Doctor Strange: 8 Things You Need To Know About The Ancient One
8. He's A Man (Or Is He?)
When the Ancient One was first conceived and committed to print - within the pages of Strange Tales #110 - he was very much moulded in the form of an ageing, Eastern man. With the casting of Tilda Swinton in this role, though, this character's whole identity has taken a fascinating twist. So he's being portrayed as a woman, then? Well, possibly not. In a recent interview with The Guardian the chameleon-like actress must have let something slip, given their description of the character: She will soon start shooting a Marvel blockbuster, Doctor Strange, but there is a Swinton-esque twist she doesnt yet know if she will play the part as a man or a woman. It was a bold enough move with Marvel casting a female in the role of an established male comic character, but throwing sexual ambiguity into the mix and not even the web rumour mills can pinpoint just how this version of the Ancient One will arrive.
Shaun is a former contributor for a number of Future Publishing titles and more recently worked as a staffer at Imagine Publishing.
He can now be found banking in the daytime and writing a variety of articles for What Culture, namely around his favourite topics of film, retro gaming, music, TV and, when he's feeling clever, literature.
