Chiwetel Ejiofor to Play Baron Mordo in Marvel’s Doctor Strange

Deadline says it has “learned definitively” what role Chiwetel Ejiofor will play in Doctor Strange, and if this is for real then it’s definitely interesting.

Ejiofor will reportedly play Baron Mordo, an enemy of Doctor Strange from the comics but who may be a combination of several different characters from Strange canon for the film; according to Deadline, we shouldn’t expect this iteration of Mordo to “be necessarily a completely villainous character.”

Although it would have been exciting to see Doctor Strange himself also played by a person of color rather than Cumberbatch, it’s exciting to see that Marvel has cast Ejiofor in the role of traditionally white character, especially if Deadline is right and Mordo isn’t an irredeemable villain (using characters of color as evil foils to showcase the heroics of a white protagonist is way played out).

So far the Doctor Strange film has played fast and loose with the comics, casting Tilda Swinton in the role of a traditionally male (but also traditionally Tibetan) character. What do you think of how the movie’s shaping up?

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