The internet was broken today when Mike Fleming announced on Deadline that Marvel had named Benedict Cumberbatch their top choice to play Doctor Strange in a feature slated for 2016, and that they were beginning negotiations. This is still an unconfirmed rumor, and the Strange casting rumors have been brewing for quite some time. Joaquin Phoenix was a confirmed choice up until the beginning of this month, but then they were back to the drawing board.

Over the past months, everyone from Hugh Laurie to Tom Hardy, Keanu Reeves, Johnny Depp, and Daniel Radcliffe have been mentioned in connection with the project. Keen Ringers have tapped Cumberbatch for the role since at least July. It looks like this might be an accurate prophesy. Marvel has been cagey, neither confirming nor denying the report, with Executive Editorial Director Ryan Penagos tweeting about #seeeekrits all afternoon.

We may not have long to wait for confirmation of this particular rumor. Marvel is holding a special press event in Los Angeles tomorrow (which you can follow on their live blog) to make some undisclosed #seeeekrit announcements. TheOneRing.net will be on hand at the event to get the scoop!

So far Middle-earth fans have embraced Benedict Cumberbatch as a villain supreme “The Hobbit” films, in his roles as both Smaug and the Necromancer (aka Sauron). He’s twisted our minds as a cunning genius in the wildly popular BBC “Sherlock” series, and he rolled villainy and genius into one as Khan in “Star Trek Return of the Lens Flare Into Darkness”. Now it looks like he may have the chance to conquer comics as he has science fiction and fantasy.

The “Sorceror Supreme” of the Marvel universe, Doctor Strange is described as “brilliant, but arrogant,” which certainly seems to be a trend in all the characters mentioned above! And who better than the Necromancer to serve as what Marvel President Kevin Feige describes as the “doorway into Marvel’s supernatural side”?

Tell us in the comments what you think about Benedict Cumberbatch taking on the role of the mightiest magician in the cosmos. Who would win in a fight? The Necromancer or Doctor Strange?

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