--- title: Doctor Strange Director on Marvel Movie Villain Inspiration description: Mads Mikkelsen's villain in Marvel's upcoming Doctor Strange apparently takes after some pretty famous bad guys. canonical: https://time.com/4510469/doctor-strange-villain-origin/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-27T20:51:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:37:05.002Z og:title: Doctor Strange Director Reveals How He Was Inspired by The Lord of the Rings og:description: With some Dark Knight thrown in for good measure og:url: https://time.com/4510469/doctor-strange-villain-origin/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt32b0226156df4c71/6988a7cffb4eac680988f482/doctor-strange.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Celebrity Sightings in New York City - April 2, 2016 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Doctor Strange Director Reveals How He Was Inspired by The Lord of the Rings twitter:description: With some Dark Knight thrown in for good measure twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt32b0226156df4c71/6988a7cffb4eac680988f482/doctor-strange.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Doctor Strange_ Director Reveals Inspiration Behind 'Otherworldly' New Marvel Villain > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=a0bc421d-b5cd-407e-9cf8-e1f06334c460&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Sep 27, 2016 8:51 PM UTC  Actor Benedict Cumberbatch is seen on the set of 'Doctor Strange' on April 2, 2016 in New York City. Actor Benedict Cumberbatch is seen on the set of 'Doctor Strange' on April 2, 2016 in New York City. XPX/Star Max/GC Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Sep 27, 2016 8:51 PM UTC Though not much is yet known about Mads Mikkelsen’s villain in [Marvel’s](http://time.com/4469977/marvel-thor-captain-america/) upcoming [_Doctor Strange_](http://time.com/4420799/benedict-cumberbatch-doctor-strange-trailer/), the mysterious Kaecilius apparently takes after some pretty famous bad guys. During a recent interview with [IGN](http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/09/27/15-cool-and-interesting-things-we-learned-on-the-set-of-marvels-doctor-strange?page=2), director Scott Derrickson spoke about how he drew inspiration for the character from the evil forces at work in _The Lord of the Rings_, noting that Mikkelsen is really only a secondary threat to [Benedict Cumberbatch’s](http://time.com/4162125/benedict-cumberbatch-doctor-strange-photos/) Strange. --- > “” --- Derrickson also revealed that his vision for Kaecilius was centered on the character’s motives rather than the havoc he would wreak, drawing comparisons to _Seven’s_ John Doe and _The Dark Knight’s_ Joker. --- > “” --- _Doctor Strange_ will debut in theaters Nov. 4. Read more at [IGN.com](http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/09/27/15-cool-and-interesting-things-we-learned-on-the-set-of-marvels-doctor-strange?page=2). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4510469/doctor-strange-villain-origin/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4510469/doctor-strange-villain-origin/"},"headline":"Doctor Strange Director Reveals Inspiration Behind 'Otherworldly' New Marvel Villain","datePublished":"2016-09-27T20:51:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:37:05.002Z","description":"With some Dark Knight thrown in for good measure","url":"https://time.com/4510469/doctor-strange-villain-origin/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Marvel","Benedict Cumberbatch","TV","doctor strange","Marvel Cinematic Universe"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt32b0226156df4c71/6988a7cffb4eac680988f482/doctor-strange.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt32b0226156df4c71/6988a7cffb4eac680988f482/doctor-strange.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Celebrity Sightings in New York City - April 2, 2016","caption":"Actor Benedict Cumberbatch is seen on the set of 'Doctor Strange' on April 2, 2016 in New York City.","creditText":"XPX/Star Max/GC Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4510469/doctor-strange-villain-origin/","name":"Doctor Strange Director Reveals Inspiration Behind 'Otherworldly' New Marvel Villain"}}]}] ```