Back in July, it was revealed in the Doctor Strange prequel comic-book that sorceress Tina Minoru, Mother of Nico Minoru from The Runaways, would be making an appearance. Many fans we thrilled by this news given only a month later Marvel announced that The Runaway’s would be headed to television on the Hulu streaming service.
So, we took to Twitter to post our excitement that maybe Tina Minoru might make an appearance in Marvel’s upcoming Doctor Strange feature film as well. After posting our status an unknown British-Chinese actress by the name of Linda Louise Duan actually went on to like our statuses about Tina Minoru.
So Tina Minoru (Mother of Niko Minoru from The Runaways) is in a Doctor Strange prequel comic…maybe even the movie! #TheRunaways
— Caleb Williams (@KnightGambit) July 7, 2016
The UK actress has limited credits, but she wouldn’t be alone as most of the supporting cast in smaller roles don’t have many.
Her social media activity also gave us hints, as Linda started following both Marvel and Doctor Strange director Scott Derrikson on Twitter. As well as Benedict Wong (plays Wong), who followed her back.
Of course this could all just be just a fan thing, but we suspect it’s not because of the following information.
Lina has posted on her personal website that she was indeed cast as Tina Minoru in Marvel’s Doctor Strange on her CV/resume. Her casting was also added on the Doctor Strange IMDB full cast page.
It’s unknown how large her role in the film will be, but likely it’ll be more of a cameo. We also don’t know if this means she’ll be apart of Hulu’s The Runaways or not.
During the Doctor Strange set visits, ComicBook asked Marvel’s Kevin Feige about Tina Minoru and Brother Voodoo being in the film. Here’s what he had to say.
“Of Drumm and Minoru that you mention, one of those names you hear in the movie, and one of those… We never say Minoru in the movie, do we? No,” Kevin Feige told us. “So that picture, if it is in the art of book, is the only place you’d ever see that name. Drumm, you do hear the name in the movie. That’s how we always build the universe. There’s so many characters in the books that if we have need for a person to be in this place at this time and have a line or have no lines, we still want it to be someone, and often times that’s how the names come about. And the names we pull are the ones that are relatively top of mind or have been amongst characters we’ve thought about, like the Runaways, for a long time. I would call that an Easter Egg that most people won’t even see.”
Remember, when Kevin mentioned Drumm in that set visit?
He is referring to Brother Voodoo, another mystical superhero in the Marvel universe.
Omega Underground also did a bit of sleuthing about his possible casting, after a rumor from That Hashtag Show mentioned Brother Voodoo being in the film
Concluding that Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet co-star Kobna Holbrook-Smith might be playing Dr. Jericho Drumm aka Brother Voodoo in the film. He is listed as playing “brawny therapist” in the film according to IMDB.
Dr. Drumm just happens to be a psychologist living in New York City, having direct connections to Doctor Strange and the occult world of the mystical arts.
He becomes a superhero himself after the death of brother Daniel Drumm The Houngan Supreme of Haiti, it forces him to also dabble in the mystical arts. Drumm befriends Stephen Strange and eventually Jericho becomes the Sorcerer Supreme himself.
We discovered another clue that further gives us reason to believe Brother Voodoo is in the film.
Doctor Who actor Mark Anthony Brighton (pictured right) is listed on IMDB as playing Brother Voodoo’s brother Daniel Drumm.
It looks like we could very well could be getting both Jericho and his brother Daniel in the film, if not setting up the characters for Doctor Strange 2.
Doctor Strange releases on November 4th, 2016.