Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch to play Doctor Strange in Marvel superhero movie

Benedict Cumberbatch is continuing to conquer America - he's just bagged a lead role in a superhero movie for Marvel.

17:22 28 October 2014

Benedict Cumberbatch is Doctor Strange. Sources have revealed that the Sherlock star will take on the role for the Marvel superhero film.

As yet, details are slim but the character has long been in the sights of the bigwigs at Marvel. 

Doctor Strange was a neurosurgeon whose career ends after a car crash destroys his hands, but he goes on to become “the mightiest magician in the cosmos”

Previously in the frame was Gladiator star Joaquin Phoenix. Tom Hardy was another rumoured star.

Cumberbatch won an Emmy for his work on the BBC's detective show Sherlock and could be in the running for an Oscar nomination when his Alan Turing Enigma code-breaking biopic The Imitation Game hits cinemas later this year.

Marvel's next wave of superhero flicks begins in 2015 with Ant-Man starring Paul Rudd.