Oh man, everyone in the comic book media game decided to overload the circuits with a flood of casting announcements yesterday! What are YOU most excited about?
(Photo: Jason Bell)
• Marvel made it official! Benedict Cumberbatch IS Doctor Strange! Now you may say this casting is too on the nose but with a nose like that you could play Cyrano. Come on people, this was fated to be…and it sets the stage for that long awaited Doctor Strange vs Loki movie that fanfic writers have been auditioning for for months.
• Netflix has been chugging along with its Daredevil series, and the two leads in the next two—Jessica Jones and Luke Cage—have reportedly been cast. Krysten Ritter has been cast as Jones, the PTSD afflicted superheroine who turns into a detective. Ritter is perhaps best known as Jesse’s doomed girlfriend in Breaking Bad, but has played ,any other lighter roles as well—she beat out four other actresses for the part. Good casting! Melissa Rosenberg is producing the 13-part series.
Photo by Kim Nicholais
• But what of Jones’ romantic interest and star of the NEXT Netflix series, Luke Cage? Sweet Christmas, it’s Mike Colter recently seen in The Following and The Good Wife. The Beat unfollowed The Following but we’re assured he can fill the role of the ex-con turned good guy. In the modern era, Luke Cage no longer wearer a tiara, but that’s what photoshop is for. Colter also stars in the upcoming Xbox Originals series, Halo: Nightfall.
• Not content to let Disney and Netflix get all the headlines on this competitive day, it was made official that Ryan Reynolds will play Deadpool in the Fox film, set to release in 2016 with Tim Miller directing. Although no one was ever really considered for the role, it’s good to know Reynolds is in the corral. Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld was happy:
Good Day for all #Deadpool fans! One step closer as Ryan Reynolds makes it official! #dadpool… http://t.co/7ZUzdvwlct
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) December 5, 2014
But the ever upbeat Liefeld was also pleased by the Cumberbatch news!
Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange is so great! I’m really psyched for his performance!
— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) December 5, 2014
The quick witted, anarchic Deadpool would seem to be a better match for Reynolds than his ill-fated Green Lantern outing, so we’ll see.
• FINALLY you may recall that a Walking Dead Spinoff is coming, with the working titles “Cobalt” although that is not final. The lead has been cast, New Zealand journeyman Cliff Curtis, who plays a school teacher who leads his band of survivors. The female main character is Nancy, a guidance counselor at the school. WDII will be produced by Kirkman, Hurd and a press gang of Sons of Anarchy producers; it’s set at the early part of the outbreak in a world separate from Rick Grimes and co. That’s good because maybe these teachers and folks will know about things like “turbines” and “wells.”
