10 Things You Need To Know About Doctor Strange

Just as fans are counting down the days until Captain America: Civil War is released, Marvel decided to remind us about their other, much riskier, film coming out this year - by releasing the first trailer for Doctor Strange. It was clearly a clever move as the internet has been abuzz with positive reactions to the footage. Going by what we’ve seen so far, Marvel look to be grounding the potentially ridiculous mystical elements of the movie in the human story of Stephen Strange being involved in a debilitating accident. Likewise, the realization of those elements seems to have been inspired by visionary films like Inception or The Matrix, which will surely make the movie quite interesting to watch. But, even after viewing the trailer, you might still be asking: just who is Doctor Strange? To help you our, we've compiled a list of 10 things you need to know about Marvel’s newest superhero before the film arrives later this year. 10) His Origin Story All but the final shot of the trailer shows us Cumberbatch as Stephen Strange before he becomes the fully-formed Sorcerer Supreme of the comics. Going by that, then, it seems the film will indeed be an origin story for the character. And, if you can’t wait until November to find out what that is, here's how it goes in the source material. Dr. Stephen Vincent Strange is a brilliant – yet vain and arrogant – neurosurgeon. However, his career and life are ruined when his hands are badly injured in a car accident, leaving him unable to perform surgery. Utterly despondent and without purpose, Strange spends all his time and wealth on finding a way to put his life back on track. He eventually finds it when he meets a mysterious hermit in Tibet..... 9) His Mentor Is The Ancient One The trailer also gave us our first glimpse of a bald, androgynous Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One, a very important figure in Doctor Strange’s lore. In the comics, the character is actually an old, Asian man. Strange’s search for a cure for his hands leads him to the Ancient One, who takes him on as his apprentice. He teaches him in the ways of the mystical arts, with the aim of training Strange to replace him as the Sorcerer Supreme – the foremost master of magic in the world, who must protect humanity from supernatural threats. However, his previous apprentice, Baron Mordo, is not happy with his position being usurped... 8) His Biggest Enemy Is Baron Mordo If you didn’t realize from that comment about supernatural threats, Doctor Strange is less likely to come up against your run-of-the-mill supervillains like his fellow Marvel heroes. Instead, his rogues gallery is full of powerful mystical enemies. Chief among them is the aforementioned Baron Mordo. A Transylvanian nobleman, Mordo was initially chums with Strange. However - as with many superheroes and their nemeses - Mordo’s thirst for power quickly led him to the dark side and set the former friends against each other. In the movie, Mordo will be played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, who looks set to begin as an ally as per the comics. However, one shot in the trailer shows him sporting a villainous-looking scowl, so we wouldn’t expect him to stay good for very long. 7) But His Most Powerful Is Dormammu Though Mordo is probably Strange’s most recurring foe, he isn’t his most powerful. That honour goes to the Dread Dormammu, the ruler of the nightmarish Dark Dimension. As an incorporeal being of pure energy, Dormammu can’t ever really be killed and has practically unlimited power. The only reason he isn’t completely unbeatable is because his abilities are weakened if he's outside of his own dimension. It's only a matter of time before Dormammu is introduced to the MCU - and many think he will find his way into this first Doctor Strange movie. After all, Mads Mikkelsen’s character has yet to be confirmed, which does seem to suggest he's playing someone important. Given the actor’s talent for playing villains, it does seem rather likely that he will turn out to be ol’ Hot Head, don't you think? 6) He Has A Manservant Called Wong Doctor Strange doesn’t just have fearsome enemies, he also has a loyal right-hand man in the form of Wong. Descended from an ancient order of Chinese monks, Wong was charged by the Ancient One to assist Strange. Though he isn’t a magic user himself, he is well-versed in mystical knowledge and is a kickass martial artist to boot. To modern eyes, the idea of an Asian man being subservient to a white master could conjure up some ugly and outdated racial stereotypes. Still, we have faith that Marvel will make the character work for a 2016 audience. 5) He Has Many Magical Artefacts The magic used by Doctor Strange is quite different from the magic wands and charms of something like Harry Potter. The Sorcerer Supreme derives a lot of his abilities from powerful artefacts, a couple of which we have already seen Benedict Cumberbatch sporting in the promotional images. For instance, his red cape isn’t just a fetching superhero garment but is actually the Cloak of Levitation which, as you can probably guess, gives Strange the ability to fly. He also wears the Eye of Agamotto around his neck, which allows him to see through mystical allusions. Strange also possesses the Orb of Agamotto, which gives him visions of the future. Interestingly, the Orb has previously been seen in the MCU. It was spotted in Odin’s vault of treasures, alongside the Infinity Gauntlet in Thor. 4) His House Is Awesome Next to Batman's Wayne Manor, Stephen Strange has one of the coolest residences in comics, and we can't wait to see it adapted to the screen. Located at 177A Bleecker Street in New York's Greenwich Village, Strange has built himself a magical stronghold which he calls his Sanctum Sanctorum. Just like Doctor Who's TARDIS, it is bigger on the inside, thanks to some nifty sorcery. Likewise, it is also practically impregnable, although this has been put to the test on several occasions. At some points in the comics, most notably after Civil War, the Sanctum Sanctorum has acted as one of the HQs for the Avengers - perhaps this is something that will explored in the movies? 3) He Is Something Of A Team Player Doctor Strange is generally one of the more solitary of Marvel’s heroes, preferring to spend his time studying in his Sanctum Sanctorum. However, he has also been a member of several superhero teams over the years. He is most often connected with the Defenders, a team he formed with the Hulk, Namor and Silver Surfer to bring together the loners of the Marvel universe. More recently, he has been a recurring member of the New Avengers and the Illuminati, a clandestine group of superheroes who have manipulated events behind the scenes for the good of mankind. In the movies, it is most likely that Strange will join the Avengers, seeing as the MCU’s Defenders is set to be formed of more street-level heroes like Daredevil. If paired with them, Doctor Strange would stick out like a sore thumb. 2) He Is One of Marvel’s Oldest Characters If you didn’t know your Marvel history, you would be forgiven for thinking that, because he is only just making his big screen debut now, Doctor Strange was a fairly recent invention in the comics. However, he's actually one of Marvel’s earlier characters and is in fact older than many of those that have been featured in the MCU before him. Strange first appeared in Strange Tales #110 in July 1963, created by comics legends Stan Lee and Steve Ditko – who had created Spider-Man together the previous year. It is fair to say that Strange was largely Ditko’s idea, who initially came up with the character for a five-page back-up story. If you think about it, Doctor Strange does show his age, as his mystical powers and dimension-hopping abilities are hugely steeped in the psychedelic sixties. 1) There Have Been Several Other Movie Attempts Though it has taken until 2016 for Doctor Strange to appear on cinema screens, it is not through lack of trying. There have previously been many attempts to make a Doctor Strange movie, with some very big names attached. Since the 1980s, the likes of Back to the Future’s Bob Gale, horror director Wes Craven and The Dark Knight scribe David S. Goyer have been attached to the project, but without anything coming to fruition. Guillermo del Toro and Neil Gaiman were also going to collaborate on the movie at one point – though that was always doomed to failure thanks to del Toro’s knack for having his pet projects cancelled. In 2009, Marvel reignited work on the movie, which eventually led to Sinister’s Scott Derrickson landing the director’s chair. After about thirty years, the Doctor Strange movie is finally happening, and going by the trailer, it looks to be worth the wait.