Marvel’s latest big-screen outing, Doctor Strange, isn’t set to hit US theaters until next week, so if you’re trying to avoid spoilers it’s probably best to skip this report until after you’ve seen the film.
Still here? Okay, good. Over the course of the movie, we learn that an evil entity known as Dormammu is inhabiting one of the dark dimensions of the multiverse, and he plans to use Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and his zealots to clear the way for him to take over the earth. Towards the end, Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) comes face to giant CG face with the powerful creature, and if he looked at all familiar, there’s a very good reason for that.
Though Dormammu was voiced by an unidentified British actor, director Scott Derrickson has revealed that Cumberbatch himself actually brought the villain to life via motion-capture:
“The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea, because no one understood Dormammu better than Benedict did. I also wrote that role to be a kind of ultra-inflated version of Strange. He is an ego run amok; he is this cosmic conqueror where everything, where literally everything in the multi-verse is about him.There’s something interesting about this confrontation of this little, tiny guy who has this power of time and this monstrous conqueror who is trapped by a clever gambit. There’s something about that worked well, and I didn’t think anybody to interact with Benedict than he, himself.”
Though that’s definitely an interesting approach, there are bound to be some Marvel purists that take issue with how the character is depicted onscreen, as he hardly resembles his comic book counterpart. Still, there’s always the chance he’ll take on a more familiar form for the inevitable sequel.
Doctor Strange is set to hit theaters on November 4th.