Feige also indirectly addressed accusations of whitewashing that emerged when it was revealed that Tilda Swinton was in talks to play the Ancient One -- a character normally depicted as a Tibetan man.

“As we were developing this film we looked at The Ancient One as a mantle more than a specific person,” said Feige. “The sorcerers have been around for millennia, protecting us from things we didn’t know about until this story. There have been multiple [Ancient Ones], even if this one has been around for five hundred years, there were others. This is a mantle, and therefore felt we had leeway to cast in interesting ways.” Marvel has yet to officially announce Swinton as the Ancient One.

Is your Doctor Strange deal done, or are you still in talks with Marvel?
No no no, it’s done. We’re so far in talks that we’re not talking any more [laughs]. It’s done. The conversation has been had.

What was it specifically about Doctor Strange that intrigued you?
Well, there’s no particular interest in getting into something bigger, or even smaller, I just really liked the premise of this and the idea of playing this character. I’m a Marvel fan and I think this particular world that Doctor Strange goes into is really, really, really exciting. I’m really interested as both an actor and a fan to see what’s done in this particular world. It’s all about creativity. It’s not about everything exploding at the end. It’s about something very different. The idea of playing The Ancient One is really just too tickling. I can’t say no to that!

Besides the obvious, how will your portrayal of The Ancient One differ from what we might be used to?
You know, I don’t know yet. I haven’t quite figured it out. I will let you know when I know. It’s a bit of an adventure to figure out how to finesse this. But it’s exciting.

Marvel contracts are notorious for multiple sequel clauses. Did that ever worry you?
Not at all. It’s like a family thing. Who knows where one might pop up. I don’t know where they’ll use me and I don’t know that they know, necessarily, even though they seem to know what they’re doing for the next decade. I think it’s like holding on to the tail of a galloping horse at this point.

Some of your contemporaries have described working on these types of movie as a very difficult process —
Who said that?

Idris Elba, for one, said that about the Thor movies.
Really? Oh… I’m up for it completely. I feel sorry for Idris. I’m not prepared at all to be bored by this. I’m really looking forward to it.

Doctor Strange opens in theaters on November 4, 2016.