Last year, we brought you the news about Marvel Studios hiring Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, the screenwriters behind Marcus Nispel’s Conan the Barbarian to pen Doctor Strange, a property most assumed would end up part of Marvel’s rumored plans to create small-scale movies featuring their third-tier heroes with production budgets landing between $20 million and $40 million.

According to TwitchFilm,

Oppenheimer and Donnelly have now turned in their script and Marvel is pushing forward with the property. Marvel has drafted a short list of directors to approach on the title and is forwarding the current script to each to try and sign someone up to ‘oversee continued development’.

They also state that the signs are pointing towards a 2013 release. Now we just have to wait to hear if Patrick Dempsey lands the role of the Sorcerer Supreme that he’s been lobbying for.

Doctor Strange (via Wikipedia)

Doctor Strange is a master magician, and was the holder of the title of “Sorcerer Supreme” of the Marvel Universe for many years. Eternity, the sentience of the Marvel Universe, has described Strange as “more powerful by far than any of your fellow humanoids”.

The character can use magic to achieve a number of effects, such as energy projection; teleportation; telepathy; astral projection the creation of materials, such as food and water, or creating planet-wide protective shields. When casting a spell, the character is often written to be invoking the name of a mystical entity, such as one of the Vishanti (Hoggoth, Oshtur and Agamotto) or the group the Octessence. These entities usually lend their power to a particular effect, such as the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, that Strange can use to entrap foes.

Head over to Marvel.com for more on Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange is in development