Guillermo Del Toro Eyes Marvel's Dr. Strange

He'll excitedly talk about renovating Frankenstein, He already had At The Mountains of Madness on his plate when it was announced he'd direct The Hobbit, and now Guillermo Del Toro is already thinking of his next move. The Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth director tells Empire Online that he'd like to bring another comic book character to the screen, and it's an interesting choice:

Dr. Strange.

Truthfully, Dr, Strange and Del Toro are a pretty good fit, what with the sorcery involved in the character and Del Toro's penchant for that kind of world.

Strange has a very long history in the Marvel Universe, and if they decided to continue going down the crossover road (Iron Man and Hulk are experimenting with that this summer), Strange has the ability to pop up almost anywhere - Thor, Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers, Hulk, Sub-Mariner, and Silver Surfer.

One thing Del Toro would have to fight is the relative unfamiliarity non-comic book audiences would have with the character. Then again, Hellboy did great business in 2004 and the sequel will be on the battlefield this summer, so Del Toro is probably unfazed about facing that hurdle.

How far has Del Toro taken his idea so far? Well, he's talked about the script with one of the most in-demand writers alive, so he's clearly given it some thought.

"I talked with Neil Gaiman...I said, that’s an interesting character because you can definitely make him more in the pulpy occult detective/magician mould and formula than was done in the Weird Tales, for example...the idea of a character that really dabbles in the occult in a way that’s not X-Filey, where the supernatural is taken for granted. That’s interesting...But I wouldn't use the suit!"

I have been one to scoff about Marvel opening the floodgates for all their characters; I just don't think there's a mainstream audience for three dozen different comic book hero franchises, at least not on the scale they'd expect them to be. And Dr. Strange would probably go in that unsafe group. Face it: He's not Iron Man, Hulk, Spidey, or even the Fantastic Four.

But with Del Toro's passion for the project, and with the credibility he immediately brings it, this could be a very smart move one day, to say nothing about how odd and original the movie could be.