'Prometheus' writer in talks for Marvel's 'Doctor Strange'

Prometheus co-writer Jon Spaihts is in early talks to write the script for Marvel’s Doctor Strange movie. Sources close to the project confirm Deadline‘s report that Marvel is looking to Spaihts—the initial writer on Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel who’s also penning Universal’s upcoming Mummy reboot—to launch Strange as another potential franchise. Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer (Conan the Barbarian reboot) had penned a script for the studio a few years ago. Scott Derrickson (The Day the Earth Stood Still) is directing.

In the comic books, Dr. Stephen Strange is an arrogant surgeon who loses his ability to operate when his hands are damaged in a car accident. Searching for a cure, he meets an ancient healer in Tibet, who then makes Strange his apprentice. The healer introduces Strange into the world of magic and sorcery, and upon his death, the Doctor assumes the role of Sorcerer Supreme, defender of mankind from enemies both natural and supernatural. Strange got name-checked in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, so he could also pop up in an upcoming Avengers movie—they’re a group he occasionally teamed with in the comic books.

IGN has a great Strange primer for the uninitiated: