Benedict Cumberbatch Is Going James Bond For Doctor Strange 3

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 14 seconds ago

Few Marvel characters have had as much of a rollercoaster ride as Doctor Strange: his first movie was a self-contained hit while his second was a sloppy, multiversal mess. Now, Nexus Point News is reporting that Benedict Cumberbatch has become personally involved in the search for a writer and director for Doctor Strange 3.

Even more interesting is that the star has chosen the perfect director to helm his third film: Sam Mendes, whose Skyfall was the most critically and commercially successful James Bond film ever made.

Third Time’s The Magic Charm

Currently, none of this information has been confirmed. Nexus is reporting on what their sources have told them.

Nonetheless, the idea that Cumberbatch is taking such a personal interest in his third film seems to be a very good sign that we’ll get something better than Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. That movie happened to have a great director, but Marvel effectively ruined the film by making it less a standalone vehicle for its titular character and more a weird bridge between the multiversal mania of the MCU films and television shows.

Normally, I’d be cynical and point out that Marvel actors don’t always have a talent for picking great directors; for example, Robert Downey Jr. recommended that Shane Black direct Iron Man 3, and while I personally love that quirked-up sequel, many consider it one of the worst Marvel movies ever made. However, Benedict Cumberbatch doesn’t want just any man directing Doctor Strange 3. According to Nexus Point News, he wants Sam Mendes, who established himself as one of the greatest modern genre directors with Skyfall.

Sam Mendes Leaves Us Shaken and Stirred

Not that long ago, I dubbed Skyfall the perfect James Bond movie, and the critics agree: the film has a 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and was the first 007 movie to ever earn over a billion dollars at the box office. More impressively, Mendes delivered this kind of financial success after the critical flop (it has 63 percent on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and 58 percent from audiences) that was Quantum of Solace. Furthermore, part of what made Quantum of Solace so disappointing was that it followed on the heels of Casino Royale, a smash hit that made James Bond into a popular pop culture icon once again.

That’s the position that Benedict Cumberbatch is in right now: his first Doctor Strange film was considered a breakout success that instantly established his Sorcerer Supreme as the most compelling Marvel hero since Iron Man. However, Multiverse of Madness squandered that goodwill with a busy sequel whose nonsensical plot was just an excuse to cram a bunch of awkward fan service cameos into the film. With a director like Sam Mendes, Doctor Strange 3 could be Cumberbatch’s Skyfall, reinvigorating the character while reenergizing fans who may have largely succumbed to superhero fatigue in the last few years.  

The Beatles Just Won’t Let It Be

Unfortunately, Cumberbatch’s dream director may not be able to easily direct a Marvel movie. Right now, he is working on a whopping four different Beatles movies, all of which will be theatrically released in 2028. Now, production of Doctor Strange 3 is in its earliest stages, and we don’t yet know where such a movie would fit into the MCU’s crowded release schedule. That means that a Mendes-directed Doctor Strange film could still be possible, but it’s (sad as I am to say this) not very likely to happen.

Still, much like Benedict Cumberbatch, I can’t help but imagine how cool a Doctor Strange movie directed by Sam Mendes could be. This could arguably be the real solution to superhero fatigue: hiring rockstar directors who (like James Gunn before them) can bring their own unique spin to what has become a very familiar, very tired Marvel movie formula. If Disney keeps following that formula with relatively unknown directors who are nothing more than yes-men, though, we may need to borrow Strange’s Eye of Agamotto to do the impossible: return to a time when Marvel movies were actually worth watching!