Doctor Strange (2016 movie) type Movie genre Superhero

EW can exclusively reveal the role Hannibal star Mads Mikkelsen is portraying in Marvel’s new superhero movie, Doctor Strange (out Nov. 4), which stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the titular surgeon-turned-sorcerer.

And the part is that of (cue: drum roll) chief baddie!

“Mads is playing our main villain,” says executive producer Stephen Broussard.

Marvel Studios president and Doctor Strange producer Kevin Feige elaborates further. “We will take audiences through sort of a guide to the multiverse, other dimensions, and there are amazing things out there — wonders that are going to be hopefully visually extremely interesting and unique to this movie,” he says. “But there are also very scary things in these other dimensions.” According to Feige, is the job of sorcerers like Strange and The Ancient One, played by Tilda Swinton, to protect humanity from such “scary things.”

So, where does Mikkelsen’s antagonist fit in, exactly? “Mads’ character is a sorcerer who breaks off into his own sect,” says the Marvel Studios boss. “[He] believes that the Ancient One is just protecting her own power base and that the world may be better off if we were to allow some of these other things through.”

Although Broussard and Feige are happy to talk about the nature of Mikkelsen’s role, they are not, at present, revealing the actual name of his character. “I’ve seen lots of names thrown around,” says Broussard. “No one has quite picked the name that we’ve chosen for him. It would be fun to conceal that, if we can.”

To continue reading more on Doctor Strange, pick up Entertainment Weekly’s First Look issue, on newsstands Tuesday, or buy it here.

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