10 Benedict Cumberbatch Scenes That Will Make You A Fan

This month, Benedict Cumberbatch returned to his most famous role for Sherlock's fourth season (enter our contest to win it on Blu-ray here). In the seven years since he first donned the deerstalker and Belstaff black coat, the British thespian has been catapulted into worldwide fame and earned himself a legion of fans. Over that time, he's rebooted a fan-favourite role in the Star Trek universe, terrorized his Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman in dragon form, become a Marvel superhero and been nominated for an Academy Award. The man has become a household name pretty much wherever you are on the planet and is generally considered one of the best actors of his generation. Why exactly is he so critically and commercially loved, though? Whether you're a dyed-in-the-wool Cumber-fan or someone who's looking to get to know the actor better, join as we look at 10 of his greatest scenes across film and TV that will either make you a Benedict Cumberbatch fanatic for the first time or help you appreciate him all over again. 10) A Broken Man - Doctor Strange Let's start with Benedict's most recent role. Marvel Studios were so desperate to get the actor to play Doctor Stephen Strange in the 2016 movie that they set the release date back by several months to allow him to work through a scheduling conflict. Their faith in him was well-founded, too, as Cumberbatch's turn as the arrogant ex-surgeon was praised by critics everywhere - even if his New Yorker accent is a little shaky at times. While he was obviously a natural at playing another super-genius, his finest bit of acting in Doctor Strange probably occurs during the scenes after Strange's debilitating accident that costs him the use of his hands. Cumberbatch brilliantly plays a man on the edge of a breakdown, stripped of the thing that defined who he was - a top-flight neurosurgeon. The lows of these scenes make it all the more fulfilling when Strange overcomes his disability and learns the mystic arts over the course of the movie. There's a point to be made that, on the page, Stephen's character arc is similar to previous Marvel heroes like Iron Man, but Cumberbatch carved out the part as his own and now we can't wait for him to return in the upcoming threequel Thor: Ragnarok. 9) The Singing Scene - August: Osage County A moderate commercial success back in 2013, family drama August: Osage County has a ridiculously star-studded cast including Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper and Abigail Breslin. Despite the glittering credits though, the movie is probably most remembered by Cumberbatch fans for the actor's touching portrayal of Little Charles, a shy, awkward man who's constantly belittled by his belligerent mother. As weirdly incestuous as it is, Little Charles shares a rather sweet romantic connection with his cousin and fellow lost soul Ivy (Juliette Nicholson). In one terrific scene, Little Charles sings a song he wrote for her and the pair share a tender moment - until his mother interrupts them. Apart from showing that he has a decent voice, it's interesting to see Cumberbatch play a quieter, more understated role here. Not a lot of actors could manage to make you emotionally invest in a strange love affair between two cousins, but Benedict sells it effortlessly. 8) The Ending - Third Star Shortly before he nabbed the title role in Sherlock and earned international stardom, Cumberbatch featured in indie British drama Third Star. Here, he plays James, a young man dying from a terminal illness who embarks on a camping trip with his best friends on what he knows will be his last birthday. As you can probably guess, Third Star is a full-on tearjerker, one which wrings as much emotion as it can from this tragic tale of a man accepting his own mortality and his friends adjusting to the impending loss of their friend. The supporting cast members are all solid in their roles - particularly J.J. Fields as Miles - but this is naturally Cumberbatch's film and he gives James a wisdom and tragedy beyond his years. It's the final scene of the movie that will really get you, though. As James and his friends swim out into the sea, Cumberbatch's character holds himself below the water, in a bid to take his own life. The physical acting of seeing James peacefully accept his fate, paired with the voiceover where he passionately talks about wanting to feel something - even death - is absolutely spellbinding. 7) Patrick Watts, Quizmaster - Starter for Ten Most of these scenes on this list are quite heavy going, as they showcase how deep Cumberbatch can go as an actor. He's also a gifted comedian, though, as his quip-happy characters in the likes of Sherlock and Doctor Strange can attest to. One of his few outright comedic roles came in 2007's Starter For Ten - a film which stars a huge number of British actors who later went on to make it big, including James McAvoy, Rebecca Hall, Alice Eve, James Corden and Dominic Cooper. Cumberbatch possibly steals the show, however, as prissy quiz fan Patrick Watts. Wearing ugly sweaters and with nerdy slicked-back hair, Patrick is s a far cry from the dashing leading man he now usually plays - a character who isn't half as smart as he thinks he is and treats his quiz team like a dictatorship. All of Patrick's scenes are hilarious, but for some good old-fashioned slapstick comedy, it's hard to beat the moment where Patrick picks a fight with Dominic Cooper's character at a party. After ineptly slapping his opponent like a seal, Patrick gets walloped in the face for his troubles. 6) The Fall - Sherlock To be honest, we could probably fill this list with only scenes from Sherlock. As well as being his most famous role, it's also the actor's most comprehensive, as Cumberbatch has been called on to do a lot over the show's 13 feature-length episodes. One of his most impressive performances though comes at the climax of perhaps Sherlock's greatest outing, season 2's finale, "The Reichenbach Fall." Despite not acting opposite each other, Cumberbatch and Freeman's chemistry and skill is such that the emotion of a man saying goodbye to his best friend still shines through even on a phone conversation. It's also the first time we see Sherlock become emotional, which makes it all the more affecting. Of course, we later find out that Sherlock was planning to fake his death, which renders this all a ploy on his part. Nonetheless, that doesn't take away from Cumberbatch's heartfelt portrayal here of the moment when Sherlock truly becomes a hero. 5) Bang! - Hawking Eddie Redmayne might have won an Oscar for playing Stephen Hawking in 2014's The Theory of Everything, but his good friend Benedict Cumberbatch had actually already played the genius ten years earlier, in a BBC TV drama simply titled Hawking. Though it isn't as polished a piece as its big-budget Hollywood cousin, Hawking is still very much worth a watch. In particular, for Cumberbatch's moving performance. Our favourite moment from the film occurs in the triumphant scene where Hawking first comes up with his world-changing Big Bang Theory. After an idle conversation with a woman on a train, a light switches on in Hawking's head and he struggles out onto the station platform to scribble his ideas down on the ground in chalk. It's an emotional scene, as Cumberbatch subtly portrays Hawking fighting against his failing body as his brain bursts with ideas. It's a beautiful summation of the story of Stephen Hawking; the triumph of the might of the mind over the weaknesses of the body. 4) "I Am Khan!" - Star Trek Into Darkness Cumberbatch's role as John Harrison in 2011's Star Trek Into Darkness turned out to be the subject of controversy for fans, as the twist that he was really classic Trek villain Khan was seen by some as racially-insensitive. As well as being obvious from a mile off. However, this doesn't take away from the fact that Cumberbatch is totally mesmerizing in the role. Take the scene where Kirk and Spock question 'Harrison' in his cell, for example. It's basically a five-minute exposition dump, as we learn that he's really Khan, his backstory and his motivations for what he's doing. Yet, Cumberbatch goes through the gamut of his acting abilities here: going from menacing to melancholy by the end of the scene. While he hasn't been pigeon-holed into that type of role like some other actors, we'd still like to see him play a major movie villain again. If he played a couple more, he could find himself in the pantheon of great British villain actors like Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons. 3) "You Have To Bite It" - Atonement Cumberbatch might have played a space-age supervillain in Star Trek Into Darkness, but his first major morally-deficient role in a movie was very different. In Joe Wright's wartime drama Atonement, the Sherlock stars features as a - spoilers - pedophile and rapist. As wealthy businessman Paul Marshall, he takes a liking to the adolescent Lola (Juno Temple), and is eventually revealed to have raped her and later forcefully taken her as his bride. It is Marshall's crimes that initiate the tragic plot of the film, as Briony (Saoirse Ronan) lies that she saw James McAvoy's Robbie in the act which leads him to be torn away from his beloved Cecilia (Keira Knightley). Cumberbatch excels at playing this hugely repellent character. One small scene, however, sums up how good he is in the part. When he gives Lola a chocolate bar, he stares at her with barely disguised lust and breathes the line: "Bite it. You have to bite it." Weirdly enough, it was this role that convinced Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss to cast him as Sherlock Holmes. 2) Turing Is "Treated" - The Imitation Game It's pretty clear by now that Benedict Cumberbatch is the go-to guy when you want someone to play a socially-awkward genius. After the likes of Sherlock and Stephen Hawking, his turn as Alan Turing in 2014 biopic The Imitation Game could have been more of the same, but Cumberbatch offers up a completely fresh performance. His most impressive scene comes at the end of the film, after Turing has been charged for his homosexuality. Keira Knightley's Joan comes to visit him and finds him skittish and shaking - he has been forced to undergo hormone therapy to "cure" his sexuality. He only accepted so that he could stay with his beloved computer Christopher (named after his tragic childhood friend). In a heartbreaking example of the treatment's effect on him, Turing can't even complete a simple crossword puzzle. It's shamelessly sentimental, but you would be hard-pressed not to be a bawling wreck by the end of it, thanks to Cumberbatch wringing every drop of emotion out of the scene. 1) "The Name's Sherlock Holmes" - Sherlock The moment that turned most of us into fans of Benedict Cumberbatch was, of course, his introductory scene in the first episode of Sherlock - the role that rocketed him to superstardom. From the off, Cumberbatch creates the century-old character anew: audiences were used to seeing Sherlock Holmes wreathed in fog and smoking a pipe. When we and John Watson first properly meet Benedict's Sherlock, though, he's busy typing on his mobile phone and running tests in a state-of-the-art lab. Cumberbatch's performance also sets him apart from what came before: he's immediately rude, charismatic and sharp as a whip (something he shockingly uses to flog a corpse with, funnily enough). Just like John finds his future best friend in this moment, millions of fans found their new favourite TV character in this scene. Benedict Cumberbatch was immediately at home in the role that will forever be the highlight of his career.