A film of Dr Strange was first heard about over a year ago, but now Marvel say a film could be on the way soon. We have Marvel films lined up for the next few years, but they are now looking beyond 2012.

And the more mystical Dr Strange could be part of Marvel's plan after The Avengers. Having not read any of the comic books, I'm off to do my homework.

In August last year, we heard that a pitch was being put forward for a live action film of Dr Strange. Nothing came of that, but earlier this year Guillermo del Toro said he wanted to make a film of the character. He wanted to write a script with Neil Gaiman. And again it disappeared into the ether.

Now with Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers on the way, Kevin Feige might be looking to Doctor Strange for a future film. MTV Splashpage asked if he was likely to be in the post Avengers plan:

Very much so. I’d say in the next year, year and a half, as we start putting together our film slate for 2012 and 2013, I would not be shocked if we saw Dr. Strange on those lists. I love the idea of taping into the magical realm of the Marvel Universe, which is fairly significant and hasn’t yet seen life on screen. It’s something I’m very, very interested in.

I'm not familiar with the character myself. If you are like me, the second link above gives a history of the character. Marvel seem unconcerned about him being less well known.

Ha! I remember two years ago at Comic Con the cover of the ‘LA Times Calendar Section,’ read ‘Marvel calls out the B team’ and there was a picture of Iron Man. We don’t look at them as ‘B team.’ Dr. Strange? This is one of the best characters we have. [He represents] this amazing cosmic universe to Marvel that we haven’t played with in films yet and I think could be amazing to play with.

From what I've read it definitely sounds more magical and mystical than other characters. Perhaps a contrast to the more realistic films we've seen recently. Doesn't sound like the film could get the "Dark Knight treatment".

Any Doctor Strange fans out there? Would you want the character to get his own film? Do you want Guillermo del Toro to get his hands on it?