Hamlet. Romeo. Peter Parker? It might not seem an obvious series. But Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Dr Stephen Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, thinks it makes perfect sense.

Certainly, there is very little iambic pentameter in the Marvel Comic Universe. But Cumberbatch thinks the films' ability to evoke emotions and create complex characters place them alongside the Bard.

And there are surprising links between Marvel and Shakespeare. The first Thor film was directed by Kenneth Branagh, a Shakespearean actor known for his era-defining performance as Hamlet in 1996 - and for adapting a number of other Shakespeare plays for film.

He cast Tom Hiddleston - who had previously played Cassio in Othello and has since appeared as the lead in a National Theatre production of CoriolanusA lesser-known play about the Roman general Coriolanus, who won great victories for his city only to be exiled by the mob. - as the god Loki, one of the most popular characters of the franchise.

Since then, Marvel has been using more and more Shakespearean actors to lead its films. Tessa Thompson, who plays Valkyrie in the Thor films, previously appeared as Juliet. Cumberbatch himself has had a long and illustrious Shakespearean career, appearing as Hamlet and Richard IIIA real English king, the last of the House of York, who is also the subject of a Shakespeare play of the same name. Shakespeare presents him as a villain, partly to satisfy the reigning Tudor House, which had seized power from the Yorkists.. More than two-fifths of all Marvel films have starred a major actor who previously performed in a Shakespeare play.

Some think this is because Marvel and Shakespeare are doing much the same thing: producing drama by mixing realism with fantasy. And that calls for a similar kind of acting.

Today, the most popular form of theatre training in the USA is method acting. Building on the ideas of Constantin StanislavskiA Russian actor who created a system of training based on encouraging the actor to get into the mind of their subject., this school teaches that an actor should draw on their emotional memory of an event to channel it into their performance.

This often leads actors to put themselves in the same positions as their characters. For example, Robert de Niro spent months driving a taxi around New York to play the lead part in Taxi DriverOne of the early films created by renowned director Martin Scorsese. It lifted the lid on the frustrations and violence of its era, and it remains extremely popular today., while Al Pacino pretended to be blind whilst filming Scent of a WomanA famous 1992 film about a schoolboy and a blind former soldier. It won Al Pacino his first Oscar for Best Actor..

But it is much harder to find an emotional memory of fighting aliens in the streets of New York, or conjuring up portals in a Himalayan temple. That is why Marvel actors benefit from a Shakespearean training, where the focus is on filling the script with emotion.

And there are other similarities. One way in which Marvel films have redefined modern cinema is through their dialogue: light on its feet, full of quick, darting quips to offset the seriousness of the conflicts.

But it was Shakespeare who pioneered this technique of balancing drama with comedy. Even his most serious tragedies feature comic lines and parts.

And just as Marvel has set up a sprawling universe in which characters cross over into each other's films, Shakespeare filled his plays with the same character types. Many of his works contain a jester, or a Fool, who makes jokes but also speaks truth to power. In his own day, they would usually be played by the same actor, Richard TarltonElizabeth I's favourite comic actor, credited with turning theatre into a form of mass entertainment., creating the sense of a character crossing from one play to another.

Yes, say some. Today we see Shakespeare as the very pinnacle of high art, the reserve of educated elites. But in his own day he was popular across society for his expert blending of high drama and bawdyHumorously indecent; jokes that deal with rude or risque topics. humour. Marvel has a similar capacity to bring together audiences from all walks of life.

No, say others. Shakespeare's plays are the work of entirely original genius. His plays are deep and thoughtful, summoning up a rich emotional world. Marvel films are formulaic spectacles based on one-note characters churned out by a corporate machine, kept going by CGI and shallow jokes.