Benedict Cumberbatch says “there’s so much more to play” with DOCTOR STRANGE in the MCU

While we don’t know what the future holds for Marvel’s Doctor Stephen Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch he says he’s far from done with playing the character.

The actor, present at the Red Sea Film Festival with his latest film, We live in timehe defined the superhero as a “complex man, motivated by the need to control everything at any cost”.

He told Variety: “I’m interested to see where these costs take him,” he said. “There’s a lot more to play and it’s very exciting.”

Cumberbatch said movies like Doctor Strange and offerings within the Marvel Cinematic Universe are “grand gestures.” “When they’re really good, they capture the zeitgeist, they speak to us and our culture. They are so much fun to make.

Speaking about how Marvel captures the current cultural and political moment, the actor said his “real fear” wasn’t just that the character “was a bit misogynistic and an arrogant asshole,” but that history needed to speak to him. “the idea of ​​spirituality” at that time.

“That was the key to success,” he said of the treatment of spirituality in “Doctor Strange.” “It was something we had never seen in the MCU, completely new terrain. And just what it brings in terms of harnessing power through sheer will. It’s a superpower, and as an origin story, it’s quite rich.”

The actor said that Marvel “got it right many times in the past”, but it was “pretty nerve-wracking for me to work really, really hard on it and hope that it would be successful without the arrogance of assuming that it would be”.

Elsewhere in the conversation about his experience as Doctor Strange, the actor recalled going to set for the first time and being “overwhelmed” by the talent of the crew.

“The wealth of talent that you’re surrounded by is a little humbling and scary,” he continued, saying he “hates” the phrase “the artist on set,” uttered when over-the-top talent walks onto the set. “The artist has been on the set, has been on the set since this set was assembled, painted, decorated, filled with a smoke-lit camera… We are a part of many other artists.”

The actor stressed that there are “a lot of tangible things” in Marvel productions. “[Marvel] it will do a lot of location. They make a lot of real sets and there’s a lot of 360 material to work with, despite many [moments] where do you go, “I have to go out because all I’ve seen is green and blue all day.”

Cumberbatch recalled learning “how to have fun” watching Tom Holland and Robert Downey Jr. interact on set as Peter Parker and Tony Stark.

Of the 2021 filming Spider-Man: No Way Homethe actor said that “watching Tom Holland the success of the first Spider-Man the movie was magical. I [realized] I have to have fun. I can’t just show up with the collar on.

“The best thing on those huge canvases, those things with a huge amount of responsibility and expectation from all these amazing, devoted fans, is to play, have fun and be free to keep them alive. [Otherwise] it becomes stale.

For now, the only Marvel project on Cumberbatch’s next slate is Avengers: Judgment Daywhose release is scheduled for 2026.