Tony Todd is one of those actors you’ll have no doubt seen (or heard) somewhere over the years, but among his most prominent roles is a recent stint on The Flash. As the voice of Zoom, he made the comic book villain a truly terrifying adversary for the Scarlet Speedster for an entire season. It seems that Marvel took notice of his work on the DC TV show, too, as we’re learning that had things turned out differently, the actor could have lent his voice to the MCU.
During a recent interview, Todd revealed that he was actually cast as Dormammu in Doctor Strange before Marvel and director Scott Derrickson decided to go with their original choice: Benedict Cumberbatch. It was last year that we first heard that the Sorcerer Supreme himself provided Dormammu’s voice and mannerisms, but Marvel were clearly hedging their bets.
“I have to tell you about one recent disappointment. I almost did Doctor Strange. I went in to do a session to play Dormammu. Benedict [Cumberbatch] had already recorded it but the producers wanted another voice just as an alternative. We did a six-hour session and then two weeks before the movie came out they let me know that they went back to the original choice. I say this just to point out to everybody that you’ve got to roll and sway with all these punches and waves that come at you. Did I cry? No. I understood. I was disappointed at the value that I lost — people going, “Dude, are you Dormammu?” [Laughs] But there’ll be another Dormammu.”
It’s doubtful that his role in The Flash had anything to do with the studio’s decision here, as season 2 had already wrapped up by then. Instead, they clearly just wanted a backup in case they decided that Cumberbatch’s voice wasn’t working. As it turns out though, no one even seemed to realize that it was him anyways.
Still, it’s interesting to think about what might have been with Todd doing the voice work. While some fans would still like to see him get a shot at bringing the character to life, Derrickson has made his interest in a totally different villain for the sequel clear, so chances are we won’t see Dormammu again for a while.
Tell us, do you think that Todd’s voice would have been better suited to the iconic Doctor Strange villain? Let us know in the comments section down below.
