In another universe, Benedict Cumberbatch played the villain in Thor: The Dark World
The Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness actor was offered the role of Malekith, but decided to wait for a part that was "a bit more juicy"
Aux News Thor
Throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s existence, casting ‘what ifs’ have always been a fun look at a how differently these movies and characters could have gone. Before he was Earth-838's string-cheesed Reed Richards, John Krasinski auditioned for everyone’s favorite Boy Scout, Captain America. Even his wife Emily Blunt was nearly the MCU’s Black Widow in Iron Man 2 before turning down the role due to scheduling conflicts.
The multiverse is vast, and it seems that another casting possibility would have given us a very different Doctor Strange. Though he currently pulls off the grey side streaks and Cloak of Levitation in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, Benedict Cumberbatch revealed in a recent interview with BBC Radio 1 that he almost played Malekith, the villain in Thor: The Dark World.
“[Doctor Strange] happened as an idea muted after, funnily enough, another little dance I did for another character in the MCU, a very brief character,” says Cumberbatch about Malekith. “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.’”
Smart-thinking on Cumberbatch’s part, since Thor: The Dark World is often seen as one of the lesser films in the MCU’s catalogue. Playing the Dark Elf Malekith is Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who), who is supposed to be the film’s Big Bad, but is completely outshined by Tom Hiddleston’s more complex Loki.
Obviously, Cumberbatch’s “juicy” role turned out to be the MCU’s Doctor Strange. Yet, Cumberbatch felt some reluctance to take on the role after reading the character’s comics and finding Strange “a bit of a misogynist, very bound in the ‘70s.” After being reassured by Marvel that Strange would be updated for today’s world, Cumberbatch took on the role and the rest is MCU history.
18 Comments
Recall that in 2013 he was Khan in Into Darkness. And while I thought he was good in that bad movie, Khan and Malekith in the same year would not have been great for him.
Whitewashing AND blackface? THE MAN HAS RANGE!
Christopher Eccleston as Doctor Strange for just one movie and then never again? Maybe an even worse timeline than this one.
but that one movie would be super compelling and deeply underrated by most and have a coherent, powerful character arc that the others didn’t have
Malekith is definitely one of the worst parts of Thor: The Dark World, and I wonder a lot whether it was just the character being boring, or if Eccleston just couldn’t muster the energy to give a fuck.
Genius
I actually like Thor: The Dark World much better than just about everybody but I have to admit that anybody could have played Malekith and almost anybody would have been just as wasted as Christopher Eccleston
There’s a comic book event called War of the Realms where Malekith is the main antagonist. It’s a lot more interesting than what Eccleston got to do. Cumberbatch might have fit that take on the character well.
Before he was Earth-838’s string-cheesed Reed Richards, John KrasinskiThat’s pretty messed up you’d spoil a movie released literally one week ago. Frankly, it’s actually kind of insulting. This is exactly the kind of website where your readers would not expect to see a major cameo spoiled in the opening paragraph of an article.
I skipped the article and just scrolled down here to read the comments. Your comment about the article spoiler actually just spoiled it for me. Who’s the bad guy now?
Still the article.
Co-bad guys?
buddy – this is exactly the website where i’d expect spoilers at every turn. this your first time here? if so, terrible timing! it was much better 15 years ago.
It’s sister website, Gizmodo/io9, has a habit of posting things like “everything we loved about the movie!” or “What that cameo by famous actor/classic comics character means” on Friday afternoon of release weekend.
1 week is the grace period. If someone hasn’t seen it yet, then they weren’t that much of a fan
Yeah when I read that I was like “wtf A.V. Club”. Not cool at all.
Is that universe’s version of Doctor Strange played by Christopher Eccleston? Because Eccleston as Dr. Strange actually does sound kind of awesome – no idea if it would actually work, but it would at least be interesting. Malekith is so forgettable that it really would have been a waste of Cumberbatch’s talents, plus a risk of type-casting after doing Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness.
“Almost cast in ___” is the absolute bottom of the barrel topic in entertainment writing. Oh wow, something ALMOST happened! I’m ALMOST interested in that!I don’t get the huge influx of these here and elsewhere lately. They’re spreading like herpes.