Marvel Studios’ Saturday panel has become one of the hot tickets of the San Diego Comic-Con because each year they could always be counted on to deliver many surprise guests and announcements in regards to their upcoming projects. Tomorrow’s panel should be no different as the studio is expected to finally reveal the remaining titles of their Phase Three line-up and possibly share some new developments and footage from next year’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man.

Another possibility is that Marvel will announce at long last who will star in their much-anticipated 2016 film Doctor Strange, which will be directed by Scott Derrickson (Sinister) from a screenplay currently being written by Jon Spaihts (Prometheus). The widespread casting search has previously linked names such as Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jared Leto, and Justin Theroux, and the latest to join the fray is acclaimed Oscar-nominated actor Joaquin Phoenix.

The last time Phoenix’s name was mentioned in connection with an upcoming superhero blockbuster was late last year when he was briefly the top pick at Warner Brothers and DC to play Lex Luthor in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice before the role went to Jesse Eisenberg. Marvel tends to not go with the most traditional choices when casting their movies, and since the Sorcerer Supreme is miles removed from your average garden variety superhero it’s not surprising to see Phoenix in contention for the role.

The announcement is sure to be made tomorrow and right now the odds are split between Theroux – who wrote 2010’s Iron Man 2 for Marvel and is a very capable and committed actor in his own right – and Cumberbatch. The latter just happens to be at this year’s Comic-Con to promote DreamWorks Animation’s Penguins of Madagascar, but that could be a merry coincidence. Whoever ultimately snares the role of the good doctor has quite a task ahead of them. I’m confident Marvel will make the right decision because their track record thus far is virtually unbeatable.

Doctor Strange opens in theaters on July 8, 2016.

[Source: The Wrap]