Even though they merged almost a year ago, Disney and Marvel are now moving forward with their first in-house property: Dr. Strange.  Deadline reports that Marvel has hired Conan screenwriters Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer to pen the adaptation of the "Sorcerer Supreme"/Greenwich Village resident.  Strange is a standout in the Marvel Universe due to his use of magic and his range of trippy powers that don't rely on physical strength.

Dr. Strange has been trying to reach the big screen for quite some time.  It's been through Savoy Pictures, Columbia, Dimension and Paramount.  It's attracted writers and directors including Guillermo del Toro, Stephen Norrington, David Goyer, and Wes Craven.  Donnelly and Oppenheimer are now part of that line and maybe they'll be the last ones if this merger works like the two companies hope it will.  The two writers are also responsible for the adaptation of the video game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and they also turned in a draft of Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens.  Hit the jump to learn more about Dr. Strange.

Here an excerpt about the character's origin from the Marvel Universe Wiki:

Dr. Stephen Strange was in a car accident that severely damaged the nerves in his hands, ending his surgical career. Too vain to accept positions as a consultant or assistant, Strange sought a cure and pursued every available treatment, legitimate or not, soon depleting his fortune; in months he was reduced to a derelict, performing shady medical procedures that barely paid his bar tabs. After hearing rumors of the mystical Ancient One, a desperate Strange pawned his last possessions for a ticket to the East and found the Ancient One's Tibetan palace. At first annoyed when the Ancient One refused to cure him, Strange was later astonished to see the sorcerer attacked by mystic forces. Upon learning that the Ancient One was Earth's magical defender and that the attack on him came from his pupil Mordo, Strange tried to warn him, but Mordo mystically prevented Strange from doing so. For the sake of the Ancient One and the world, Strange acted unselfishly for the first time in years, vowing to learn magic himself so he could counter Mordo and his ilk. He offered himself as a disciple to the Ancient One, who accepted, having known of Mordo's treachery all along. The Ancient One spent years instructing Strange in the art of sorcery, teaching him how to tap the innate mystic powers of both himself and the world around him, as well as how to invoke the power of awesome entities, or Principalities, who resided in their own realms, most notably the three benign beings known as the Vishanti. A few years after Strange's arrival, Mordo left to seek greater power, and would often clash with Strange in the future. Strange's guilt over his earlier mistakes weighed heavily upon him over the years, and not all of his early recollections can be trusted.

And here's another part of his bio courtesy of Wikipedia:

As the Ancient One's disciple, Strange encounters the entity Nightmare and a number of odd mystical foes before battling his eventual arch-foe: Dormammu, a warlord  from an alternate dimension called the "Dark Dimension". Strange is also aided by a nameless girl, who is eventually revealed to be the niece of the villain and called Clea. When Strange helps a weakened Dormammu drive off the rampaging beasts the Mindless Ones and return them to their prison, he is allowed to leave unchallenged.

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