8 Ways Doctor Strange Is Basically The New Iron Man
7. Both Played By Acclaimed Actors
Though he was tangled up in a drug scandal and prison time pre-Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. was still very much a respected and acclaimed Hollywood actor. Roles in movies like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, David Fincher's Zodiac and even an Oscar-nominated turn in 1992's Chaplin cemented his position as a man with talent, regardless of the circumstances surrounding his personal life.
And the same can be said of Benedict Cumberbatch, too (minus the drugs).
He garnered a tonne of awards recognition for The Imitation Game, captivated pretty much anybody who watched an episode of Sherlock, and has proven his ability in everything from TV to drama to big-budget spectacle. Both Downey and Cumberbatch are great actors, and that's helped them both sell their respective B-list comic-book characters to a mainstream audience.
Look down a list of the current group of main MCU heroes (Paul Rudd, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt), and you'll notice that Cumberbatch and Downey are the only two lead actors who were widely renowned for their dramatic work before they appeared in their Marvel debuts - and that's not unintentional.
It's an indicator that Marvel wants to treat Doctor Strange in the same way they approached Iron Man - hiring a world class actor to carry their universe forward.