Benedict Cumberbatch Cast as Dr. Strange for Marvel Comics Movie

From England's greatest detective to the world's greatest sorceror!

Benedict Cumberbatch of "Sherlock," "Star Trek" and tumblr fame has reportedly been cast as Marvel's Dr. Strange, a character from the comic books set to have his own solo movie before joining the likes of The Avengers in future films.

Joaquin Phoenix was reportedly in talks for the role for a long while, but those talks recently fell through and Phoenix passed on the role. Cumberbatch was apparently in the running along with Tom Hardy and Jared Leto.

Neither Marvel nor Cumberbatch's camp has yet confirmed the news.

Cumberbatch has been an extraordinarily busy actor of late. He voiced and did motion capture for Smaug in the last "The Hobbit" movie, appeared as Khan in "Star Trek: Into Darkness," and is already generating Oscar buzz for his upcoming role in "The Imitation Game" as British codebreaker and father of the modern computer, Alan Turing, all while still maintaining the role of Sherlock in consistent (but intermittent) series for the BBC.

Dr. Strange will be yet another gamble for Marvel, as the character is a sorceror and will bring the concept of magic into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Then again, Marvel gambled with "Guardians of the Galaxy" and audiences loved it, so it seems that the studio can do no wrong.