This one has already been a rumor and would definitely make the follow-up to SKYFALL all the much more exciting. If Christopher Nolan ends up taking on 007, we may get Tom Hardy as the Bond baddie, but Cumberbatch’s physical presence screams aristocratic Brit. With both SKYFALL and GOLDENEYE going the former MI-6 agent route, the next film needs to do something special with the villain. I submit Benedict Cumberbatch should play Bond’s long lost brother OR resurrect a classic Bond enemy like Blofeld or Dr. No. If they can reimagine STAR TREK, they can do the same with Bond.
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After two mediocre outings, DIE HARD needs to get back to the root and put Bruce Willis back in a skyscraper and have him face off against Hans Gruber again. I know Gruber is dead, but reboot the original when John McTiernan gets out of prison, cast Cumberbatch as the offspring of Alan Rickman’s villain and have him try and finish what his father couldn’t. That would make for one hell of a DIE HARD movie and I bet many would love to see it.
Basically, I want Cumberbatch in STAR WARS: EPISODE VII. But we also know Thrawn will not be part of that story, so I am willing to accept that J.J. Abrams will come up with something special for the one actor I demand he bring with him from his STAR TREK films. I don’t care if Cumberbatch plays a Sith or a remnant of the Galactic Empire, I just want him in the movie! Now, if Disney and Lucasfilm decided to save the Thrawn trilogy for after Episodes VII through IX, I would be okay with waiting. Otherwise, cast him now!
Moving from Marvel to DC, there are lots of characters I can envision Cumberbatch taking on, but I would really love to see him face off against Superman. Brainiac has been rumored as a big screen villain for years and never quite made it. Cumberbatch could bring his eloquence and intensity to a unique interpretation of the green-skinned supervillian. Since Brainiac has had so many variations over the years, this could be a wide open opportunity to bring any number of ideas to the role.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS kicked into high gear when Cumberbatch went over the edge for the final act of the movie. Take that insane glint in his eye and carry it over to Spider-man and you have your Carnage. Forget Venom, Carnage is the symbiote that we need to see on screen. Give Spidey a serial killer with super powers and you have your first enemy that could potentially reach Heath Ledger levels of awesome. Cumberbatch has the right body type to play Kletus Casady and would be a worthy match for Andrew Garfield’s webcrawler.
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And now we come to comic books. Cumberbatch’s stock is going to skyrocket now and while he may elect to challenge himself as a thespian, it is damn near impossible to avoid playing a comic book character. And why play a hero when there are so many awesome bad guys out there! Take Ultron. a perfect foil to THE AVENGERS, he is an unstoppable robot killing machine. The role would be motion captured and we would never see Cumberbatch’s face, but his voice would be ideal. Take his performance in STAR TREK and add a small amount of electronic feedback and you have Ultron!
Indiana Jones needs a great villain to make a good movie. With the story moving out of World War II and into the Cold War with KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, the Russians are the new baddies. Cate Blanchett was cheezy goodness as the villain in that movie, but the rest sucked balls. Bring in Cumberbatch to play a ruthless Russian enemy for Indy to square off against and you have the roots of a great movie. Oh, and don’t let George Lucas write any of it.
This is a no brainer since he already played the role on stage. Danny Boyle’s FRANKENSTEIN starred Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller as both the Doctor and the Monster. The two actors swapped roles each performance and brought their own unique approach to the parts. While it may not be practical for a movie version to film the entire story twice (it has been done, though. See Werner Herzog’s NOSFERATU. Filmed in both German and English), I would opt for Cumberbatch to play the Monster.
Ridley Scott has been touting a sequel to BLADE RUNNER for a while now. Cumberbatch played his STAR TREK villain with such steely resolve, this may be too similar a role. I saw echoes of Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty in Cumberbatch’s John Harrison. I would love to see someone of his caliber in a new BLADE RUNNER, even if Harrison Ford does not return.
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Stephen King’s THE DARK TOWER is inching towards a reality and for every idea in casting the hero Roland there are as many for the villain Randall Flagg. Flagg is a shapeshifting devil who appears through various King novels and stories, most notably THE STAND. But, his initial appearance in THE DARK TOWER as The Man in Black presents one of the most enduring villains on the written page. Cumberbatch could play the demonic bad guy to perfection and would only be needed for the first film.