Skip to main content

Joaquin Phoenix will not be Doctor Strange

joaquin phoenix will doctor strange
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Marvel Studio’s talks with Joaquin Phoenix to play Doctor Strange in the Marvel Universe have fallen through, Deadline reports. Rumors began circulating earlier this summer that the Oscar-nominated Phoenix (Gladiator, Walk the Line, Her) was being seriously considered by Marvel to play the Sorcerer Supreme in the upcoming standalone film.

Prior to Phoenix, the list of actors rumored to be in consideration for the role included Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, soon to be playing Alan Turing in The Imitation Game), Jared Leto (Requiem for a Dream, Dallas Buyer’s Club), and Tom Hardy (The DropThe Dark Knight Rises), so all three names are back on the table for speculation. Sinister‘s Scott Derrickson has signed on to direct the film and reports earlier this summer suggested that Prometheus writer John Spaihts is in talks to write the screenplay.

Recommended Videos

Related: Kevin Feige discusses Marvel’s future and the possibility of studio crossovers

Doctor Strange will come out in 2016 as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s ambitious “Phase Three,” which will include deeper cuts into the Marvel canon like Strange, Ant-Man, and Luke Cage (who should really be played by Terry Crews). The enormous success of Guardians of the Galaxy has bolstered the studio’s confidence that they can pull in audiences for lesser known characters. As the universe opens up further, it also allows for more liberal play in the huge, established catalog of stories and crossover events that have been developed over the last few decades of Marvel comics.

With Phoenix out of the running now, what’s your dream casting for the Sorcerer Supreme? Sound off in the comments.

Will Fulton
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…
Congratulations, Hollywood, you’ve ruined the Joker for good
Joker sits at a table while Harley Quin sits behind him.

This weekend, Joaquin Phoenix returns to his Oscar-winning role as Arthur Fleck, aka the Joker, in Todd Phillips' Joker: Folie à Deux. Ostensibly a sequel to Joker, Folie à Deux is less a continuation of the story begun in the 2019 film and more a denouement of it. It takes big swings, but it seems to have lost the plot. That's largely because, like its predecessor, it lacks a basic understanding of the titular character. The critical and expected commercial underperformance of Folie à Deux hints that Hollywood has done what it always has and milked every last drop from the Joker cow.

Once upon a time, the Clown Prince of Crime was an icon of the comic book world, a titan of entertainment with more lives than Catwoman. People used words like "complex" and "three-dimensional" to describe him, separating him from the cheap villains he once shared the spotlight with. A few years ago, the Joker was a precious role that earned Oscars for his performers and elevated any project it was a part of. Flash-forward to now, and what you have is a ghost of what once was, a joke that has been told so many times that it no longer has a punch line. Because, now that the Joker has gone from villain to antihero to champion of the oppressed, what's left for him to be other than a joke himself?
Let the Joker laugh

Read more
Joker 2’s ending, explained
Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix hold mics and smile in Joker 2.

Gotham City's greatest villain has returned to the big screen with the release of director Todd Phillips' Joker: Folie à Deux. This sequel shows Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) meeting his partner-in-crime, Harleen "Lee" Quinzel (Lady Gaga), in Arkham State Hospital as he stands trial for his string of murders two years prior.
This mix of musical theater and procedural crime drama has made for an unusual but exciting follow-up to one of DC's most successful pictures. Though it may have received less-favorable reviews than its predecessor, it continues the Joker story while deconstructing Phoenix's character in a clever and surprising way. Now that the film is in theaters, it's time to break down the story and what the ending means for the supposed Clown Prince of Crime.

The story

Read more
10 best Doctor Who episodes ever, ranked
The cast of Doctor Who.

Doctor Who recently returned for its 14th season for the revival series that began in 2005. However, the legacy of the show extends back to 1963, when it debuted on British television and ran for 27 seasons. There was a nearly two-decade gap between the end of the first Doctor Who series and its successor, which continued in May even though BBC and Disney+ insist on calling it "Doctor Who season 1" as if it were a third series.

Ncuti Gatwa starred in the newest season of Doctor Who alongside Millie Gibson, who plays the Doctor's latest companion, Ruby Sunday. It's their time to add to the lore of the series, hopefully with stories that can earn their place on this list in the future. In the meantime, we've chosen the 10 best Doctor Who episodes of the revival series, which you can see below.
10. The Husbands of River Song (2015 Christmas Special)

Read more