[Update: April 26, 2015 - Daniel Bruhl confirms Baron Zemo role in Captain America: Civil War]
Michael Douglas wrapped production for his role in Ant-Man this week as the Peyton Reed film enters the final stretch of principal photography. With Joss Whedon's The Avengers: Age of Ultron deep into post, we're fast approaching the end of Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ant-Man concludes Phase 2 next July and Phase 3 kicks off with Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange in 2016. With both projects shooting next year, casting has already begun.
Two weeks ago Marvel held an event in Los Angeles to make a series of announcements regarding Phase 3. In addition to announcing the nine films coming after Ant-Man and The Avengers 2, Marvel confirmed the core cast of the third Captain America with a surprise bonus. Not only is Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) joining the film, but Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) will take part as well. Today, Marvel added another new character to the mix although we don't quite know who...
Announcing officially via their own website, Marvel has cast Daniel Bruhl (Inglourious Basterds, The Bourne Ultimatum) in Captain America: Civil War. There are no official details on who Bruhl will play, only the following media line by Marvel Studios president of production Kevin Feige:
"With Daniel's ability to deliver intense, nuanced performances, we knew we had found yet another great actor to share the screen with some of our biggest heroes."
And as it turns out, the Spanish-born, German raised multilingual actor already has. Bruhl starred opposite Chris Hemsworth (Thor) in Rush and last year starred alongside Doctor Strange frontrunner Benedict Cumberbatch in The Fifth Estate.
What makes this mysterious character addition interesting is that insiders point towards him playing a villain, one who potentially has a larger role to play in Doctor Strange as well. While it's easy to speculate from the words "share the screen with some of our biggest heroes" that Bruhl could be playing Stephen Strange, it sounds as if he'll be playing against the Sorcerer Supreme.
Deadline had the scoop on Bruhl before Marvel jumped ahead of the trades to make the news official on their website - hence this news coming before we find out who's playing Strange himself. Variety followed up, reporting that Bruhl's character is only a minor villain in Civil War and could be the primary antagonist of Doctor Strange.
We already expect the Marvel Cinematic Universe's take on the Civil War storyline to deviate from the comics quite a bit, and there's little to draw on from the books when it comes to Doctor Strange villains who'd have a part to play in a Captain America vs. Iron Man battle of ideals - assuming he's involved in that main plot at all. Either way, a new villain played by an incredibly talented actor having a large role to play in all of Marvel's 2016 plans is both interesting and welcome. More long-term and dynamic villains in the MCU the better!
If the reports are true, Bruhl will be working with directors Scott Derrickson and brothers Anthony and Joe Russo.
Who do you think Daniel Bruhl is playing in the MCU? Captain America villain Baron Zemo? Doctor Strange villain Baron Mordo? Some version of either or combination of both?
[Update: April 26, 2015 - Daniel Bruhl confirms Baron Zemo role in Captain America: Civil War]
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The Avengers: Age of Ultron releases in theaters on May 1, 2015, followed by Ant-Man on July 17, 2015, Captain America: Civil War on May 6 2016, Doctor Strange on November 4, 2016, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 on May 5 2017, Thor: Ragnarok on July 28, 2017, Black Panther on November 3 2017, Avengers: Infinity War - Part 1 on May 4 2018, Captain Marvel on July 6 2018, Inhumans on November 2 2018 and Avengers: Infinity War - Part 2 on May 3 2019.
Follow Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes for your Marvel movie and TV news!