeah, Namor is a floater like Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. He's a Fantastic Four character more than any other franchise-- but he's also a mutant.

But I never found Namor interesting and the Rock is to pumped to play Shazam/Black Adam so MEH!

 

I'd like to know where Power Pack is. They are likely Marvel, but when their comic ran it was associated with, and shared editors with, the X-books.

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Wait, what? Since when is Namor a mutant? Classically associated with the FF, he also spent a fair amount of time as an Avenger, but yeah I'd agree he fits more with FF. Not that I want to see him in these films anyway.

 

Now She-Hulk, on the other hand, would make a great film.

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Actually, I always think of Cap as a main link to Namor, because I tend to associate him with the Invaders. In 75 years of comics the guy has really gotten around. And logically/statistically, I think most of that would fall into the MCU realm.

True, when you go back to the Golden Age, he definitely fits in there. But I'm not sure how you'd fit him in with the new MCU version of Marvel history. It seems like they've been doing a slow credulity-build -- from science-based heroes and villains to aliens and now to more magicky and traditional "superpowers" characters (bringing us back on topic to Doctor Strange).

 

I like his Silver-Age origin as a villain trying to King Kong Sue Storm, maybe you just do a little switcheroo and have him trying to take Scarlet Witch from the Vision in another movie or two. ;)

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I agree that they seem to be trying to slowly expand the box, see what they can get away with when it comes to the general audience. Not only types of characters, but styles of movies, too. We had the (toned down) standard/safe sort of superhero stories. Then they tried something of a period piece with the first Cap movie, then Guardians proved galactic sci-fi can work, too. Dr. Strange will presumably take on yet another sort of feel, assuming they fully embrace the mystic storyline potential. Guardians also showed that different formulas can work, too. The Avengers model was great to get the ball rolling, but now that the train is chugging along, they were able to almost reverse that model with Guardians - instead of slowly building a team through individual movies, they threw a bunch of wierdos together and made us want to learn more about them in the future.

 

I hope that this all encourages further expansion in both the types of characters and the sort of movies they do. That seems to be the case. Ant-Man is certainly a different sort of character and the word "heist film" keeps getting thrown around. The Defenders-related Netflix shows are expanding things at "the street level". Maybe they will finally dive headlong into some serious spy stuff, give us some espionage with Widow and Hawkeye. And, for me, I'd love to see Namor done in his own film. Full under-sea glory, with Atlantis and all sorts of stuff the other films haven't given us.

 

That's what I love about what they have done (and apparently doing) so far with the MCU - expanding boundaries to keep things interesting and exploring some of the potential of the existing diversity, while tying everything at least loosely together, so that it all sort of feels like one big, connected universe (i.e. what it's supposed to be). That's one of the reasons I'm excited about Joaquin Phoenix. I think having a strong, talented, and recognized lead will allow them to get away with more where the general audience is concerned. With him, some good writing/effects, and the successes of magic-filled stuff like the Tolkien and Harry Potter movies, there's really no reason for them to hold back with Dr. Strange. And that gives this film all sorts of potential!

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Snipes' return would be the only thing that would really make me want them to do Blade anytime soon. Unless, of course, they follow the logic of my earlier post and went full-on horror (well, action/horror). That, too, would have all sorts of interesting possibilities. Not that they couldn't do that and have Snipes back. :cool:

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The film could help broaden the horror aspect of the MCU. Some Nightstalkers action (Hannibal King, for real this time), Werewolf by Night, etc. And a Doctor Strange film actually happening makes their connection that much stronger.

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