Actor Benedict Cumberbatch has been busy promoting his upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe debut film, Doctor Strange. The film has not seen its release yet(it will be released in November) but that has not stopped the film from garnering rumors and speculations as any other established character. Doctor Strange has been touted to be an important character for Marvel’s Phase 3 and 4. This may be due to the Sorcerer Supreme’s offering that is very different to the usual Marvel fare.
Cumberbatch also played another very pivotal part in the movie, one that may surprise every Marvel fan. The actor did double duty, portraying both the hero of the film as well as the antagonist. Mads Mikkelsen plays the main villain Kaecilius, but there is another surprise villain that has not been credited. The final act features rage Dread Dormammu, who had been speculated to make an appearance. Dormammu is one of Doctor Strange’s greatest nemesis who has also gone head to head with other Marvel characters like Thanos, Thor and a slew of other Marvel characters. His appearance also may be a seed for the next great villain for Phase 4.
Cumberbatch provided the facial movements for the CG character. In an interview with IGN, director Scott Derrickson discussed the process of bringing Dormammu to the big screen. “The voice was a British actor whose name I don’t know, and Benedict – Benedict did the facial capture for it.” The director also said it was Cumberbatch’s idea:
“It’s an interesting idea because I did fancy the idea that as this other-dimensional being he’s not moving through the Dark Dimension, with a countenance, with eyes and a face, eyes and a mouth, and a human visage – why would he? He takes that form on to communicate with Strange…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 multiverse 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 it that worked well, and I didn’t think of anybody [better] to interact with Benedict than he, himself.”
