Marvel continues to look long into the future. With four more films — “Thor,” “The First Avenger: Captain America,” “The Avengers” and “Iron Man 3” — before their distribution deal with Paramount ends and they begin life with their new parent Disney, it seems that the comic company are planting the seeds for the transition.
Marvel Studios have hired “Conan” writers Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer to write “Dr. Strange.” The duo have had their hands in geek material before, having penned an adaptation of the video game “Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune” for Sony as well as a draft of Jon Favreau’s western/sci-fi mashup “Cowboys Vs. Aliens.”
“Dr. Strange” has been knocking around Hollywood for years and its easy to see why. For those of you out of the comic world loop, the story focuses on “a self-centered New York surgeon robbed of his touch after a car accident. After a stint as a wandering derelict, he found his way to a healer in the Himalayas, where he learned to tap into psychic powers to battle evil wizards and other wrongdoers. His mind is his weapon, rather than the brute force that distinguish most memorable Marvel heroes.” His powers include energy and astral projection, teleportation, telepathy, creating shields and more. It’s no wonder then that the property, licensed out to various studios over the years, has attracted a number of writers and directors including Bob Gale, Wes Craven, David Goyer, Stephen Norrington and Guillermo del Toro. Oh yeah, remember “The Illusionist” with Edward Norton? He said he modeled his character after Dr. Strange (and too bad he already played Hulk because really, he’s a great fit for the role). But with Marvel back in control, they will be starting over from scratch.
No word yet on production timelines, but one can assume this is just one of many characters/films Marvel Studios is prepping to have ready for Disney so they can start moving forward on utilizing the comic company’s tremendous catalog of characters.