With Marvel’s Phase 3 in full juggernaut mode, we’re very close to Doctor Strange beginning production. While most of the major roles have been filled, there is one hole in the cast. We know Rachel McAdams is on board to star in the film, but we didn’t know who she will play. Well, a new rumor just dropped and it lends creedence one of the previous reports. Well, most of it anyway. Rachel McAdams may be playing a Night Nurse, but she won’t be playing the Night Nurse.
One of the rumors that hit when McAdams was first attached to the project was that her role would be that of Linda Carter, the concierge doctor to the superhero set know as Night Nurse. If you’re unfamiliar with the original comic title from the 1970’s (and let’s face it, you probably are) there are actually three women who use the Night Nurse codename, and according to the generally reliable folks over at Latino Review, McAdams will actually play the part of another of those women, Christine Palmer. This can’t be right, she wasn’t anywhere on our list.
This information is a little strange as the Linda Carter character is certainly the best known of the Night Nurses, and why they’re not using her isn't clear. We know Rosario Dawson’s character from Daredevil was also written as a Night Nurse character, and wasn’t named Linda Carter specifically because Marvel Studios had plans to use that character elsewhere. If Doctor Strange is not that place, then where exactly will she appear? It’s possible they plan to use the Palmer character to introduce the Carter character, but that seems slightly backward. If Palmer is going to be the primary Night Nurse of the MCU, that’s fine, but...why?
Christine Palmer was a surgical assistant originally, and Stephen Strange began as a brilliant surgeon. This could obviously have put the two of them together while Strange was practicing medicine, but since everything we’ve seen so far has told us that this movie won’t be an origin story, that appears to be a side detail.
Regardless of whether or not this rumor is true, Doctor Strange will have one of the best casts this side of a crossover. Benedict Cumberbatch has the title role of the Sorcerer Supreme; Tilda Swinton will be the Ancient One, who teaches Strange to use his powers; and Chiwetel Ejiofor will star as the villain, Baron Mordo. The film is set to hit theaters November 4, 2016.
