There’s been much debate on who Mads Mikkelsen is playing in the anticipated Doctor Strange and still, no one seems to have any idea. The studio has been doing a great job of keeping his character’s name under wraps, but these newly released set photos and quote by studio head Kevin Feige should definitely give us some insight. Regardless, we do have a few guesses as to who Mads’ character really is.
“Mads’ character is a sorcerer who breaks off into his own sect. [He] believes that the Ancient One is just protecting her own power base and that the world may be better off if we were to allow some of these other things through.”
Despite all this new information, I’m definitely inclined to lean more towards Nightmare. Considering his basic attire, which looks so much like a samurai’s, Nightmare or an original character are the most logical choices. Even his eyes hint at Nightmare being the main villain, although they are more purple than the yellow/green like the comics. The area around the eyes also closely resembles cracking clay. Whether or not that’s intentional is up for debate. Honestly, it looks far too similar to the Doctor Who episode “The Waters of Mars”:
Aside from the eye make-up being very different from the comics we are very excited to find out which villain Mads is really playing. Whether it ends up being an original character or one of the comic characters, Mads is sure to do a fantastic job at it. Especially given his reputation for villainous characters like Hannibal.