The first images of Benedict Cumberbatch in full Doctor Strange garb and the sets he will inhabit have been released, and I must say that he looks even better than I was hoping he would in the role. The details are all correct as well, from the Eye of Agomotto to his signature window in the Sanctum Sanctorum. So, they have the visuals right - if the story and performances are up to par, this could be very cool indeed.
I think Dr. Strange is working very diligently to recapture that magic of the first Iron Man film. I'm excited about it!
ReplyDeleteI still have fond memories of the 1978 TV-movie that featured Clyde Kusatsu as (a politically correct) Wong; Jessica Walter as Morgan LeFay; the late, great Sir John Mills as Thomas "the Ancient One" Lindmer; and Peter Hooten in the title role of Dr. Strange. So, a big budget feature film will have to go a long way, with me, to equal or even surpass that nostalgic fondness. However, that being said, I have since discovered that Benedict Cumberbatch's mother is Wanda Ventham. The actress who did such a delightfully convincing job playing a vampiric necromancer in the 1974 Hammer Films epic CAPT. KRONOS!
ReplyDeleteSo, there's definitely some hope that such a talent for realism is hereditary.
"Charlatan?"
ReplyDeleteDid Stephen try to compensate for his estrangement, from Clea, with a little "help" from Rose Psychic? ;-)
Is the "I placed my faith in you once" line a reference to a previous meeting between them on this site? I can't find one...
ReplyDeleteCary Comic said...
"I still have fond memories of the 1978 TV-movie that featured Clyde Kusatsu as (a politically correct) Wong; Jessica Walter as Morgan LeFay; the late, great Sir John Mills as Thomas "the Ancient One" Lindmer; and Peter Hooten in the title role of Dr. Strange"
So do I.
Nop, this is Dr. Occult's first appearance on the blog, I just thought that I would give them a sense of some sort of history together.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I haven't been much of a comics reader since the 80s Indy crash, but... who is Doctor Occult? And why does he look like Dick Tracy?
ReplyDeleteBecause that's all they had to keep comic hero's looking alike for easy art work when creating a new human super hero.
DeleteDr. Occult was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster back in the Golden Age; I don't remember if it was before or after they created Superman.
ReplyDeleteAs for his Tracyesque togs, I don't know why that happened, either--but DT was a prominent strip back then, so JS & JS might have consciously or unconsciously copied Tracy.
Oh, a Golden Ager by S&S. Thanks. Just read up on him in the DCUniverseOnline wiki. Sometimes I have to V-8 forehead slap myself for not realizing I can websearch everything.
ReplyDeleteOf course, he may be dressed like Tracy, but the jaw isn't pointed enough! :D
But where is Doctor Thirteen?
ReplyDeleteDr. Occult is definitely pre-Superman. In fact, he is sometimes said to have been DC's first costumed superhero (due to a Flash Gordon-esque uniform he wore during an epic battle between the demon hordes of Koth and the forces of the Council of Seven)!
ReplyDeleteWhen Doc Occult showed up in All-Star Squadron, Superman kept remarking on how similar they looked.
ReplyDeleteIn a later, contemporary Superman story, Doc Occult made his "first" appearance, where he body-switched with Rose, similar to Marvel's Starhawk. Don't know if they kept that.
They kept it until Flashpoint: Apparently one of the pair had lost their own original body while helping the JSA in a case towards the end of the war (in a story published in the late '90s, shortly before the JSA's series was revived on an ongoing basis), and that part of the story didn't get changed.
ReplyDeletePost-Flashpoint, I'm not sure whether he (or she) has appeared at all.
I know an other-dimensional counterpoint got killed off (indirectly-but-deliberately), by John Constantine, in the DC comic series based on the v.g. INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US.
ReplyDeleteBelated suggestion: John Constantine vs. John Wick!*
ReplyDelete*I can see the tandem word balloon, now: "Hey! You look like ME!"