Spoiler: Benedict Cumberbatch Plays More Than One Character In Doctor Strange

Oh, man. The Doctor has arrived. In less than two weeks, Doctor Strange will be making his debut in U.S. theaters when his solo film hits, but the Sorcerer Supreme has already introduced himself to UK fans. As such, spoilers from the film have inevitably began to hit the Internet, and and one of them has to do with Benedict Cumberbatch. It’s been revealed that the actor played more than one role in the film – and it’s a bit of a doozy.

So, obviously, spoilers. So many spoilers below.

Fans already knew that Mads Mikkelsen was playing a villain named Kaecilius in Doctor Strange, but they did not know that a secondary baddie would appear in the film. Comic book readers will be excited to learn that the Dread Dormammu is summoned by Kaecilius during Doctor Strange and that the otherworldly being plays a major role in the movie’s final act. But, when the film ends and the credits role, there was no actor credited for the portrayal.

Now, we know that Dormammu was partially brought to life by Cumberbatch himself. Director Scott Derrickson told IGN that Dormammu’s voice was done by a British actor but that Cumberbatch “did the facial capture for it.”

When the director was asked why no actor was officially credited for the role, Derrickson explained exactly how Cumberbatch landed the smaller role.

“We knew it was an all CG character, but as we were in production Benedict brought it up as an idea. He said, ‘What would you think about me doing it?’ I said, ‘Let me think about it, you know,’” he said.

“It’s an interesting idea, because I did fancy the idea that as this other-dimensional being he’s not moving through the Dark Dimension, with a countenance, with eyes and a face, eyes and a mouth, and a human visage – why would he? He takes that form on to communicate with Strange.”

“The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea,” Derrickson confessed. “Because no one understood Dormammu better than Benedict did. I also wrote that role to be a kind of ultra-inflated version of Strange. He is an ego run amok; he is this cosmic conqueror where everything, where literally everything in the multi-verse is about him.There’s something interesting about this confrontation of this little, tiny guy who has this power of time and this monstrous conqueror who is trapped by a clever gambit. There’s something about that worked well, and I didn’t think anybody to interact with Benedict than he, himself.”

If fans are lucky, then they might get to see Dormammu reappear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Recently, Derrickson admitted he has already conceptualized plans for a sequel that focuses heavily on villains. “I love the character, I love the visual possibilities, and I know the comics so well – [the first movie is] the tip of an iceberg. There’s so much progress that can be made.”

So, who knows? Maybe the dark being will make a comeback in Doctor Strange 2?

Marvel’s Doctor Strange will hit theaters on November 4, 2016.

[H/T] IGN