Doctor Strange
Stephen Vincent Strange
Movie · Phase 3
Doctor Strange
2016 · 115 min
A neurosurgeon with a Rolodex of turned-down cases wrecks his hands in a car crash he caused by reading charts at speed, and spends his fortune chasing a repair. Kathmandu offers him something worse…
The Infinity SagaDisney+89%Released
The story
A neurosurgeon with a Rolodex of turned-down cases wrecks his hands in a car crash he caused by reading charts at speed, and spends his fortune chasing a repair. Kathmandu offers him something worse than a cure: the news that his hands were never the point.
The film is an origin story on rails with a bad villain and a great third act, in which Strange beats a god by refusing to fight and instead trapping Dormammu in a time loop until he negotiates. It is the only MCU climax resolved by an argument.
Key facts
- Release date
- 4 Nov 2016
- Status
- Released
- Phase
- Phase 3
- Saga
- The Infinity Saga
- Runtime
- 115 min
- Certificate
- PG-13
- Director
- Scott Derrickson
- Writers
- Jon Spaihts, Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill
- Streaming
- Disney+
- Timeline placement
- 2016–2017 — beginning shortly after Civil War and running into Ragnarok
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Benedict Cumberbatch | Stephen Strange |
| Chiwetel Ejiofor | Karl Mordo |
| Rachel McAdams | Christine Palmer |
| Benedict Wong | Wong |
| Mads Mikkelsen | Kaecilius |
| Tilda Swinton | The Ancient One |
Characters
Thor
Thor Odinson
Easter eggs
- Kamar-Taj's library holds the Book of Cagliostro, and Wong references the Vishanti and the Darkhold — three deep-cut sorcery artefacts from the comics.
- The Sanctum Sanctorum's address, 177A Bleecker Street, is Strange's Greenwich Village home in the comics.
- Stan Lee cameos as a laughing bus passenger reading Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception during the Mirror Dimension chase.
- The Eye of Agamotto is revealed to contain the Time Stone, making Strange a Stone-holder two years before Infinity War.
- Thor appears in the mid-credits scene asking after Odin, which becomes the opening of Thor: Ragnarok.
- Dormammu's Dark Dimension is designed as a direct homage to Steve Ditko's psychedelic 1960s Strange Tales artwork.
- The post-credits scene has Mordo declaring there are 'too many sorcerers' and draining a man's magic, setting up his heel turn.
- The Cloak of Levitation is written as a character with opinions, a choice pulled from the comics' running gag about its wilfulness.
Trivia
- Tilda Swinton's casting as a Celtic Ancient One drew sustained whitewashing criticism, and Kevin Feige has since publicly called it a mistake.
- Benedict Cumberbatch's scheduling forced Marvel to move the release date rather than recast.
- A practising neurosurgeon served as the hand double for the operating-theatre sequences, and Cumberbatch scrubbed in on real procedures as research.
- Michael Giacchino built the score around a harpsichord to signal the character's Ditko-era mysticism.
- The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects for its folding-city sequences, which were built as fractal geometry rather than animated destruction.
- Scott Derrickson came from horror, having made Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and pitched Strange as Marvel's first genuinely eerie film.
- Mads Mikkelsen has said much of Kaecilius' backstory was shot and cut, leaving the villain thinner than intended.
Box office
- Budget
- $165 million
- Worldwide
- $677.7 million
- Domestic
- $232.6 million
Reviews
Critics
89%
Doctor Strange artfully balances thrilling visuals against an ever-expanding narrative that adds intriguing new layers to the MCU.
The MarvelGossips verdict
The best-looking film of the Infinity Saga and one of its most formulaic — a rich-jerk-learns-humility arc you can set your watch to, rescued by Cumberbatch's precision and a finale that is genuinely clever. Kaecilius is a waste of Mads Mikkelsen. The bargaining scene alone earns the film its place.
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Frequently asked
How does Doctor Strange beat Dormammu?
He traps himself and Dormammu in a repeating time loop using the Eye of Agamotto, dying over and over until Dormammu agrees to leave Earth and take Kaecilius with him. It is a negotiation, not a fight.
Where does the Time Stone come from?
It has been housed inside the Eye of Agamotto at Kamar-Taj, guarded by the Masters of the Mystic Arts. Strange later surrenders it to Thanos on Titan to buy the one future in which they win.
Why was the Ancient One's casting controversial?
The character is Tibetan in the comics, and casting Tilda Swinton was widely criticised as whitewashing. Marvel has said the change was partly to avoid a stereotype and partly to avoid Tibetan politics, and Kevin Feige later conceded it was handled badly.
Does Doctor Strange connect to Thor: Ragnarok?
Directly. The mid-credits scene of Strange and Thor discussing Odin's whereabouts is expanded into Ragnarok's opening New York sequence, where Strange relocates Odin to Norway.