‘Doctor Strange’: Mads Mikkelsen Talks Villain Role, Says The Movie Has A ‘Different Flavor’

Marvel’s Doctor Strange is going to feature Hannibal actor Mads Mikkelsen as the film’s villain – although his character at this point has yet to be revealed. Ever since the actor was first announced, there has been plenty of fan speculation as to which Doctor Strange villain the Casino Royale actor could be playing. In a recent interview with Yahoo! Movies UK, Mads Mikkelsen discusses the tone of Doctor Strange and what fans can expect while also keeping quiet on his character in the film.

“If you look at the comic books, the comic books are quite different [to other Marvel stories],” Mikkelsen explained. “I think that the film will be different from the other [Marvel] films that we’ve seen, but not as different as the books are, because that was basically the ’60s and ’70s – it was more like an acid trip.”

Mikkelsen is referring to Steve Ditko’s visual art style for the Doctor Strange books in the 1960s. With the color palette and the way the books were drawn, the pages certainly invoked a strong “acid trip” vibe. From the Doctor Strange teaser trailer that debuted earlier this year, Marvel and director Scott Derrickson have shown us that the film will visually do things that no other Marvel movie has done up to this point. Certain scenes from the film look like scenarios pulled from Inception, and given that it was only a teaser trailer, there is probably much more where that came from.

“We’ve taken that fascination of the time into something we can relate to today,” Mikkelsen added. “So you still have the energy, you still have the colors, you still have the madness, but you also have something you can identify with. I think that was a necessity – if not, you would just make a crazy film. But you still have it there – you have all the action, all the good ingredients you get in a Marvel film, but it will have a different flavor, that’s for sure.”

Benedict Cumberbatch plays the title character, Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange, a brilliant yet conceited surgeon who suffers a tragic car accident. With his hands completely destroyed, Strange is left to look for a way to fix himself so that he can return to his beloved profession. He comes across a sorcerer named Baron Mordo, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, and his mentor The Ancient One, played by Tilda Swinton, who promises to help him by introducing him to the world of magic and sorcery.

As stated before, Mads Mikkelsen’s role in Doctor Strange is still unknown, although he will be playing a villain in the film. However, Mikkelsen reveals that he doesn’t necessarily view his character that way. From the way that he explains it, his character sounds like something of an anti-villain, someone who has good intentions or wants to do good, but uses horrible or evil methods to do so.

"You wonder what I see in your future? Possibility." pic.twitter.com/8IVll143VK

— Doctor Strange (@DrStrange) April 13, 2016

“He’s not a villain in that way – he’s a man who believes in something else than the hero,” Mads Mikkelsen explained. “That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t want to make the planet look wonderful or he wants to save the world as well, but he has a different way of doing it. He is the antagonist, of course, but he’s not necessarily wrong.”

A lot of fans believe Mikkelsen is playing Dormammu, a demon, who is simply in human form for a large majority of the film. It’s easy to think of Mikkelsen playing that kind of a role; the actor has played plenty of dark villains in his film career.

And according to actor Scott Adkins, the film could have elements of horror in it. Derrickson has directed films like Sinister, Deliver Us from Evil, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose in the past, so the thought of him bringing in some horror elements – something he should be very comfortable with – makes perfect sense.

Doctor Strange will hit theaters on November 4.

[Image via Marvel Studios]