Dan Harmon Writing 'Doctor Strange' Isn't That Weird

Comedian and TV showrunner Dan Harmon, is doing script work for Marvel’s big-budget November superhero movie Doctor Strange, says The Hollywood Reporter. Before you flip out, you should remember that Harmon doing Marvel isn’t all that weird or unprecedented.

Harmon is best known for his work on cult-favorite TV shows like Community, which flubbed out after bad ratings, but still enjoyed a near-perfect first season. Yes, Marvel regularly taps left-field talent to make its movies — Captain America directors, the Russo brothers, also directed Arrested Development and Harmon’s own Community — Harmon is a bonafide fantasy nerd, a perfect qualifier for what could be Marvel’s full dive into the fantasy genre.

Harmon is one of the most prominent Hollywood names known for playing the influential table-top RPG Dungeons & Dragons, which is having a banner year after its key role in Netflix’s Stranger Things. In a Season 2 episode of Community, “Advanced Dungeons & Dragons,” Harmon famously structured an episode around the game, and on the digital network Seeso, HarmonQuest is a hybrid animated/live-action comedy series where Harmon and his comedian friends play the game for a studio audience.

Thor is an intergalactic viking prince, but Doctor Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) is the first true magical hero in the MCU. Not only will Doctor Strange implement Tolkein-like magic for the first time in Marvel, the supernatural Ghost Rider will appear on Agents of S.H.I.E.LD. at the same time because of Stephen Strange. So who better to punch up a comic book movie’s script than a comedian?

Doctor Strange, directed by Scott Derrickson (and chiefly co-written by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, with some help from Harmon) arrives in theaters November 4.