DOCTOR STRANGE Casts Chiwetel Ejiofor as Baron Mordo

By the flames of the Faltine!

Deadline reports that actor Chiwetel Ejiofor will be playing the Marvel Comics supervillain Baron Mordo in the upcoming film adaptation of Doctor Strange starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

According to the article, however, "although he’s an enemy in the comics, don’t look for him to be necessarily a completely villainous character.  Rather, he’s an amalgamation of characters culled from Doctor Strange‘s mythology."

Ejiofor, 37, is best known as Solomon Northup in the the film 12 Years a Slave and as The Operative in Joss Whedon's Serenity.  His other films include The Martian, Salt, 2012, American Gangster, Children of Men, Kinky Boots, and Amistad.

Created in 1963 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Baron Mordo first appeared in Strange Tales (vol.1) #111 as Karl Amadeus Mordo, a student of the Tibetan sorcerer known as the Ancient One.  Mordo plotted to kill his teacher, and when the Ancient One's guest, Dr. Stephen Strange, learned of the plot, Mordo cast restraining spells to prevent him from warning his master or attacking him.  Strange selflessly decided to accept the Ancient One's offer to learn magic in order to help the old man, so the Ancient One freed him from those spells, which he was fully aware were in place, as well as of Mordo's treachery, and trained him as a formidable enemy of Mordo. Eventually Mordo was exiled by the Ancient One.

Mordo became a recurring enemy of Doctor Strange, often partnering with supernatural beings such as Dormammu, Mephisto, Umar, and Satannish.  Mordo eventually contracted terminal cancer as a side effect of his use of black magic, and renounced evil just before his death, only to later return to life.

Doctor Strange is scheduled to arrive in theaters on November 4, 2016.