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Benedict Cumberbatch currently stars as the doctor-turned-superhero in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, which premiered on May 6. But, according to him, that wasn’t always the plan.  
Prior to starring in the Doctor Strange franchise, he was offered a part in 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, reports Comic Book Movie.
The Marvel people saw him as a good fit for the role of Dark Elf Malekith. While “flattering,” it didn’t seem quite right to Cumberbatch. In an interview with BBC 1 Radio, Cumberbatch provided a recap, saying, “I was bold enough to say, ‘I’d rather hold out for something a bit more juicy. I really wasn’t part of the conversation until it came back to me through [representatives] that they were interested.”
He was just coming off of Star Trek: Into the Darkness, where he portrays the villainous Khan.That would be two baddies in a row and it’s understandable he wanted to pull back on having so much evil on his resume.
The wait worked out, with him signing up to portray a good guy, but Strange is flawed. Cumberbatch had his hesitations, saying in the same interview, “I sort of read the comics and went, ‘Yikes’, because he’s quite old school, a bit of a misogynist, very bound in the ’70s. I thought, ‘It’s a bit cornball. I’m not sure this is a great MCU [role]. I don’t get it.’ They went, ‘No, it would be today. It would be very much a man of today. Yes, with some of those qualities, but like a man of today would have those qualities where he thinks he’s the business,’ because he has to have that arrogance.”
Yikes is right, but Cumberbatch seems to be the actor to smooth out those bumps.
In case you haven’t seen it, here’s a peek at Cumberbatch in the Doctor Strange sequel:

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