Is Jared Leto Marvel's Pick to Play 'Doctor Strange'?

With a director in place, the next step for Marvel's Doctor Strange is casting an actor to play the Sorcerer Supreme. Badass Digest casually mentioned on Tuesday that Jared Leto just might be that actor.

"I have also heard that Marvel likes (or liked, I don't know what the current status of this is) Jared Leto for Stephen Strange," reported Badass Digest.

No other sources have confirmed this news, but Leto would be an exciting bit of casting for Marvel Studios. Leto is now an Oscar-winning actor, and Marvel usually goes with lesser-known actors for its lead roles. Leto would probably command a bigger paycheck that the studio would prefer handing out. Then again, Paul Rudd was cast as the lead in Ant-Man, and Rudd's arguably a bigger name than Leto.

There's also the question of whether Leto would want to jump into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. These aren't one-shot contracts — Marvel signs its superhero leads to multi-picture deals. If Leto was playing Doctor Strange, he would probably be expected to sign a deal covering at least a trilogy and an Avengers installment. After years of focusing on music with his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, would Leto shift gears to that degree?

This wouldn't be the first time Leto was rumored for a superhero movie. Before Ryan Reynolds won the lead in Green Lantern, Leto was one of the finalists along with Bradley Cooper and Justin Timberlake.

If Doctor Strange doesn't work out for Leto, hopefully someone will still give him a chance on a Kurt Cobain biopic.