Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange boasts an excellent cast and promises to take the MCU in a very weird, very mystical direction — but will there be, you know, any action? For those who were concerned that Marvel’s latest might not be as action-heavy as its predecessors, fear not, as director Scott Derrickson has tapped martial arts pro and action star Scott Adkins, ensuring that Doctor Strange will come with a little kick.

The cast of Doctor Strange continues to expand, as one more actor has joined the lineup of Marvel’s mystical superhero film in — surprise, surprise — yet another mystery role. Transparent star Amy Landecker is the latest addition to the cast, joining Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sorcerer Supreme in what’s shaping up to be Marvel’s best cast yet.

This week we got our first unofficial look at Benedict Cumberbatch in Marvel’s Doctor Strange. Sporting a rugged beard, Cumberbatch certainly looks the part of the Sorcerer Supreme, and it’s given us a tiny idea of director Scott Derrickson’s aesthetic for the film. But what of Cumberbatch’s co-stars? Glad you asked! Today brings our first look at Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo, all robed up and looking sort of like a mystical Jedi.

With Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tilda Swinton, Rachel McAdams and Mads Mikkelsen, you could be forgiven for thinking that the cast of Marvel’s Doctor Strange could not possible get any better. But then, Michael Stuhlbarg joins the cast, and you are proven wrong.

If Steve Ditko's only accomplishment in comics had been co-creating Spider-Man, he would still be one of the medium's most famous creators. But that's not all he's done. In the 60-plus years since he started drawing for Key Publications and Atlas --- the company that would become Marvel --- Ditko put an indelible stamp on comic books, while remaining something of a mystery; he's one of comics' most notoriously reclusive creators. Ditko was born on this day in 1927 --- though judging by his reputation, he probably won't make that big of a deal out of it. He got his start drawing romance and science-fiction comics, but he would find his wheelhouse while working at Charlton, where he drew mystery, science fiction and horror stories.

Over the summer, Daredevil Season 1 showrunner Steven DeKnight revealed that Rosario Dawson’s character on the series wasn’t allowed to go by the name Night Nurse because Marvel executives had plans for the character in a feature film — that film, as many speculated, is likely Doctor Strange, as Night Nurse has a history with the Sorcerer Supreme. And as it turns out, not only may that speculation have been quite correct, but this might be who Rachel McAdams is playing in the upcoming film.

Just about every comic book writer or artist I've ever met has a Doctor Strange pitch somewhere on their hard drive; there's something about the good doctor that makes him an irresistible subject for stories, at least to the people telling them. Whether that translates to the readers as well, we'll find out when Doctor Strange #1 goes on sale October 7 --- but we can offer a little preview of the action right now.

Nobody drew like Gene Colan. That might sound like the sort of hyperbole one expects to read in a tribute piece, but in this case, it's true – Gene Colan was a total original, whose work looked nothing like any other comic artist's before or since.

You know how much we love cosplay at ComicsAlliance; we put a spotlight on it every week. Fans who create their own costumes and dress up as their favorite heroes are some of the most passionate and enthusiastic people in comics, and the level of talent and committment on display at conventions seems to get more impressive every year. If there isn't a Carol Corps cosplay meet-up or a whole dang Spider-Verse at a show, you'll probably go home disappointed. So it's great to see Marvel paying tribute to these fans with a selection of cosplay variant covers on several of its All-New All-Different launches this fall. The Marvel Cosplay variants place fans of Spider-Gwen, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Thor (both versions) and more on the covers of the books they love. Cosplay connoisseurs will see some familiar faces among the cosplayers, including Birds of Play's Amanda Lynne Shafer, cosplay legend Yaya Han, and Marvel's own in-house cosplay blogger Judy Stephens as Captain Marvel.

Marvel has given us a little taste of weirdness with Guardians of the Galaxy and the Quantum Realm stuff in Ant-Man — but things are about to get real strange when Doctor Strange hits theaters next fall. How strange, exactly? New descriptions of the film’s tone as well as the first reactions to concept art have trickled in, and we don’t think it’ll be much longer before we get a peek at some of this stuff for ourselves (cough, D23).